UltraTax CS Hosting Pricing Guide – Comprehensive Overview (2024)

UltraTax CS is an industry-leading tax preparation software for tax firms that file many returns. Despite offering many robust features, local-hosted UltraTax solutions may encounter issues such as slow performance, limited flexibility, data loss, etc.

With UltraTax CS hosting, you can unlock the full potential of UltraTax CS and enhance your tax filing experience. You get remote access, unmatched performance, enhanced collaboration, and other features.

Before investing in cloud hosting solutions, you should understand the pricing dynamics to make informed decisions. This is where our UltraTax hosting pricing guide can help.

In this blog, we will explore the factors that affect the cost of UltraTax CS hosting and how you can choose the right cloud hosting partner for your firm. Before proceeding ahead, let’s first understand the main advantages of cloud hosted UltraTax.

What Are The Benefits of UltraTax CS Hosting on Cloud?

Her are some of the advantages of UltraTax CS hosting on cloud:

• Anywhere, anytime access: With hosted UltraTax CS, you can access it anywhere via any internet-enabled device.
• Enterprise-grade data security: Most reputed UltraTax hosting providers offer banking-level cybersecurity features such as intrusion detection and prevention, malware detection, firewall layers, 256-bit encryption, and many others.
• Enhanced collaboration: After migrating UltraTax to the cloud, you and your team members get secure data storage that can be accessed from anywhere and anytime.
  • As a cloud hosting admin, you can provide role-based access to your team members. This allows them to work on their tax files without bouncing back and forth between emails.
  • In case several team members work on the same file, UltraTax hosting avoids confusion by keeping everyone updated in real time. Thus, fostering real-time collaboration in your tax firm.
• Reduced IT costs and hassles: For an on-premises UltraTax solution, you have to hire and manage an in-house IT and security team. The IT team helps you manage your tax firm’s hardware and software infrastructure. The security team’s primary responsibility is protecting your organization from hackers and modern cyber threats such as ransomware, phishing, etc.
  • All these IT hassles increase your business’s overall operational costs. On the contrary, UltraTax CS hosting requires you to perform some of these trivial tasks. Your cloud hosting provider manages the entire IT infrastructure and takes care of data security.
• Business continuity and disaster recovery: With cloud hosting, your data is stored in multiple physically separated locations. In case of any unfortunate event, such as a natural disaster or cyber-attack, your UltraTax hosting provider can bring your tax firm online in no time. Implementing business continuity and disaster recovery strategies is a costly operation, which increases UltraTax’s hosting costs.

Read more about the benefits of UltraTax CS hosting.

Various Factors That Affect UltraTax Hosting Pricing

In this buying guide, we will explore several factors that affect the cost of UltraTax CS hosting:

Storage Requirement

As you migrate UltraTax to the cloud, you will also require cloud storage to store all your files and data. Every user who uses UltraTax on the cloud will also require cloud storage for their own usage.

Cloud hosting providers usually offer a specific amount of cloud storage in their pricing tiers. However, if you need more storage, the overall pricing will increase. So, before deciding to opt for UltraTax hosting, you should first analyze your tax firm’s cloud storage requirements.

Computing Resources

Pricing also depends on the specifications of allocated resources in the cloud. Hosting costs will increase if your cloud hosting provider deploys UltraTax on high-performance servers.

Another point is that tax software hosting is a scalable solution. It automatically scales according to your business requirements. During tax season, when there is enormous demand, your hosting cost may increase as you utilize more resources on the cloud.

However, you may save significant costs during non-tax season as you need fewer cloud resources.

Third-party Integrations

While working with UltraTax CS, you may need to integrate it with other third-party tools. Before moving UltraTax to the cloud, carefully review your integration requirements.

Using additional software or integrating with specific tools (such as accounting software like QuickBooks) can increase hosting costs because it involves extra licensing fees and setup requirements.

