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Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)

Fully Managed Windows 11 Desktops on Azure

Windows 11 Multi-Session

Deploy in 60+ Azure Regions

Multi-User Workspaces

Scalable Cloud Resources

Fully Managed Infrastructure

Fixed Monthly Price, No Azure Bill

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Pricing Plans

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Trusted by 10,000+ Businesses World-Wide

Tier-1 Microsoft CSP
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10,000+ Businesses Served
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18+ Years in Microsoft Cloud
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Managed Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) Services

Azure Virtual Desktop gives your team a full Windows 11 desktop in the cloud, but getting there means sizing host pools, building images, wiring up Microsoft Entra ID, configuring FSLogix profiles, tuning autoscale so the bill does not run away, and then owning all of it. Most IT teams do not have the Azure hours to spare.

Apps4Rent delivers Azure Virtual Desktop as a fully managed service at a predictable monthly price. We design the environment, carry the Microsoft licensing, run the infrastructure, and support your end users directly rather than just your administrators. As a Tier-1 Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider and Microsoft Solutions Partner with five designations, we have moved more than 10,000 businesses to Microsoft cloud platforms since 2003.

A Real Windows 11 Desktop, Delivered from Azure

Windows 11 multi-session

Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session lets several users share one session host at the same time, each in a separate session. It is the only Windows client edition that does this, and it is available exclusively through Azure Virtual Desktop.

Connect from any device

Users sign in through Windows App, the current Microsoft client, on Windows, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Android, and any modern browser. Nothing sensitive is stored on the local device.

We run the Azure side

Host pool design, VM sizing, golden image builds, patching, monitoring, and capacity changes are handled by our Azure engineers. You never open the Azure portal unless you want to.

Local devices still work

Printers, scanners, scale-and-check devices, USB peripherals, smart cards, and multi-monitor setups redirect into the session, so day-to-day workflows do not change.

Security and Identity Built on Microsoft Entra

Microsoft Entra ID and MFA

Sign-in runs through Microsoft Entra ID with conditional access and multi-factor authentication. We configure Entra Kerberos for cloud-only identities where a domain controller is not required.

Screen capture protection

Remote content can be blocked from screenshots and screen sharing at the session level, which matters for accounting, healthcare, and legal workloads under client confidentiality rules.

Private networking options

RDP Shortpath improves session responsiveness over direct UDP, and Azure Private Link keeps AVD traffic off the public internet entirely when your compliance posture calls for it.

Backup and recovery

Azure Backup protects session hosts and user data on a daily schedule, with retention policies matched to your compliance requirements and tested restore procedures.

Cost Control That Actually Reduces the Azure Bill

Autoscale tuned to your shifts

Session hosts start before your team logs on and shut down when the last user disconnects. On a standard business-hours schedule this is where most of the compute saving comes from.

Pooled instead of per-user VMs

Multi-session host pools let several users share compute instead of each getting a dedicated VM. Right-sizing the pool is usually the single largest lever on an AVD invoice.

One predictable invoice

Compute, storage, bandwidth, backup, Microsoft licensing, and support arrive as a single monthly line item per user rather than a consumption bill you have to decode after the fact.

Support for end users, not just IT

Microsoft support covers your administrators. Our engineers take calls, chats, and emails from the people actually using the desktops, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Applications, Profiles, and Everything In Between

Your line-of-business apps

QuickBooks, Sage, Drake, UltraTax CS, Lacerte, AutoCAD, and industry software install into the golden image and are maintained as part of the service, including annual version rollovers.

Microsoft 365 optimized

Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise runs with multi-session optimizations, and the new Microsoft Teams comes preinstalled on current Windows 11 multi-session images with media redirection enabled.

FSLogix profile containers

User profiles live in FSLogix containers on Azure Files Premium, so settings, Outlook caches, and OneDrive state follow users across any host in the pool with fast logon times.

Full desktop or single apps

Publish a complete desktop, or use RemoteApp to stream just one program into a window on the user's own machine. Many teams run a mix, depending on the role.

Azure Virtual Desktop Deployment and Migration

Most deployments are live within five to ten business days. No Azure subscription work on your side, no CSP paperwork, no long-term contract.

1

Assess and Size

We review your user roles, applications, and peak concurrency, then size the host pool and pick the right Azure VM series.

2

Build the Image

Your applications, printers, security agents, and policies go into a golden image on Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session.

3

Wire Up Identity

Microsoft Entra ID, conditional access, MFA, and FSLogix profile storage are configured and tested against your existing tenant.

4

Pilot and Migrate

A pilot group validates performance and printing. We then move data, mailboxes, and remaining users in scheduled waves.

5

Run and Optimize

We monitor, patch, and tune autoscale on an ongoing basis, and your users call us directly when something needs fixing.

Azure Virtual Desktop Pricing and Plans

Every plan below includes the Azure compute, Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session licensing, storage, bandwidth, Azure Backup, and 24/7 support in one monthly figure. Dedicated plans save 10% on annual commitment, which is how the 15-user Platinum plan reaches an effective $66.50 per user per month.

