Drake Tax hosting
Drake Tax hosting for offices that outgrew the closet server
Drake Tax, Drake Documents and Drake Accounting run on your own private cloud server. Every preparer opens the same DrakeData folder, in the office or at home. Add seasonal seats in January and drop them in May.
$79 per user per month. Setup and migration included. Month-to-month. Get a seasonal-seat price estimate by email
In the agreement you sign
- One private server for Drake Tax, Documents and Accounting
- Extra CPU and memory from January to April
- 99.99% uptime. Miss it and the credit lands on your next invoice automatically.
- Seasonal seats added in January, removed in May
Your Drake setup probably lives in a closet
Most Drake offices we talk to look alike. One tower sits under the shelf with the toner, DrakeData is shared off it, and every workstation maps a drive letter to it. That works until a Windows update renames the share and three preparers get “data path not found” on the Monday after March 15.
Then there’s the seasonal hire whose PC was set up last, with Setup > Options pointing at a local folder. Their returns never reach the shared DrakeData. You find out when a client calls about an e-file reject nobody saw. The person who fixes all this is usually also the office manager, with a line of clients at the counter.
Hosting moves that tower into a data center. Everything else in your Drake workflow stays put.
What changes when Drake runs on our server
All three Drake programs on one server
Drake Tax, Drake Documents and Drake Accounting on the same private server, reading the same data, so a client’s scanned W-2s and their return sit in one place. No app-slot limits.
One DrakeData folder, one data path
DrakeData lives on the server. We set the Setup > Options data path once, for every user. No dropped mapped drives, no seat writing to the wrong folder.
Seats that follow the season
Add preparers in January and remove them in May, at the same rate with no setup fee. You don’t pay for August logins nobody uses.
Drake updates, handled
When Drake ships an update, we install it on the server once and every seat gets it. One install instead of six PCs on six versions.
Print and e-file the way you do now
Preparers print returns and client letters to the office printer and transmit from Drake the same way they do today. Printer mapping tested during setup.
An answer for the PTIN renewal WISP question
MFA on every login, encryption and server backups every 4 hours, kept 90 days, plus a WISP template you fill in with your office details.
Should you just switch to Drake’s web version?
Maybe. Drake’s web product needs no server at all. It suits a solo preparer or a small office that doesn’t depend on desktop-only features or years of local data.
Hosted desktop makes more sense if your staff already know Drake Tax desktop, you use Drake Documents and Drake Accounting alongside it, or you keep prior years in DrakeData and don’t want to retrain anyone in February.
If the web version fits you better, we’ll say so on the call. Our Managed IT plan ($89/user) covers offices on web software, so you don’t host anything with us.
How the move works
- Call. We check your Drake version, DrakeData size, user count and printers. Your time: 15 minutes.
- Build. We set up your private server and install Drake Tax, Documents and Accounting. Your time: none.
- Copy. We copy DrakeData and prior years over a weekend and set the data path. Your time: a weekend, not an hour.
- Test. Each preparer logs in Monday, opens a return, prints and checks the data path. Your time: about 20 minutes each.
We schedule moves outside the weeks of March 15 and April 15 unless you ask otherwise. If your first tax season with us isn’t better, we’ll move you to any provider at no charge. Terms are in your agreement.
One price per user
$79 per user per month, or $72 billed annually. That covers the private server, MFA, encryption, backups, Microsoft 365 apps on the server, a named team of 3 engineers, the WISP template, setup and migration. No server fee, no setup fee, no annual lock-in.
Extra CPU and memory from January to April is in the contract, with a 99.99% uptime SLA. Miss it and the credit shows up on your next invoice automatically.
See every plan on the pricing page, or read about Managed IT for laptops and Microsoft 365.
Private Cloud
$79 /user/month
$72 billed annually. Month-to-month at $79.
- Drake Tax, Documents and Accounting on one private server
- Seasonal seats, same rate, no setup fee
- MFA, encryption and backups every 4 hours, kept 90 days
- Setup, migration and a WISP template
Not ready to talk? Get a seasonal-seat price estimate
Tell us how many preparers you keep all year and how many you add in January. One email with your number. No sales sequence.
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Drake hosting questions
Do I still need a Drake license?
Yes. You buy Drake Tax from Drake as you do now. We host it.
Can seasonal preparers work from home?
Yes. They log in with MFA from any PC and get the same desktop, the same Drake and the same DrakeData as the office.
What happens to our prior-year returns?
We move them with DrakeData during migration, so last year’s returns open the same way they do now.
Who installs Drake updates?
We do, on the server, as Drake releases them. Your preparers don’t install anything.
What if Drake support says the problem is the host?
Your named team gets on the call with Drake. You don’t relay messages back and forth.
Can we leave?
Yes. It’s month-to-month, and we hand back your data in full, DrakeData included.
Running other apps next to Drake? See everything we host, or read how we handle security and your WISP.
Get the closet server out of the office before January
In 15 minutes we’ll look at your Drake setup and how many seasonal seats you run, then tell you whether hosting or Drake’s web version fits your office.
Month-to-month. DrakeData comes back in full if you leave. Not ready to talk? Get a seasonal-seat price estimate by email