Database, Data & Cloud Consulting Pricing

Almost all Everconnect consulting work over the last 24 months has been billed between $125 and $145 per hour. Where a project falls within that range depends on the project, which we discuss with you during discovery. Highly specialized security, compliance or architecture engagements may sometimes be priced above this range, and we tell you before work begins.

Most larger custom engagements begin around $10,000. We occasionally begin with a smaller engagement of approximately $5,000 when there is a useful, well-defined first step. Our fixed-price services, such as the $499 SQL Server Health Check, are separate from these typical custom engagement sizes.

Yes. The initial conversation is designed to understand your environment, objectives and challenges and to determine whether Everconnect is a good fit. There is no cost and no obligation.

Most of our project work is priced on time and materials or as a time-boxed sprint, because every environment is different and we do not believe in one-size-fits-all pricing. Ongoing monitoring and operations support is the main place we use a fixed monthly fee, and even that is priced around the needs of your environment. The SQL Server Health Check is a fixed $499 per server.

Everconnect's SQL Server Health Check is $499 per server (up to 100 databases; servers with more may cost more, which we confirm before we start). We also offer a free online SQL Server Health & Risk Check self-assessment for organizations that want to evaluate their environment themselves first.

No. The free Health & Risk Check and the Migration Readiness Assessment are self-assessments based on your answers and do not connect to your databases. The $499 SQL Server Health Check is run by Everconnect against your server under a signed agreement and ends in a scored report and a walkthrough.

We do not charge startup fees, and you pay for completed work. An initial engagement is not a commitment to a larger project. Ongoing support is optional and described separately on our database support plans page. If a project would need pricing outside our normal range, we tell you before you commit.

We agree priorities and scope with you up front, and we size larger work from what discovery and earlier phases actually showed rather than from assumptions. A time-boxed sprint caps the effort for a first phase. If priorities or scope change, we raise it with you before extra work begins.

No. The purpose of an initial engagement is to create useful results and better information. If additional work makes sense, we use what we learned to define the next phase. If it does not, you still leave with completed work, findings and a clearer understanding of your environment.

The SQL Server Health Check is invoiced at $499 per server, payable net 30, with no credit card or payment up front. Billing for consulting engagements is set out in the services agreement for the engagement, and we agree it with you before work starts.

There is no single price, because cost follows the work involved. Because we bill mainly by the hour, the arithmetic is simple: 40 hours is about $5,000 to $5,800, 80 hours about $10,000 to $11,600 and 200 hours about $25,000 to $29,000 at $125 to $145 per hour. These are examples of how hours convert to dollars, not quotes. Where a migration lands depends on the number of servers and databases, data volume, application dependencies, ETL and integrations, high availability, downtime limits and testing. The free Migration Readiness Assessment is a good first step, and we give you a real estimate after a free discovery call.

An upgrade, whether in place or to a new server, is priced the same way as a migration: the hours the work needs at $125 to $145 per hour. Upgrading a single instance with few dependencies takes less work than moving many databases with jobs, linked servers, ETL and application connections. Our fees are separate from Microsoft licensing, hardware and cloud charges. Our pre-upgrade checklist shows what to review first.

Costs outside our fees can include SQL Server and Windows licensing or subscription, cloud consumption (Azure or AWS), new hardware or virtual machines for an on-premises move, third-party tools you choose, application vendor fees to certify or update software, and your own team's testing time. We help you estimate these during discovery so you see the whole picture, but they are paid to those vendors, not to Everconnect.

From a few days for a simple single-instance upgrade to several months for a large, complex environment. Timing depends on the same factors as cost, plus how quickly access, testing and business sign-off happen. We give you a realistic schedule during discovery and agree the cutover date around your downtime window.

There are two parts. Our consulting fees are sized like any migration, at $125 to $145 per hour. The cloud charges (compute, storage, licensing, backup and networking) are paid to Microsoft or AWS and depend on the service you choose, such as Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance or SQL Server on a virtual machine, and on how it is sized. Because cloud costs recur monthly, a good plan includes right-sizing and cost optimization. See our guide to upgrading SQL Server or moving to Azure.

The largest factors usually include the number of databases and servers, total data volume, application dependencies, jobs and integrations, ETL processes, HA/DR architecture, downtime requirements, the cloud destination, testing, security requirements and cutover complexity.

Usually not. Most SQL Server migration and upgrade work falls within our normal $125 to $145 per hour consulting range. Total project cost depends on the size and complexity of the environment.

Performance tuning is billed at our normal $125 to $145 per hour. To keep spend focused, many clients start with the $499 SQL Server Health Check or a short time-boxed sprint that finds the biggest problems first. The total depends on how many workloads are affected, how complex the queries and indexes are, and how much testing is needed. See why SQL Server is slow.