Session-Based
AVD Plan

$90/month

Per user, billed monthly


  • 1 user, shared multi-session host pool
  • Grid-powered, fully-burstable RAM and vCPU
  • 50 GB storage space
  • Preinstalled applications only
  • Windows 11, Azure Backup, bandwidth included
  • Fully managed with 24/7 support
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What affects this price

Dedicated
AVD Bronze

$90/month

Save 10% on Annual Payments

  • Ideal for 1 user
     
  • 2 vCPU and
    4 GB RAM
     
  • 100 GB storage space
  • Install custom applications
  • Windows 11, Azure Backup, bandwidth included
  • Add users
    @$35/month/user
Buy Now
What affects this price

Dedicated
AVD Silver

$155/month

Save 10% on Annual Payments

  • Ideal for 3 users
     
  • 2 vCPU and
    8 GB RAM
     
  • 100 GB storage space
  • Install custom applications
  • Windows 11, Azure Backup, bandwidth included
  • Add users
    @$35/month/user
Buy Now
What affects this price
Most Popular

Dedicated
AVD Gold

$260/month

Save 10% on Annual Payments

  • Ideal for 5 users
     
  • 4 vCPU and
    16 GB RAM
     
  • 100 GB storage space
  • Install custom applications
  • Windows 11, Azure Backup, bandwidth included
  • Add users
    @$35/month/user
Buy Now
What affects this price

Dedicated
AVD Platinum

$525/month

Save 10% on Annual Payments

  • Ideal for 15 users
     
  • 8 vCPU and
    32 GB RAM
     
  • 100 GB storage space
  • Install custom applications
  • Windows 11, Azure Backup, bandwidth included
  • Add users
    @$35/month/user
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What affects this price

Custom AVD Environment

Get a Quote

Priced to your workload


  • 25 to 1,000+ users
     
  • GPU-enabled NV-series VMs available
     
  • Non-US Azure regions
  • Azure Private Link and hybrid networking
  • Bring your own Microsoft 365 licenses
     
  • Dedicated migration project team
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Talk to an expert

Note: Session hosts are provisioned in a US Azure region by default. Deployment in any of the 60+ Azure regions worldwide is available on request, which matters for data residency requirements in the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, and India. Every figure above is the total monthly cost. There is no separate Azure consumption bill, no licensing invoice, and no professional services charge for migration.

What Drives Azure Virtual Desktop Cost

Azure Virtual Desktop has no license fee of its own. Microsoft provides the brokering, gateway, and load balancing at no charge. What you pay for is the Azure compute your session hosts consume, the storage they sit on, and the eligible per-user Microsoft licenses your staff already need. With Apps4Rent all three arrive as one fixed monthly figure per user.

The four cost drivers

  • Compute hours. Session hosts bill per second while running. A pool left on 24/7 costs roughly three times one that runs business hours.
  • VM series and size. A D4as v5 host carrying six light users costs far less per head than the same host carrying two heavy ones.
  • Profile and data storage. FSLogix containers on Azure Files Premium are priced on provisioned capacity, not consumed.
  • Licensing. Zero if your team already holds Microsoft 365 E3 or Business Premium, since AVD rights are included.

Where self-managed AVD budgets overrun

  • Autoscale never configured, so hosts run overnight and at weekends
  • Pools sized for peak concurrency that occurs two weeks a year
  • Premium storage provisioned far above what profiles actually use
  • Orphaned disks and NICs left behind after host pool rebuilds
  • Engineering hours to run all of the above, which never appear on the Azure invoice at all

This is the case for a managed plan rather than a consumption bill. Apps4Rent absorbs the variability, tunes autoscale against your actual shift patterns, and gives you a figure you can put in a budget twelve months out. If you would rather model the raw Azure numbers yourself first, our breakdown of what cloud desktops actually cost walks through the consumption maths.

Not Sure Which Plan Fits Your Team?

Tell us your user count and applications. We will size the environment and send back a real number, not a range.

Get a Sizing Quote Talk to an Azure Engineer
Solutions Partner: Infrastructure (Azure) Solutions Partner: Modern Work Solutions Partner: Digital & App Innovation (Azure) Solutions Partner: Data & AI (Azure) Solutions Partner: Security

What is Azure Virtual Desktop?

Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) is Microsoft's desktop and application virtualization service running on Azure. It delivers full Windows 11 or Windows 10 desktops and individual applications to users on any device, with Microsoft managing the control plane and the customer or their partner managing the session hosts. It was called Windows Virtual Desktop until Microsoft renamed it in June 2021.

The part that makes AVD different from simply running virtual machines in Azure is Windows Enterprise multi-session. Standard Windows 11 allows one interactive session at a time. Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session allows many concurrent sessions on a single host, which historically only Windows Server could do. That means several users share one VM's compute instead of each needing their own, and licensing runs on per-user Microsoft 365 or Windows Enterprise subscriptions rather than RDS client access licenses.