Integrating UltraTax CS with other software involves setup and configuration. UltraTax CS hosting providers must ensure proper communication between UltraTax and third-party software. Setting up these integrations may require additional resources and technical expertise, which may increase your overall UltraTax hosting costs.

Hosting Type

The type of cloud hosting chosen for UltraTax CS can significantly impact the overall cost. Here’s a detailed look at how different hosting types can affect pricing:

Security and Data Backup

With UltraTax hosting, you get several banking-grade security and data backup features. Implementing advanced security features such as data encryption, anti-malware protection, multi-layered firewalls, IDPS, etc., requires significant investment in technology and infrastructure. Hosting providers usually include the cost for these features in their pricing plans.

Regular data backups are crucial for disaster recovery and business continuity. UltraTax hosting providers offer rolling backup features that save multiple versions of data on different physical locations for a set number of days. The frequency of data backups and retention can affect the overall cost.

However, as compared to on-premises solutions, the costs incurred for these features are far less as you have to invest a lot of money in buying and setting up required hardware and software and hiring several teams to manage the IT infrastructure of your tax firm.

Trial Period

Many cloud providers offer 7-day, 14-day, or monthly free trials of UltraTax CS hosting. These trials can help you explore the true potential of UltraTax on the cloud and make a better decision before committing to a long-term relationship with any provider. These trial periods also help reduce the initial costs required to set you up for your cloud journey.

Free trials enable you to test how well UltraTax CS integrates with other software and tools you use, such as accounting systems or CRM platforms. This ensures no compatibility issues and that workflows remain efficient and uninterrupted.

Pricing Model Overview

UltraTax hosting providers mainly offer 3 types of pricing models:

Subscription-based pricing

In this pricing model, users pay a fixed amount at regular intervals (monthly, quarterly, etc.) to access UltraTax on cloud.

Pros:

• Predictable costs: You will precisely know how much you will pay after each billing cycle
• Often includes additional services such as regular UltraTax updates and customer support

Cons:

• It can be expensive in the long run compared to the pay-as-you-go model, especially if the usage is low.

Pay-as-you-go

It is also known as usage-based pricing and here users are charged based on their usage of UltraTax on the cloud.

Pros:

• Only pay for the features and services you are using
• Ideal for tax firms with varying workload

Cons:

• Cost can fluctuate based on usage
• May lack bundled services like customer support

Bundled services and packages

Some cloud hosting providers offer bundled packages that combine UltraTax hosting with other services, such as:

• Managed IT support
• Data backup and recovery
• Customer support
• Managed security services

Pros:

• You get more than just UltraTax hosting
• All services are bundled into a single package, which simplifies the billing

Cons:

• Costs may be higher as additional services are included
• You need to evaluate if you need those additional services or not

The cost can also depend on the total duration. Monthly hosting plans are more expensive than annual pricing. If you want to commit longer, ask your UltraTax hosting provider for special discounts.

Different Pricing Tiers: UltraTax Software Hosting

As you know, UltraTax hosting has several benefits and additional features; many cloud hosting providers offer these features on different pricing tiers. Typically, most UltraTax hosting providers offer these pricing tiers:

• Basic: It includes all the standard features and is the least expensive compared to the other tiers.
• Premium: This pricing tier offers additional premium features such as automated backups, additional cloud storage, etc. It is more expensive than the basic pricing tier but provides many more handy features.
• Enterprise or Custom: This is best suited for large businesses and enterprises requiring custom hosting solutions and additional add-ons.

To give you more clarity, let’s explore Ace Cloud’s UltraTax pricing tiers for two users billed annually:

• Essentials ($44.99 per user per month): This plan includes standard features such as anywhere, anytime access, free setup and migration, and 5 GB cloud storage per user.
• Business ($49.99 per user per month): This pricing tier offers all the features of Essentials, along with additional offerings such as Mac and mobile access, a disaster recovery plan, and 10 GB of cloud storage per user.
• Enterprise: This is a custom pricing tier, and overall costs depend upon your business requirements. Here, you get all the Business features along with premium features such as multi-factor authentication, premium support, a dedicated security team, 20 GB of cloud storage for each user, etc.

