.png){kind=logo}
Rightworks charges $114/user/month to host Drake Tax for firms with fewer than 10 users. The Drake license is billed separately. There is no free trial. Cancel within 30 days and you pay a $50 fee.
For a three-person firm, that is $342 a month just for hosting, before the software. That is prompting more firms to evaluate Drake hosting alternatives to Rightworks, and the independent market has quietly built out real options.
Rightworks is the only provider Drake Software officially recommends, and that relationship does carry weight. But the partnership is commercial, not technical.
Drake Tax has been running successfully on independent cloud hosting platforms for years, and a growing number of firms are making the switch based on two straightforward reasons: dedicated servers and lower costs.
This article breaks down five of those independent providers, what they charge, how their infrastructure works, and who each one actually makes sense for.
Rightworks is the only hosting provider Drake Software officially recommends, but it is not a technical lock-in. Drake Tax runs on independent platforms.
The standard Rightworks rate is $114/user/month for firms with 1-9 users. The Drake license costs extra. There is no free trial.
Rightworks uses shared cloud infrastructure, not dedicated servers. Your firm's performance depends on what other users on the same machine are doing.
If you host Drake on an independent platform, Drake Software's own support team will not assist with hosting issues. That is a real trade-off, not a marketing exaggeration.
Five independent providers offer viable Drake Tax cloud hosting with dedicated or flexible infrastructure: Ace Cloud Hosting, Verito, Apps4Rent, EezyCloud, and Cetrom.
Verito starts at $69/user/month with dedicated private servers, SOC 2 Type II certification, a 100% uptime SLA, and a 15-day free trial with no credit card required.
Apps4Rent has the lowest entry price at $12/month for session-based access.
The core question this comparison helps you answer: Is Drake's official support access worth $114/user/month on shared infrastructure?
There are valid reasons to use Rightworks. There are also valid reasons to look beyond it.
The Drake-Rightworks partnership gives Rightworks a unique position in the market. Drake Software officially endorses Rightworks, tests its software exclusively on the Rightworks platform, and routes hosting support through the same team that handles Drake Tax support calls.
If you run into a hosting issue while on Rightworks, you call Drake, and they help. That is a meaningful convenience.
Here is the trade-off that many users find out after signing up:
If you host Drake on any independent platform, Drake Software's support team will not troubleshoot hosting-related problems for you. Drake only tests on Rightworks. They will not assist with environments they do not control.
That is not a rumor. It is documented in Drake's own knowledge base, and it reflects a deliberate business decision tied to the partnership.
What the partnership does not mean is that Drake Tax is technically incapable of running elsewhere. It does. Independent providers have been hosting it successfully for years. Each provider on this list has built Drake-knowledgeable support staff specifically to fill the support gap that comes with going independent.
The other issue is infrastructure. Rightworks operates on shared cloud servers. Your firm's resources are pooled with other users. During tax season, when firms nationwide are filing returns simultaneously, shared infrastructure environments can experience performance degradation.
Dedicated servers eliminate that entirely, and several independent providers offer them at lower prices than Rightworks' $114/user starting rate.
The five providers below differ on the dimensions Drake users actually care about at decision time: server type, BYOL flexibility, SOC 2 certification, and pricing. Here is how each one compares.
Ace Cloud Hosting is one of the most widely cited names in the accounting and tax software hosting space, with a portfolio that covers Drake Tax, Drake Accounting, Drake Documents, QuickBooks Desktop, Lacerte, and hundreds of other Windows-based applications.
It is a well-established choice for firms looking to move their tax prep software to the cloud without a steep learning curve.
Ace Cloud Hosting's Drake hosting starts at approximately $74.69/user/month for standard cloud access (Essential Plan). Pricing adjusts based on user count and resource configuration. Promotional rates are common, and actual plan costs should be verified directly from Ace Cloud's current pricing page before committing.
Ace Cloud supports all three Drake modules: Drake Tax, Drake Accounting, and Drake Documents. BYOL configurations are available, though verify the current terms directly.
The infrastructure is a shared cloud, not dedicated. Data centers are SSAE 16 certified. Support is available 24/7. SOC 2 certification on standard plans is worth confirming directly, as this affects compliance documentation for your WISP and FTC Safeguards obligations.
Small accounting firms or solo preparers entering cloud-hosted tax software for the first time, where keeping initial costs low matters more than dedicated server isolation.
Verito is a cloud hosting and managed IT provider built exclusively for tax and accounting professionals.