The same range applies: $125 to $145 per hour for ETL, SSIS, data pipelines, API development and application or database integrations. Cost depends on the number of sources and targets, data volume and quality, transformation logic, security requirements, testing and monitoring. We often start with a small sprint that proves the first integration before sizing the rest.

Ongoing monitoring and operations support is the one area where we typically use a fixed monthly fee, and it is priced around your environment: the number of servers and databases, how critical they are, the hours of coverage, response expectations and what you want us to handle. We do not publish a one-size-fits-all monthly price. We quote it after a discovery call, and you can read about the options on our database support plans page.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $104,620 for database administrators and $139,500 for database architects (May 2025). Benefits are about 31.5% of total compensation for full-time private-industry workers (June 2026), so a median-paid DBA costs an employer roughly $153,000 a year in total compensation, before recruiting, tools, training and management time. Senior SQL Server specialists and high-cost regions cost more.

It depends on how much DBA work you actually have. At roughly $153,000 a year for a median-paid employee, the same money buys about 1,050 to 1,220 hours of consulting at $125 to $145 per hour, or roughly 20 to 23 hours a week. If your need is below that, or arrives in bursts (migrations, tuning, audits, incidents), a consulting firm usually costs less and gives you a team with broader experience and cover when someone is out. If you have a steady, full-time workload and need deep knowledge of one environment, hiring often makes sense, and many companies combine both. These are illustrative figures from public BLS data, not a quote.

Usually when the workload is steady and large enough to keep a person busy (roughly more than 20 to 25 hours a week), when you run many production databases that need daily hands-on ownership, when you need someone on site or embedded with your developers, or when your policies require employees rather than contractors. A consultant can still help with migrations, tuning and second opinions.

When you have no dedicated DBA or your DBA just left, when you have a handful of servers that do not justify a full-time hire, when you need specialist skills for a migration, tuning, security or HA/DR project, or when you want cover for vacations and incidents. See our guides to SQL Server without a DBA and whether remote database management is worth it.

Effectively, yes. Our ongoing support options include shared and dedicated resource models sized to your needs, so you get DBA capability without a full-time salary. We scope the hours and coverage with you in discovery.

The scope is agreed for your environment. It is usually built around monitoring, maintenance, backup and recovery checks, performance review and incident response, with the exact tasks, hours and response expectations set out in your plan. See our database support plans page, or ask us on a discovery call.

Yes. We can work with your DBAs, developers and vendors, or cover the gap when you have no dedicated DBA. We document findings and changes so your team understands what was done.

With a free discovery call. From there our usual path is discovery, assessment, architecture, planning, implementation, validation and production support, scaled to the size of the work. Many larger engagements start with a focused Rapid Impact Sprint instead of a long up-front design phase.

A focused, time-boxed first phase. We prioritize the highest-impact problems, work directly in your real environment, validate the results with you, and use what we learned to plan the next step. It is a way to start small, create value and learn the environment before anyone commits to a larger project.

A short description of your goal, the database platforms and versions, the number of servers and databases, approximate data size, key applications, ETL jobs and integrations, your high availability and disaster recovery setup, your downtime window and your timeline. If you do not have all of that, the free Migration Readiness Assessment helps you gather it.

A senior member of the Everconnect team joins the discovery conversation. The work is done by experienced database and data engineers (our team members typically have 5 to 10 or more years of experience), and we match the people to the technology involved, such as SQL Server, Azure, AWS, PostgreSQL or integration work.

No. Everconnect handles project coordination. We need timely access, business context and decisions from your side, and you test and sign off on the results. We do not ask your team to take on the project management burden.

Through regular, clear communication and visible progress against the priorities we agreed. During active work we send frequent updates, and you have direct access to the people doing and leading the work.

Most of our work is done remotely through the access method you approve, such as your VPN. If you need something different, tell us during discovery and we will say what is practical.

Yes. Production cutovers are often scheduled outside business hours, and after-hours or weekend cutovers are one of the factors we discuss during discovery because they affect cost. 24/7 coverage is available for ongoing support arrangements.

You keep the completed work, findings and documentation. If you want ongoing help, we offer shared or dedicated database support arrangements, described on our database support plans page. There is no obligation to continue.

Ownership of scripts, code, documentation and other work product is set out in the services agreement for the engagement, and we agree it with you before work starts.

It depends on scope, your team's availability and how quickly access can be granted. We discuss realistic dates during the discovery call, and a signed agreement and access are needed before we connect to your systems.

Only what the work requires, through the access you grant, such as VPN access and named accounts that you can disable when we finish. For the SQL Server Health Check we recommend a temporary sysadmin-level login for the complete set of checks; if your policy allows less, the checks still run and the report lists anything it could not complete.

