Keep the lights on. Without thinking about it.
Managed Compass is the ongoing monthly retainer that keeps everything Compass built for you running well. Hosting and monitoring. Content engine operation. SEO and GEO maintenance. Small fixes and content updates. One bill. Same operator who built it. No surprise invoices.
Managed Compass is a monthly retainer from Compass AI Group covering managed hosting, content engine operation, SEO and GEO maintenance, monitoring, and small fixes across everything Compass has shipped for you. Three tiers: Foundation ($500 CAD/month, single system), Operator ($1,200 CAD/month, multi-system + content + SEO/GEO), and Operator+ ($2,500 CAD/month, high-velocity content + active GEO citation work). One bill, one operator, no multi-year lock-in. Bobby personally handles every retainer client. Cancel any month with 30 days notice.
Pick the one that fits what you actually have live.
Most clients land on Operator after their first 2-3 systems ship. Foundation is the floor for keeping anything Compass-built operating well; Operator+ is for the firms running a full content velocity program.
For a single live system: a custom site, or a single AI workflow, or a small dashboard.
- Managed hosting (DNS, SSL, email routing, backups, monitoring)
- Uptime monitoring + incident response
- Security patches + dependency updates
- Quarterly system health report
- Up to 2 hours/month of small fixes and content updates
- Email response within 1 business day
- New feature builds (those are scoped separately)
- Custom integrations (separate engagement)
For 2-3 live systems running together: site + workflow, or site + receptionist, or workflows + dashboard.
- Everything in Foundation, across all systems
- Content engine operation (1 article/week, draft + review cycle)
- SEO/GEO monthly report + quarterly tuning
- Up to 6 hours/month of small fixes, content updates, and feature tweaks
- Same-business-day email response
- Monthly check-in call (30 min)
- New service builds from scratch
- Multi-week refactors
For 4+ live systems or a high-velocity content + SEO/GEO program.
- Everything in Operator
- 2 articles/week through the content engine
- Active GEO citation tracking + monthly optimization pass
- Social automation operation across primary channels
- Up to 14 hours/month of small fixes, content, and feature tweaks
- Bi-weekly check-in call (30 min)
- First-response within 4 business hours
- Multi-week new builds
- New industry vertical pivots
All tiers exclude direct passthrough costs (LLM usage, SaaS subscriptions you choose to run). Those get billed at cost, transparent on the monthly invoice.
Honest mechanics. No surprise invoices.
Most agencies make retainers confusing on purpose. Here is how Compass runs them, in plain English.
Quarterly review, not surprise invoices
Every quarter we walk through what was shipped, what cost what, and what the next quarter should focus on. You decide whether to stay, scale up, scale down, or pause. No multi-year lock-in.
Hours roll forward, not over
Unused hours carry into the next month (up to your monthly cap). They do not expire as long as you stay on retainer. Burned hours get burned at your rate, not surprise project rates.
New builds quoted separately
If you want a wholly new system (a brand-new dashboard, a new AI workflow), that gets quoted as a fixed-scope engagement. The retainer is for keeping what is already live in good shape. Clear lines.
Cancel any month with 30 days notice
If the retainer stops being worth it, you stop paying. We hand off code, content, and credentials cleanly. The work you commissioned is yours and stays yours regardless.
One operator. Skin in the game.
Same person who scoped the original engagement, built the system, and knows your business is the one keeping it running. The handoff penalty most agencies impose does not happen here.
No surprise bills
Hourly carry-over and quarterly check-ins mean the retainer is the bill. New features quoted separately, in writing, before work starts.
One operator end-to-end
Same person who built it maintains it. You are not handed off to an account manager who needs to learn your system before they can help.
Canadian-resident infrastructure
Everything stays on Canadian-residency hosting per PIPEDA defaults. Compliance does not erode the day the retainer starts.
Built-in incident response
Monitoring alerts go to us, not you. If something breaks at 3am, you find out in the morning via the resolved-incident note.
Retainer questions, answered plainly.
Why does Managed Compass exist as a separate offering?
Most clients ship a Compass system and then want someone to actually keep it running: hosting + monitoring + content cadence + SEO upkeep + the occasional small fix. Without a retainer, every small change becomes a quote-and-invoice transaction. With the retainer, the small stuff just gets done. The bigger stuff still gets quoted. Predictable monthly cost. Clear scope.
How is this different from just paying for hosting?
Hosting alone keeps the lights on but does not include content updates, security patches, SEO maintenance, content engine operation, or human time to fix anything specific to your business. Hosting alone is $200-500/month. Managed Compass adds the operator time on top of that — same person who built the system, monitoring it, keeping it sharp.
Can I start on Foundation and move up later?
Yes. Most clients start on the tier that matches what they actually have live and adjust quarterly. If your content velocity picks up or you ship a second system, move up. If volume drops or seasonality hits, move down. We re-quote retainers every quarter at the quarterly check-in.
What counts as a "small fix" vs. a new build?
Small fixes: copy changes, image swaps, new page sections, small layout tweaks, content engine topic adjustments, SEO meta updates, integration tweaks, small bug fixes. New builds: a whole new dashboard, a new AI workflow against a new system, a new marketing site section that needs design work. The Foundation/Operator hour caps cover all the small fixes. New builds get quoted separately in writing before any work starts.
Is the retainer required after a build?
No. Every Compass build is yours - the code, the content, the documentation - and you can hand it to any developer or agency to maintain. The retainer exists because most clients prefer the people who built the system to maintain it. We do not force it as part of any build engagement.
What about new feature ideas during a retainer month?
Bring them on the monthly call (Operator and above) or by email. If they fit in the monthly hours, they get scheduled. If they are bigger, you get a written scope + ballpark within 5 business days, you decide, and we sequence it.
Stop quoting every small change. Get back to running the business.
Managed Compass exists for one reason: you should not have to think about the Compass-built infrastructure that runs your business. It just runs. Bills monthly. Operates well. When something needs fixing or content needs updating, it happens without a quote-and-approve loop for every line.
Plot Your
Course.
A free 30-minute Bearings call. Two operators talking about your business. No deck. No pitch. Just an honest read on whether AI is the right tool - and if so, where I'd start.