It was founded in 2016 and currently serves more than 1,000 firms. What makes it structurally different from most providers on this list, and from Rightworks, is that Verito operates exclusively on dedicated private servers. Every client runs on isolated infrastructure. No shared resources. No performance impact from other firms' activity.
That architecture makes a concrete difference in the months that matter most. When tax season peaks and every preparer in your firm is filing returns simultaneously, your server's performance does not change because another firm on the same machine is also at capacity. On shared infrastructure, it does.
Verito's VeritSpace cloud hosting starts at $69/user/month on the Essentials plan, which includes 10GB of dedicated RAM, 40GB NVMe SSD storage, and two applications. The Pro plan is $99/user/month with 15GB RAM, 100GB NVMe storage, and up to six applications. The Elite plan at $149/user/month includes unlimited RAM, , and applications, + 150gb NVMe storage along with a dedicated account manager and custom configurations.
Microsoft Office 2021 is included on every plan at no additional charge and does not count against your application limit. All plans are month-to-month with no annual contract requirement. A 15-day free trial is available with no credit card required.
Verito hosts Drake Tax, Drake Accounting, and Drake Documents on isolated private infrastructure. BYOL is fully supported. The 100% uptime SLA is a contractual guarantee, not a marketing figure, backed by uninterrupted operation since 2016. Infrastructure is SOC 2 Type II certified and aligned with IRS Publication 4557 and the FTC Safeguards Rule.
Nightly automated backups run on every plan, with 60-day retention on Essentials and Pro and 90-day retention on Elite. Free white-glove data migration is included, and most firms are live within 3-5 days.
Support is available 24/7 via phone and chat. Verito's engineers are trained specifically on Drake, QuickBooks, Lacerte, ProSeries, and other tax software applications, not general IT.
On G2, Verito holds a 4.9 out of 5 rating, compared to Rightworks' 4.2 out of 5. Reviewers consistently cite faster issue resolution and deeper tax software knowledge as the two primary differences.
Firms ready to evaluate the option can explore dedicated Drake cloud hosting plans and start a trial without a credit card.
Tax and accounting firms of any size that need dedicated server isolation, IRS-aligned compliance documentation, and responsive support from engineers who actually know Drake Tax, without paying Rightworks-level prices or signing an annual contract.
Apps4Rent is a Microsoft Solutions Partner with more than 15 years in the accounting and tax software hosting market, serving over 10,000 customers across 90 countries.
It offers both session-based (shared, burstable) and dedicated server plans for Drake, which makes it one of the most flexible entry points in terms of pricing.
The session-based plan starts at $12/month for one user, using shared, burstable compute resources. Dedicated plans start at $29.95/month for the Bronze tier (4GB RAM, 2 vCPU, 40GB SSD, one user) and scale up through Silver ($42.95/month) and Gold ($74.69/month, 8GB RAM, 6 vCPU, 65GB SSD). Additional users on dedicated plans run $22/user/month.
A 10% discount applies to annual billing. Plans are month-to-month by default and include a 15-day money-back guarantee. There are no lengthy contracts.
All Drake applications and versions are supported. BYOL is required. The uptime guarantee is 99.9%, which is below the 100% contractual SLA offered by some dedicated-server providers. Data is backed up daily. Data centers are SSAE 16 certified and located in New York City and New Jersey.
Support is available 24/7 with a stated 15-minute response time. SOC 2 certification should be confirmed directly for compliance documentation purposes.
Solo preparers or very small firms that want the lowest possible entry cost for remote Drake Tax access. The session-based plan works for low-volume filing. Dedicated tiers become the better option once tax season performance consistency and multi-user isolation matter.
EezyCloud is built on Microsoft Azure dedicated infrastructure and addresses a specific workflow challenge that many tax firms encounter: running Drake Tax and QuickBooks Desktop in the same cloud environment without switching servers, sessions, or login credentials between them.
For firms that move between tax preparation and accounting work throughout the day, that integration eliminates a genuine friction point.
EezyCloud's Drake Tax cloud hosting starts at $58.30/user/month. BYOL is fully supported. Seasonal scaling is available, meaning you can add preparer accounts in minutes when seasonal staff arrives and remove them once filing season ends, without minimum commitments tied to annual contract terms.
Current contract terms and any volume discounts should be confirmed directly with EezyCloud before finalizing a decision.
Infrastructure is Azure dedicated, meaning resources are not shared between clients. SOC 2 Type II certification is in place. Encryption is AES-256 in transit and at rest. Multi-factor authentication is required across all user accounts.
