Last Updated June 15, 2026Brent OzarSQL ConstantCare
About ten years ago, I sketched out an idea for a different kind of SQL Server monitoring tool: one that gathered data just once per day, and gave you a short email with a specific list of actionable tasks to make a difference in health and performance.
Richie Rump did an amazing job of building SQL ConstantCare out in the years since, building a solution that was rock-solid and scaled well to terabytes of monitoring data. Every day, we sent thousands of emails for SQL Servers around the world.
This month, we shut off sales and began decommissioning it. Here’s why.
AI is making it terrifying to host apps. It seems like every week, there’s a new AI-discovered exploit that blows new holes in the defenses of major companies, like the recent widespread npm compromise at Redhat. Companies are up against sophisticated, coordinated threats that strike against the very foundations of stuff we build with and atop. I think we’re going to be in for a very rough decade of security breaches, and in this timeline, I don’t really wanna host any repositories with diagnostic data from your database servers.
The world didn’t move to cloud the way I expected. I figured it was going to take 10 years, but like I wrote in my 2018 predictions for 2026, I figured that your default new database would be in a cloud platform-as-a-service database provider like Azure SQL DB or Amazon RDS. That simply hasn’t come true, and in a really weird twist, entire countries are now shifting away from the cloud due to political issues. When I look into the future right now, I think most small to midsize companies will be even less likely to move to cloud-based data hosting and processing.
We never really got the adoption we wanted. It was good enough to break even – even with a free tier of the product – and in the past, breaking even was fine. However, looking ahead to the future, I have my doubts about that financial situation continuing. I think cloud-based monitoring tool adoption is going to decrease, while the AI-driven security risks simultaneously increase, and suddenly even the prospect of breaking even isn’t appealing anymore.
I’m absolutely going to miss it. When I had spare time, It was fun and rewarding to open up my Power BI monitoring console, start poking around in the worst-performing SQL Servers, and send personalized, in-depth advice to customers and make a real difference in a matter of minutes.
So I’m also letting Richie go.
Richie and I have worked together here for over a decade, and he’s built a ton of stuff that gets used by database pros around the world every day: SQL ConstantCare, PollGab, the Consultant Toolkit, PasteThePlan, StatisticsParser, and the new StatisticsParser SSMS extension, plus a lot more stuff behind the scenes here.
For all these years, he’s been the perfect combination of architect, builder, tester, and troubleshooter. He’s also a ton of fun to work with! I would absolutely love to keep working with him, but as a tiny boutique database consulting firm, I don’t wanna be in the app business for the next few years. I’m not replacing him with AI – I couldn’t possibly, because he’s so damn good. This also means I’ve stopped sales on the Consultant Toolkit, and existing customers will get updates for the next year.
If you’re looking for an absolute top-notch data professional, I highly, highly recommend getting in touch with Richie at jorriss@gmail.com.
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Hi! I’m Brent Ozar.
I make Microsoft SQL Server go faster. I love teaching, travel, cars, and laughing. I’m based out of Las Vegas. He/him. I teach SQL Server training classes, or if you haven’t got time for the pain, I’m available for consulting too.