Comparison
Store Care vs a freelancer vs Codeable: who looks after your store?
For WooCommerce and PrestaShop store owners deciding who should keep the store running: a freelancer, a marketplace like Codeable or Upwork, the host's support plan, or a care plan like ours. Each has a place. Here is how they compare on the things that matter when a store breaks.
Side by side
| Store Care (us) | A freelancer | Codeable, Upwork | Host's support plan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | from $395/month, month to month; extra time $150/hour, estimated first | Usually by the hour or per job | Per project. Codeable estimates from expert rates of $80–$120 an hour plus a 17.5% service fee | Usually an add-on to the hosting bill |
| Store down | We start within 4 business hours; recovery included | When they're free | You post a job; Codeable says experts start replying in about 3–5 hours | Fast for the server; often not for plugins or the checkout |
| Who tests updates before they go live | A person, on a copy, with a test order | Depends on the person; ask | Only for the project you paid for | Often automatic updates with no order placed |
| Backups | Daily, kept 30 days | Whatever the host keeps | Whatever the host keeps | Yes, the host's own |
| Responsible when it breaks | We are, for the whole store | The freelancer, for their own work | The expert, for their project; Codeable adds a 28-day bug-fixing warranty | The host, for the server only |
| Knows your store next month | Yes, the same team | Yes, if they stay | Often a different person each time | No |
Codeable's rates, fee, warranty and reply time are as shown on codeable.io, prices checked 8 November 2026. Freelancer, Upwork and host plan rows describe what is typical; read the terms of the person or plan you are considering. Monthly store maintenance plans across the market typically run from about $500 to $3,000 a month (our check, September 2026).
When the others are the better choice
A good freelancer you trust is worth keeping. If your store is healthy, well hosted, and you mostly need new features, a freelancer or a marketplace project is often the cheapest way to get them. If you have a developer on staff, you may only need good hosting.
The gap shows between projects. Somebody has to run the updates, notice that the checkout stopped working on a Sunday, and restore last night's backup without losing today's orders. With a freelancer or a marketplace, that somebody is usually you. With a host's plan, it is nobody, once the problem is inside the store rather than on the server.
Store Care exists for that gap, and it works next to a freelancer as well as instead of one.
How Store Care starts
Free store review
You give us access, we make a copy and go through it. Within 3 business days you get a written list of what's wrong and whether the store can move to our server as it is.
Fix first, if needed
A slow store gets a fixed-price Speed Fix, from $2,500. A neglected one gets a Store Rescue. A store in good shape moves straight over.
Store Care
Your store on a server we manage, tested updates, monitoring, daily backups, monthly report and emergency recovery. Store Care for PrestaShop is from $495/month.
In writing
80 or more on a phone, or the next month is free.
If your store doesn't reach a Google phone speed score (Lighthouse) of 80 or more within 30 days of the fix being finished, the next month is free. You can run the same test yourself, any time.
How exactly we measure it
We test as a phone, through Google's PageSpeed Insights from a US test location. We take the middle result of three runs in a row, on your home page, your top category page and your top product page.
Scripts added after we hand the store back (analytics, chat, ad pixels, review widgets, testing tools) don't count, because they run outside our control.
A store on Store Care
Kozelj.net is a PrestaShop store we upgraded and now look after on our server. The old store still runs next to the new one, so you can test both. Both stores and the numbers.
Questions people ask
Is Store Care cheaper than a freelancer?
Not always. In a quiet month a freelancer can cost nothing, and Store Care is from $395/month every month. What the monthly fee buys is that someone tests every update on a copy, keeps backups, watches the checkout, and is responsible when the store breaks, including emergency recovery.
When is Codeable or Upwork the better choice?
For a clear, one-off job on a store that is otherwise healthy and well hosted: a new feature, a design change, a plugin set up. You post the job, pick an expert and pay for that project. They are a weaker fit when nobody owns the store between projects.
My host offers a support plan. Is that not enough?
It covers the server: it is up, patched and backed up. Most hosts do not take responsibility for your plugins, your theme or your checkout, and that is where most store problems start. Read what the plan excludes before you rely on it.
Can I keep my freelancer and use Store Care?
Yes. Your freelancer can keep building features, and we test and release their changes on a copy first, like any other update. For many stores that is the best of both.
What happens if I want to leave Store Care?
There is no minimum term. Your code, your data and your logins are yours, and we hand everything over. The first 30 days of Store Care also come with a money-back promise: not happy, and we refund that month.
Do you work on Shopify, Magento or BigCommerce?
No. We work on WooCommerce and PrestaShop only, which is why we can test updates on them properly.
More reading: Store Care and Managed Engineering side by side, WooCommerce maintenance services compared, hire a WooCommerce developer, hire a PrestaShop developer and all prices.
Not sure what your store needs?
Get a free check by email in a few minutes, or book a call. If a freelancer is the better fit for you, we'll say so.
Get a free report on your store
Put in your store's address. In a few minutes we email you a short PDF: how fast the store opens on a phone, how old its software is, and anything that looks unsafe. Free, and no call needed.