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NowHosted

Web hosting for accounting firms and CPA firm WordPress websites

Web hosting for accounting firms must keep the client portal link easy to reach, intake forms working and deadline traffic moving through your WordPress site. NowHosted provides an isolated container per site, a global CDN, daily off-site backups, uptime checks every minute, a WAF and malware scanning. Your client files stay in your firm's secure portal while we host the public website around it. Free migration with zero downtime is included, and plans start at 24 USD per month billed yearly.

Audit my site

Example firm website

Region North America

Example account
Uptime check
Every minute
Public pages
CDN cache
Portal link
On website
SiteStatus
  • hartleycpa.example.comProduction
  • tax.hartleycpa.example.comProduction
  • staging.hartleycpa.example.comStaging

01

Keep the path to your firm open through tax season

From January through April 15, a CPA firm's website becomes part of the daily client workflow. Existing clients look for the portal login, prospects ask about tax preparation, and the practice administrator fields calls from people who cannot find their organizer. The October 15 extension deadline brings another round of urgent visits. A broken link at that point lands on someone's already full desk.

Make the portal button visible on a phone, including on service pages and contact pages. Use a clear label that clients recognize from your reminder emails. The destination belongs to your portal provider, but clients still need your website to reach it. A fast homepage does little good if the contact page or portal instructions fail to load.

The global CDN serves public pages and static assets close to visitors. Form submissions and private sessions need to reach the site without being cached. Each site runs in an isolated container, keeping its application environment separate from unrelated customers. Visit limits are soft and there are no overage fees, so deadline traffic does not trigger a surprise usage invoice. That does not mean unlimited capacity. Talk through expected demand when choosing a plan.

Before a busy filing period, test the actual client path on staging. Open the portal link, submit a test engagement inquiry and check where the notification arrives. Repeat after plugin or theme updates. An uptime check every minute tells us when the website stops answering, but it cannot prove that an outside portal accepts logins or that an intake email reaches the right person.

Keep portal instructions consistent across reminder emails and the website. A client following an old bookmark may arrive on a service page rather than the homepage. Check those entry points when reviewing the mobile menu. Give staff a documented way to direct clients to the portal if the public website is unavailable, and confirm that the destination comes from your firm's approved instructions before sharing it.

  • Keep the client portal link visible on mobile pages.
  • Test forms and portal destinations before deadline reminders go out.
  • Use staging to check updates before publishing them.
  • Keep daily off-site backups available for recovery after a bad update.

Tax season client path

  1. 01
    Client opens the firm websiteWebsite

    Public page served from the CDN

  2. 02
    Client finds the portal login linkWebsite

    Visible in the mobile menu

  3. 03
    Client opens the tax organizer upload formThird-party portal

    Documents go to the secure portal

  4. 04
    Prospect submits an engagement inquiryWebsite

    Contact information sent over HTTPS

02

Keep tax documents in the secure client portal

Your public WordPress website should not store tax returns, Social Security numbers or copies of identity documents. Direct those files into the firm's secure portal, with the access controls and retention policy your practice chooses. SmartVault, ShareFile, Canopy, TaxDome and Liscio are third-party services. Their accounts, permissions and availability remain separate from NowHosted, even when your website links to them.

Review what your forms actually save. An engagement inquiry can collect a name, contact details and a broad service request without asking for a return or an SSN. Put document uploads inside the portal's authenticated workflow. If a page offers a tax organizer upload, make sure it leads to that secure workflow rather than a WordPress upload directory or an email attachment. Check any form plugin's saved entries and notifications as part of the review.

NowHosted's job is to protect and operate the website layer. HTTPS everywhere encrypts connections to the site, the WAF filters hostile requests, and malware scanning checks site files. Isolation separates each site's application environment. Daily off-site backups provide a recovery copy, while access roles help you keep hosting permissions appropriate to each person. A DPA is available on request through [email protected]. The Secure WordPress hosting page explains the hosting controls.

These controls work alongside the firm's own decisions. Limit WordPress administrator access, remove accounts when people leave and review the plugins that receive client information. A backup can retain information deleted from the live site, which is another reason to keep sensitive tax documents out of WordPress in the first place. Your portal policy and your website policy need to agree about where files belong.

The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to tax preparers, and the IRS requires tax professionals to have a Written Information Security Plan, or WISP. IRS Publication 5708 provides guidance for building that plan. Hosting is one piece of it. Buying a hosting plan does not establish compliance by itself or replace your firm's risk assessment, staff procedures, vendor review and incident response arrangements.

When reviewing a host, ask which controls apply to the website and which remain with your firm or portal provider. Record those responsibilities in your WISP. Include how staff report a suspicious portal link, who can authorize a website restore and how clients receive updated instructions if a service is unavailable. Clear ownership helps the practice administrator act without waiting for everyone to agree during a filing deadline.

Example site health

hartleycpa.example.com
Client portal login link
Links to secure portal
Tax organizer link
Handled by portal provider
TLS certificate
Renews automatically
Last backup
Daily off-site copy
Staging copy
For update review

03

Manage the main firm site and related sites in one account

A bookkeeping practice may need only its main website. A CPA firm might also run a tax resolution microsite, while its marketing agency keeps a staging copy ready for changes. Business covers up to 3 sites. Agency covers up to 20 sites for firms with several brands or an agency serving many CPA firms. Inventory the sites you need before choosing, including how staging fits your setup.