Yes. We sign a services agreement before we connect to your environment, and an NDA as well if you require one.

Our health check scripts are read-only and use metadata and system views, not your business data, and they change nothing on your server. We keep health check results for 90 days and remove them immediately after the walkthrough if you ask. For consulting projects we agree data handling and access terms in the services agreement.

We work with clients in regulated industries, including healthcare, and we take your compliance requirements into account when we scope access, testing and cutover. Tell us your requirements during discovery. Highly specialized security or compliance work may be priced above our normal range, and we tell you before work begins.

Yes. When a project involves protected health information, we will sign a business associate agreement as part of the services agreement. Tell us about your compliance requirements during discovery so we can scope access, testing and cutover accordingly.

Yes. Everconnect carries business insurance. If your procurement or security team needs details, ask us on the discovery call.

Our engineers hold a range of professional certifications, including Microsoft and Azure certifications and security certifications such as CISSP and CSSLP. We are glad to talk through the relevant credentials for your project on a discovery call.

No. Changes follow the priorities and approvals we agree with you. The Health Check itself is read-only, and for migrations and tuning we validate the work with you before it goes into production.

By planning the cutover around your downtime requirements: assessing dependencies, choosing a migration method that fits, testing and validating beforehand, and scheduling the production cutover with you. Our published migration case studies describe real examples, including a manufacturing migration to SQL Server on Azure VMs that recorded 45 minutes of production downtime. See also migrating with minimal downtime.

We plan the cutover with you in advance, including validation checks and what to do if a check fails, so decisions are not made under pressure. Migration validation and post-migration support are part of how we work.

Inventory your servers, databases, SQL Agent jobs, logins, linked servers and ETL; identify the applications and owners that depend on each database; confirm your backups can actually be restored; agree a downtime window and a test plan; and check each application vendor's support for the target version. Our pre-upgrade checklist walks through it.

It depends on your versions, applications, downtime tolerance, licensing and budget. The free Migration Readiness Assessment is a good first look at what affects complexity, and our guides on upgrading SQL Server or moving to Azure and the safest way to upgrade explain the trade-offs. We give an honest recommendation during discovery, including when staying on-premises is the better choice.

It depends on the version and edition and on Microsoft's support dates, which differ by release. Our SQL Server support dates guide summarizes them. Older versions can also carry security and supportability risk, so a Health Check or a migration readiness review is a sensible first step.

Yes. Our published case studies include cross-platform migrations, for example involving Sybase and IBM Db2, as well as SQL Server upgrades and Azure moves.

SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL and Oracle, plus cloud platforms such as Azure SQL Database and Managed Instance, Amazon RDS and Aurora, and Snowflake.

Yes. That includes SSIS and other ETL, data pipelines, database and application integrations, API development and integration, PowerShell and workflow automation, and Salesforce and database integrations, all within our normal consulting range.

Look for verifiable experience with your platform and your kind of project, named and experienced engineers, a clear explanation of what each service includes, a free introductory call, transparent pricing, and a plan for testing and knowledge transfer. Our guide to choosing a SQL Server migration consultant goes deeper.

Who will do the work and how long they have worked with this platform; what is included and what is not; how they test and validate; how they handle cutover problems and rollback; what access they need and how it is secured; how they price and bill; how they communicate progress; and whether they will teach your team. We are glad to answer all of these on a discovery call.

Pushing paid work before understanding your problem; vague deliverables and buzzwords; no named engineers or verifiable experience; a firm price quoted without looking at your environment; no plan for testing, rollback or knowledge transfer; and pressure to sign a long commitment before any value is shown.

Everconnect is a US-based company. Our team blends US-based and offshore engineers, and a senior member of the Everconnect team leads each engagement. We are glad to tell you who will work on your environment and from where, and to discuss any location or access requirements you have.

Everconnect Data Systems, Inc. has been in business since 2010. We are a US-based, veteran-owned database and technology consulting company based in California.

Our published figures include more than 65,000 databases worked with across our consulting history, project environments from 10 to 4,666 databases, and organizations from 133 to 29,846 employees. The definitions are on our Everconnect by the Numbers page, and we publish anonymized case studies.

Yes. Our anonymized database migration and SQL Server health check case studies describe the environments, the problems and the results. For the SQL Server Health Check you can also see a full example report before you buy.

Start with the free discovery call. We will tell you honestly whether we think we can help, and we are comfortable pointing you to a free self-assessment or a smaller first step if that is what you need.

That is fine. We are not trying to maximize the size of the first project. Some work starts around $5,000, and the $499 SQL Server Health Check is a fixed-price option for a single server.