Animal Care
Animal Care is a fixed-monthly website maintenance service for sites built on Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit, Payload CMS, Supabase, and Vercel. Three tiers from $500 to $2,000 per month covering dependency upgrades, security patches, content edits, Core Web Vitals fixes, and uptime monitoring with a 24-48 hour response SLA. We are the only agency offering productised maintenance for these stacks, every other plan on the market is WordPress, Webflow, Wix, or Shopify.
Next.js 14 reached end-of-life on 26 October 2025. If your site is on Next.js 14, it gets no security patches, no bug fixes, no dependency updates. We see this in 1 of every 3 audits.
Get scheduled upgrades →The modern stack maintenance gap
You built on the fastest, most secure architecture in modern web development. Then your developer handed you the keys and disappeared. There is no equivalent of "WP Engine support" for a Next.js app. There is no Shopify-style help desk for a Payload CMS install. Until now.
Three tiers. Pick the one that fits your change velocity.
- 10 tasks/month
- 48-hour response
- Monthly npm + security patches
- Monitoring + quarterly optimisation
- Quarterly performance report
- Uptime monitoring + alerts
- Stripe monthly billing · cancel anytime
- 30 tasks/month
- 24-hour priority response
- Monthly npm + security patches
- Monthly optimisation
- Monthly CWV report
- Shared project tracker
- Uptime monitoring + alerts
- Stripe monthly billing · cancel anytime
- 100 tasks/month
- Same-day turnaround
- Weekly npm + security patches
- Monthly full audit + fixes
- Monthly full audit
- Dedicated Slack/WhatsApp
- Uptime monitoring + alerts
- Stripe monthly billing · cancel anytime
No contracts. No setup fees. White-label available on Protect and Lead for agencies. Need something custom? Email g@socialanimal.dev.
What counts as a task?
- Update homepage hero copy
- Swap product photos + alt text
- Reorder blog post sections
- Fix mobile nav overlap
- Rewrite meta descriptions
- Patch npm dependencies
- Build a payment system or auth flow
- Integrate a new third-party CRM
- Redesign the entire homepage
Bigger work? We quote at $100/hour or fixed-fee. Submit an RFP →
WordPress maintenance costs more than rebuilding on a modern stack.
If you are on WordPress and paying $500-2,000/month for maintenance, here is the 3-year math. By year 2, a modern stack + Animal Care is cheaper. By year 3, it is dramatically cheaper.
| WordPress + Agency Retainer | Modern Stack + Animal Care | |
|---|---|---|
| Build cost | $5,000-15,000 | $8,000-25,000 |
| Plugins / year | $850-2,300 (Yoast, WP Rocket, Wordfence, Gravity Forms, Elementor) | $0 (zero plugins, everything built in) |
| Hosting / year | $300-1,200 (Kinsta, WP Engine) | $540 (Supabase $25 + Vercel $20 = $45/mo) |
| Maintenance / year | $6,000-24,000 (agency retainer $500-2,000/mo) | $6,000 (Watch) or $12,000 (Protect) |
| Security / year | $119-299 (Wordfence/Sucuri) + $500-2,000 per hack | $0 (no plugin vulnerabilities) |
| Lighthouse mobile | 45-70 | 90-100 (architectural, not plugin-dependent) |
| What you do | Update plugins, troubleshoot conflicts, pray you don't get hacked | Submit tasks. We ship them. |
| Response SLA | Depends on who you hire. No SLA. | 24-48 hours guaranteed |
| Year 1 total | $12,000-40,000+ | $14,500-31,500 |
| Year 2 total | $7,000-27,000+ (every year, forever) | $6,500-12,500 |
| Year 3 cumulative | $26,000-94,000+ | $27,500-56,500 (and a faster, safer site) |
Built for the modern web.
We maintain sites on the same stacks we ship every week, not a WordPress agency learning Next.js on your dime.
- Next.js
- Astro
- SvelteKit
- Payload CMS
- Supabase
- Vercel
- Netlify
- Cloudflare
How it works.
- 01Submit
Email, shared tracker, or Slack/WhatsApp (Lead tier). Describe the change. Attach screenshots if useful. We acknowledge within 4 hours.