On Agency, the managing partner holds Owner access, the practice administrator handles Billing, the marketing agency gets Developer access and a staff accountant can hold the Client role. Match each invitation to a task instead of sharing the partner's login. Hosting roles control the hosting account. They do not grant permissions inside a third-party client portal or replace WordPress user roles.

Keep ownership with the firm when an outside agency manages the website. The administrator should know who controls the domain and who can approve a migration. When an engagement with an agency ends, remove its access and review the website accounts it used. Our reseller hosting for agencies page explains the account tools for agencies managing separate client sites.

For each practice brand, record the domain, portal destination and person responsible for reviewing changes. Similar branding can make it easy to put the wrong portal link on a campaign page. Include those pages in the same approval checklist as the main site.

Choose North America as the server region for a US practice. Scale adds SSO and an audit log when your IT team needs central sign-in and a record of account activity. Those are hosting controls, so review your portal provider's sign-in and logging options separately.

Team roles

Firm hosting account

  • Managing partnerOwner
  • Practice administratorBilling
  • Marketing agencyDeveloper
  • Staff accountantClient

04

Accounting firm hosting plans and what they cost

Choose a plan around the sites you operate and the people managing them. Business suits a CPA or bookkeeping practice with a main site and a small set of related sites. Agency fits several practice brands or an agency's CPA clients. Scale adds room and account controls for a larger portfolio.

Plan Yearly billing Monthly billing Sites Monthly visits Fits
Business Yearly billing24 USD per month, 288 USD per year Monthly billing49 USD per month Sites3 Monthly visits100k FitsCPA, bookkeeping and tax practices with a few sites
Agency Yearly billing74 USD per month, 888 USD per year Monthly billing149 USD per month Sites20 Monthly visits600k FitsSeveral firm brands or agencies serving CPA firms
Scale Yearly billing199 USD per month, 2,388 USD per year Monthly billing399 USD per month Sites60 Monthly visits2M FitsLarger firm portfolios needing SSO and an audit log

Visit limits are soft, with no overage fees. Every plan includes free migration, SSL, the WAF, malware scanning, daily off-site backups and staging. Portal subscriptions and application hosting are separate purchases. Compare billing periods and the full feature list on the WordPress hosting plans page before selecting the plan your administrator will manage.

Move your website with a review before the DNS switch

We create a staging copy of your current WordPress website so you can review it before anything moves. Ask the practice administrator to test the client portal link, engagement intake, tax organizer instructions and contact notifications. Check the mobile menu and any appointment booking links as well. Use test information, and keep staging out of client communications.

You approve the copy before we switch DNS. The old host keeps serving visitors during the move, which lets us migrate with zero downtime. Keep the existing hosting account available while you confirm the new site and form delivery. The free website migration page explains the process. Tell us about domain email records before the switch so website changes do not interrupt the firm's email setup.

NowHosted hosts your firm's website. We do not host QuickBooks Desktop, Drake, Lacerte or UltraTax. If staff need remote access to desktop accounting or tax software, choose a separate application hosting provider and review that service's requirements with your IT team. Moving WordPress does not move the firm's accounting software, tax databases or portal files.

Start with the read-only audit on our homepage if you want to assess the current website. It checks response time, TLS certificate expiry, security headers and cache status without changing the site. It does not inspect client documents or certify compliance. Use its findings to plan a migration review before the next filing rush.

Audit my site

Questions accounting firms ask

  • The best web hosting for accounting firms keeps the public website, client portal link and intake forms available during filing deadlines. Look for site isolation, HTTPS, a WAF, malware scanning, daily off-site backups, staging and monitoring. NowHosted includes these controls on managed WordPress hosting, with free migration.

  • NowHosted Business costs 24 USD per month billed yearly, or 288 USD per year, for up to 3 sites. Monthly billing costs 49 USD per month. Agency starts at 74 USD per month billed yearly for up to 20 sites. Your secure portal subscription is separate from website hosting.

  • Yes, WordPress can serve an accounting firm's public website when hosting controls, updates and access are managed carefully. Keep sensitive tax documents in a separate secure portal. NowHosted provides isolation, HTTPS, a WAF, malware scanning, backups and staging, while your firm remains responsible for appropriate accounts, plugins and data handling.

  • You should not store client tax returns, SSNs or identity documents on your public WordPress website. Send clients to your firm's secure portal for document exchange and tax organizer uploads. Keep website intake limited to ordinary contact information and service requests, and review what your form plugins retain or email.

  • The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to tax preparers, and your firm's website belongs in its assessment of systems handling customer information. The IRS requires a Written Information Security Plan, with guidance in Publication 5708. Hosting controls support that plan, but a hosting subscription alone does not make your firm compliant.

  • No. NowHosted hosts your firm's WordPress website, including its public pages and links to outside services. We do not host QuickBooks Desktop, Drake, Lacerte or UltraTax. Firms that need remote desktop accounting or tax software need a separate application hosting provider, with its own service terms and security review.

  • Moving hosts does not inherently change rankings when your domain, URLs and content stay the same and the site stays available. Rankings can still fluctuate. We copy the website to staging for your review and switch DNS after approval. Check redirects, indexing settings and important pages during that review.