Learn more about UltraTax CS pricing.

How to Choose the Best UltraTax CS Hosting Provider?

There are many UltraTax CS hosting providers in the market, and choosing the right one for your tax firm can be a daunting task.

Here are some factors you can consider before opting for a tax software hosting provider:

Asses your Needs

Before you start looking for a cloud hosting provider, do a requirement analysis at your end and figure out why you specifically need UltraTax CS hosting. For instance, the tax season is near, and you want to allow your team members to work on client taxes from home.

This process will also help you during the cloud migration process, as you will have a concise view of what features you need in your hosting pricing plan.

You can better evaluate a cloud hosting provider with proper requirements by testing those key areas.

For example, you opt for the cloud to get more computing power. During the trial period, you can test whether the cloud system is running slowly, if there is any lag in input, if data retrieval is slow, and other issues.

Check for Certifications

Find a reliable UltraTax hosting provider with Certificates in the Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

These certificates ensure that the cloud hosting provider adheres to industry standards of data security and compliance.

High Performance

You need high-performance servers to run UltraTax CS smoothly on the cloud. Therefore, before opting for a cloud hosting provider, verify if they will deploy the software on high-performance servers. This will ensure fast performance and efficient tax filing with UltraTax.

You can also opt for SSDs on your remote cloud servers for better data access speed. This becomes crucial in the case of UltraTax CS, as it usually handles a large volume of data. Another benefit of SSDs is that they have lower latency than traditional hard drives.

Scalability

Your hosting provider should allow you to scale seamlessly per your business requirements. As cloud solutions can scale or shrink automatically, your provider should have the infrastructure to handle all future requests robustly.

Security

Your UltraTax hosting provider should provide all the standard security features:

• 256-bit encryption
• Intrusion Detection and Protection (IDPS)
• Anti-viruses and malware
• Multi-layered firewall protection
• Protection against cyber threats like ransomware, phishing, Denial of Service (DoS), etc.

Assess Support Services

After migrating UltraTax to the cloud, you might encounter technical or data-related issues. So, before choosing a cloud provider, assess their customer support services. They should provide dedicated support on a channel of your preference, be it over a call, email, or chat.

Most reputed hosting providers offer round-the-cloud access and even on public holidays. This indicates how serious they are about delivering delightful customer service.

Trial Period

Before choosing a cloud hosting provider for UltraTax CS, ask if they offer free trials. Free trials are a great way to explore their service before making long-term commitments.

After migrating to the cloud, switching from one service provider to another is complex and can affect your organization’s overall productivity. Therefore, getting free trials to test the performance of the cloud hosting service can help you avoid future hassles.

Try UltraTax on cloud with Ace Cloud’s 7-day free trial.

Overall Reputation

Lastly, you can explore reviews and customer testimonials of cloud hosting providers on reputed platforms such as G2, Gartner, Serchen, Software Suggest, and many others.

You can also ask for reviews from other tax professionals who are already using the UltraTax cloud hosting services. You can join online communities such as Reddit, LinkedIn Groups, etc., to connect with other professionals and know their opinions.

Conclusion

UltraTax CS hosting pricing depends on factors such as the total number of users, cloud resources, and premium features, such as security and data backup.

Consider signing up for long-term contracts with your cloud hosting provider to reduce your overall hosting costs. However, before locking in with any cloud provider, you should consider several factors, such as online reviews, industry certifications, SLA-backed server uptime, etc.

Contact our solutions expert today if you have any queries about UltraTax hosting or its pricing.

Ace Cloud is offering a 7-day free trial. Take advantage of this opportunity to explore the power of UltraTax hosting before making a long-term commitment to the cloud.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)