An accountancy practice holds exactly the data attackers want and regulators ask about: client financials, payroll, personal tax records, HMRC correspondence, copies of passports gathered for AML checks. Yet the typical practice stack spreads that data across Microsoft's cloud, a US e-signature vendor, a per-seat CRM and a folder of email attachments — each with its own login, its own invoice, and its own answer to "where is this data, exactly?"
What the per-seat stack costs a growing practice
Take a ten-person practice on a typical stack. Microsoft 365 Business Standard lists at about £11.55 per user per month on annual terms, with a further rise landing from July 2026. Entry per-seat CRMs run around $15 per user per month, and e-signature platforms charge about $20 per user per month with per-envelope or per-completion API fees on top. Automation tools price per task, so the more useful they get, the more they cost.
| Tool | Per-seat stack | On Node | At 20 staff (per-seat vs Node) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Files, portal & docs | M365 Business Standard: ~£115 | Nextcloud (Large): £75 | ~£231 vs £75 |
| CRM & client tracking | Entry CRM at ~$15/user: ~£118 | EspoCRM (Medium): £45 | ~£236 vs £45 |
| E-signing | ~$20/user x 3 senders + API fees: ~£47+ | DocuSeal (Medium): £45 | £47+ vs £45 |
| Workflow automation | Per-task plans: ~£20-50 | n8n (Medium): £45 | grows with volume vs £45 |
| Identity, SSO, audit | Included per-seat above | Platform plan (Team): £75 | £225 (Business) at 26+ users |
| Indicative total | ~£300+ and climbing per hire | £285 flat | ~£560+ vs £285 |
The point is not that Node is dramatically cheaper on day one — at ten seats the numbers are similar. The point is the trajectory: the per-seat column grows with every hire and every vendor price rise, while the Node column is flat until you pass 25 users. The maths above uses list prices; your negotiated rates may differ, so ask us for a like-for-like figure.
What your practice runs on Node
Four of these deploy self-serve, in minutes, from the signup portal; the rest of our catalogue is managed setup, deployed and connected for you by our engineers.
Client document portal — Nextcloud (self-serve): a private, branded portal where clients upload records and collect accounts, replacing email attachments and third-party portals. Password-protected shares, expiring links, versioning and full activity logs.
Practice CRM — EspoCRM (self-serve): clients, prospects, engagement status and correspondence in one pipeline, without per-seat fees deciding who in the practice is allowed to see it.
Engagement letters — DocuSeal (self-serve): legally binding e-signatures for engagement letters and authorisations, with no per-user or per-document fees.
Deadline automation — n8n (self-serve): chase missing records, route signed letters into client folders, and connect the tools you keep — without per-task pricing that punishes busy January.
Managed setup when you are ready: Kimai time tracking (£25/month), Invoice Ninja billing, Paperless-ngx document management with OCR for scanned post, Zammad for a shared client-enquiry inbox, and 50+ more.
Confidentiality your AML supervisor can follow
Accountancy practices are supervised for anti-money-laundering purposes, and client financial data carries UK GDPR duties besides. When a supervisor or an insurer asks where client data lives and who can reach it, "various US SaaS vendors" is an uncomfortable answer.
Your Node tenant gives you a better one: an isolated private network on hardware we own in UK data centres, under UK jurisdiction, access controlled through your own single sign-on realm so a leaver loses every app at once, and sign-ins, permission changes and admin actions fully audited. A UK GDPR Article 28 data processing agreement is standard — generate a completed copy now and hand it to whoever reviews your engagements. This is infrastructure designed to support your obligations; your compliance programme itself remains yours.
AI for drafting, without client data leaving the UK
Client letters, working-paper summaries, first drafts of advice: useful AI work, on exactly the material you must not paste into a consumer chatbot. The AI gateway labels every model UK-hosted or partner-routed: UK-hosted models run on GPUs we own in our UK data centre, so prompt content never leaves our infrastructure. Usage is metered per token in GBP onto the same invoice as your apps — see the model catalogue.
Start with one app, or price the whole practice
Deploy Nextcloud, EspoCRM, DocuSeal or n8n yourself in minutes with £15 of free credit — or tell an engineer what your practice runs on today.
Frequently asked questions
Where is our clients' financial data actually held?
On hardware Node owns and operates in UK data centres, under UK jurisdiction, inside a tenant that is network-isolated from every other customer. We provide a UK GDPR Article 28 data processing agreement as standard, and you can generate a completed copy on our website before you ever speak to us.
Does this make my practice AML or GDPR compliant?
No product makes you compliant, and we will not claim otherwise. What the platform gives you is infrastructure designed to support your obligations: UK data residency, access enforced at the identity layer, full audit of sign-ins and admin actions, and a signed Article 28 DPA. Your policies, training and supervision remain yours.
Can we keep using our practice software and tax tools?
Yes. This is not a replacement for IRIS, TaxCalc, Xero or your HMRC filing software. It replaces the general stack around them: file sharing, the client portal, CRM, engagement letter signing and workflow automation, which is where the per-seat fees and the scattered client data usually live.
How do clients send us documents securely?
Nextcloud gives every client a private share or folder: they upload records, you both see the same files, and nothing travels as an email attachment. Shares are password-protected and expiring links are available, with activity logged. It runs under your own domain and branding rather than a third-party portal.
What does it cost for a ten-person practice?
From the published ladder: the Team platform plan at 75 pounds per month covers up to 25 users, then each app is flat: Nextcloud at 75 pounds, EspoCRM and DocuSeal and n8n at 45 pounds each. A portal, CRM, e-signing and automation for a ten-person practice is 285 pounds per month plus VAT, and the same figure at twenty staff.
Can we try it before moving client data?
Yes. Nextcloud, EspoCRM, DocuSeal and n8n deploy self-serve from the signup portal in minutes, with 15 pounds of free credit and single sign-on already wired. Prove it with internal files first, then move client folders when you are satisfied.