Role-based access control allows seasonal preparers to be restricted to specific client files. Comprehensive audit logging tracks every client file access event. Daily geo-redundant automated backups are included as standard.
IRS Publication 4557 alignment is cited. The seasonal scaling feature is a standout capability for practices that bring on additional preparers during the January through April window and need to add or remove cloud access quickly.
Tax and accounting firms that run Drake Tax and QuickBooks Desktop simultaneously and want both in a single dedicated Azure environment, alongside SOC 2 Type II compliance and built-in IRS Pub 4557 alignment. Also a strong fit for firms with seasonal staffing needs.
Cetrom Information Technology is a managed hosting and IT services provider that has served accounting and CPA firms for more than 20 years.
Its offering bundles cloud application hosting with broader managed IT services, making it relevant for firms that want a single provider for both their hosted tax software and their local infrastructure management.
Cetrom hosts Drake Tax alongside QuickBooks, Sage, and other accounting applications on dedicated cloud infrastructure. The bundled model is comparable in structure to what Verito offers through its VeritComplete product, combining hosting and IT under one service relationship.
Cetrom does not publish standard per-user rates on a public pricing page. Pricing is quote-based, which is common for providers bundling managed IT with hosting.
Firms evaluating Cetrom should request a direct quote based on user count, application requirements, and IT service scope. This makes direct comparison to per-user rates from other providers more difficult without a sales conversation.
Cetrom operates dedicated cloud infrastructure for CPA firm clients. Drake Tax, Drake Accounting, and associated applications are supported. BYOL terms and SOC 2 certification status should be confirmed directly during the sales process.
The company's 20-plus years in the accounting IT space gives it operational depth, particularly for firms that also need managed IT for their local workstations alongside their cloud hosting.
Mid-sized accounting firms that want a single managed provider for both cloud hosting and local IT infrastructure, particularly those with more complex technology environments that benefit from a longer-tenured firm with deep CPA market experience.
The table below summarizes where each provider stands on the five evaluation criteria from the earlier section. All pricing reflects standard published rates as of April 2026.
The table makes one pattern clear: the two providers with confirmed dedicated infrastructure and SOC 2 Type II certification (Verito and EezyCloud) both come in below Rightworks' standard $114/user starting rate. Firms that need dedicated servers and compliance documentation are not paying a premium to get them from Rightworks.
Yes. Rightworks is the only hosting provider Drake Software officially endorses and the only platform Drake tests its software on. However, multiple independent providers support Drake Tax cloud hosting successfully, including Ace Cloud Hosting, Verito, Apps4Rent, EezyCloud, and Cetrom.
The key caveat is that Drake's own support team will not assist with hosting issues on independent platforms. Each of these providers has built its own Drake-knowledgeable support infrastructure to compensate for that gap.
Rightworks is not the only option for hosting Drake Tax in the cloud. Its standard rate is $114/user/month for firms with fewer than 10 users, billed separately from the Drake software license.
Independent providers offer hosted Drake Tax starting at $12/month for session-based access (Apps4Rent) and $58.30 to $69/user/month for dedicated server environments (EezyCloud and Verito, respectively).
The core trade-off is giving up Drake Software's direct hosting support in exchange for dedicated infrastructure, lower costs, and more flexible terms.
Among the providers compared in this article, Verito and EezyCloud operate on dedicated server infrastructure, with each firm's resources fully isolated from other clients. Apps4Rent offers both session-based shared access and dedicated server plans depending on the tier selected.
Cetrom also operates on dedicated infrastructure. Ace Cloud Hosting operates on shared cloud infrastructure. Rightworks operates on shared cloud infrastructure as well.
Rightworks is a legitimate product. For a firm where Drake's direct hosting support is genuinely important, and where the convenience of a pre-tested, Drake-endorsed environment justifies the cost, it makes sense. That is a real reason to choose it.
For firms where that is not the priority, the independent market has real options at lower price points. Dedicated infrastructure, strong compliance alignment, BYOL flexibility, free migration, and 15-day trials without a credit card are available today from providers charging less than Rightworks' entry-level rate.
For most small and mid-sized Drake Tax firms that do not need Drake Software's direct hosting support, independent dedicated-server providers offer a better combination of performance, compliance coverage, and cost than Rightworks.
For a broader look at cloud-hosted tax software options covering Drake, Lacerte, ProSeries, UltraTax, and more, Verito's tax software hosting page covers the full picture.