- 02We build
Task ships on a feature branch, deployed to a preview URL, QA'd across mobile + desktop. Average turnaround: 4 hours (Lead), 18 hours (Protect), 36 hours (Watch).
- 03You approve
Review the preview, approve, we merge to production. Deploy fires automatically. You get the changelog in your weekly digest.
White-label modern stack maintenance.
You build Next.js or Astro sites for clients. Your clients need ongoing maintenance. You do not want to hire and manage a maintenance engineer.
Animal Care under your brand. Your clients see your name, your reports, your communication channel. We do the engineering invisibly. Available on Protect ($1,000/mo per client) and Lead ($2,000/mo per client). Typical agency margin: charge $1,500-3,000, pay us $1,000-2,000.
Partner with us →Frequently asked questions
What is Animal Care?
Animal Care is a fixed-monthly website maintenance service for sites built on Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit, Payload CMS, Supabase, and Vercel. Plans start at $500/month for 10 tasks with a 48-hour response window. We are the only agency offering productised maintenance for these modern stacks.
What stacks do you support?
Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit, Remix, Payload CMS, Sanity, Strapi, Supabase, Vercel, Netlify, and Cloudflare. If your site is built on a modern JavaScript framework deployed via Git + CDN, we maintain it. We do not maintain WordPress, Webflow, Wix, or Shopify, see our migration services if that is your stack.
What counts as a task?
Any visual, structural, or technical change a senior engineer can ship in 5-30 minutes. Content edits, image swaps, meta tag updates, schema markup additions, layout adjustments, redirect setup, dependency updates, bug fixes, Core Web Vitals fixes, alt text updates, SEO meta rewrites, component tweaks. We list specific examples and exclusions in the tier comparison above.
What is NOT included in Animal Care?
New feature builds requiring more than 30 minutes (full auth systems, payment integrations, database schema changes, third-party API integrations) and full page architecture rebuilds. We quote those separately at $100/hour or as a fixed-fee project. Animal Care is for ongoing maintenance, not greenfield development.
What happens if I need more tasks than my plan allows?
Overflow tasks bill at $100/hour, or you can upgrade tiers mid-cycle (prorated). Most clients on Watch upgrade to Protect within 3 months once they realise how much they can ship inside a flat monthly fee.
Can I upgrade or downgrade my plan?
Yes, switch tiers anytime, no contracts, no cancellation fees. We bill monthly via Stripe. If you downgrade mid-cycle the change applies next billing period; upgrades apply immediately and prorate.
Do you offer white-label maintenance for agencies?
Yes, Protect and Lead tiers are white-label by default. Your clients see your brand, your reports, your communication channel. We handle the engineering invisibly. Typical agency margin: charge your client $1,500-3,000/month, pay us $1,000-2,000.
How does Animal Care compare to WordPress maintenance?
WordPress maintenance averages $850-2,300/year in plugins (Yoast, WP Rocket, Wordfence, Gravity Forms) plus $500-2,000/month in agency retainer fees. Modern stack + Animal Care averages $540/year hosting plus $500-2,000/month. By year 2 the modern stack is cheaper AND the site is faster (Lighthouse 90+ vs 45-70), more secure (zero plugins = zero plugin vulnerabilities), and professionally supported. See the full comparison table on this page.
Is Next.js 14 actually end-of-life?
Yes, Next.js 14 reached end-of-life on 26 October 2025. Sites running Next.js 14 receive no security patches, no bug fixes, no compatibility updates. If your site is on Next.js 14, it is exposed to known vulnerabilities and will increasingly break as dependencies move on. Animal Care includes scheduled Next.js version upgrades on every tier.
References & standards
Animal Care follows published industry guidance for site maintenance and security. These are the underlying standards our tasks align to.
Stop worrying about your website.
Pick a tier. No contracts. Monthly billing. Cancel anytime.
Not sure which? Book a free 15-minute call and we'll recommend.
Let's build
something together.
Whether it's a migration, a new build, or an SEO challenge — the Social Animal team would love to hear from you.