Microsoft runs the brokering, gateway, diagnostics, and load balancing at no additional charge. What you pay for is the underlying Azure compute, storage, and networking, plus whatever it costs to design and operate the environment.

That second cost is the one most businesses underestimate. Apps4Rent absorbs it into a flat monthly fee so that AVD arrives as a service rather than a project.


Where Businesses Use Azure Virtual Desktop

1

Replacing aging office PCs

With Windows 10 support ended in October 2025, many teams face a hardware refresh. Moving desktops to Azure avoids buying machines that will need replacing again in four years.

2

Retiring an on-premises RDS farm

Terminal servers reaching end of life, or an RDS CAL true-up nobody wants to face, are the two most common triggers for an AVD migration.

3

Contractors and seasonal staff

Accounting firms scaling up for tax season and agencies onboarding contract teams can provision and deprovision desktops in hours without shipping laptops.

4

Regulated data that cannot leave

When client files must stay off personal laptops, a virtual desktop keeps the data in Azure and puts only pixels on the endpoint.

5

Mergers and multi-office consolidation

A single managed desktop image is faster to standardize across newly combined offices than reimaging every machine in every location.

Is Azure Virtual Desktop the Right Choice for You?

Azure Virtual Desktop makes sense when several users can share compute and you want control over images, sizing, and cost. If every user needs their own fixed desktop at one flat price, Windows 365 Cloud PC is simpler. If your applications run happily on Windows Server and budget is the deciding factor, hosted RDS is cheaper.

  Azure Virtual Desktop Windows 365 Cloud PC Hosted RDS
Shares compute between usersYes, multi-sessionNo, one PC per userYes, on Windows Server
Cost per user as the team growsFallsFlatFalls
Control over image, sizing, GPUFullFixed configurationsFull
Starts at$90/user/monthLicensed through our CSP$10/user/month

We would rather put you on the right platform than the expensive one. If Windows Server suits your applications, a managed multi-user Windows Server environment is the cheaper answer and we will say so. For a full feature-by-feature breakdown of the first two, read our guide to choosing between the two Microsoft desktop platforms. Or send us your user count and application list and we will tell you which of the three we would actually recommend.

Windows 10 Support Ended in October 2025

If your office machines are still on Windows 10, you are choosing between a hardware refresh and a migration. A refresh buys you four more years and another refresh after that. Moving desktops to Azure Virtual Desktop ends the cycle: the desktop lives in Azure, the endpoint becomes disposable, and Windows version upgrades happen in the image rather than machine by machine.

Plan Your Migration Compare Plans

Azure Virtual Desktop Licensing Requirements

Azure Virtual Desktop does not require RDS client access licenses. Access rights are included with eligible per-user Microsoft 365 or Windows Enterprise subscriptions. Per-device licenses are not eligible. If your organization already holds Microsoft 365 Business Premium or higher, you are almost certainly already licensed for AVD.

Eligible per-user licenses

  • Microsoft 365 E3, E5, A3, A5, F3
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium
  • Microsoft 365 Student Use Benefit
  • Windows Enterprise E3, E5
  • Windows Education A3, A5
  • Windows VDA per user

Not eligible

  • Per-device licenses of any kind
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic and Business Standard
  • Windows Pro OEM licenses on office machines
  • RDS CALs, which apply to Windows Server rather than AVD
  • Consumer Microsoft 365 Personal and Family

Two further points that catch people out. First, Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session is licensed for use inside Azure Virtual Desktop only, so it cannot be run on-premises or on another cloud as a general-purpose desktop. Second, Windows Server 2025 is now supported as an AVD session host, which is useful if your applications are certified for Server rather than the Windows client.

Apps4Rent handles licensing either way. If you already own eligible subscriptions, we attach them to the environment. If you do not, we provision them through our Tier-1 CSP agreement and roll the cost into your monthly invoice. Either path avoids a separate procurement cycle.

Why Choose Apps4Rent as Your Azure Virtual Desktop Partner?

Plenty of providers resell Azure. Fewer will pick up the phone when one of your accountants cannot print to the scale in the back office at 11pm during tax season.

Tier-1 Microsoft CSP

As a Tier-1 Cloud Solution Provider we hold a direct relationship with Microsoft rather than going through a distributor, which means escalations move faster and licensing changes take effect the same day.

Five Solutions Partner designations

Infrastructure (Azure), Modern Work, Digital and App Innovation (Azure), Data and AI (Azure), and Security. Earning these requires demonstrated customer outcomes and certified engineers, not a signup form.

Support for your end users

Microsoft supports your administrators. We support the people using the desktops. Your bookkeeper calls us directly, 24 hours a day, and reaches an engineer rather than a ticket queue.

SOC 2 Type II certified

Our operations are audited annually against SOC 2 Type II controls, which matters when your own clients or auditors ask what happens to their data inside your provider's environment.

18 years, 10,000+ businesses

Apps4Rent has been migrating businesses to Microsoft platforms since 2003, across more than 90 countries. We have migrated environments through every naming change this product has been through.

One invoice, no consumption surprises

Azure billing is consumption-based and genuinely hard to forecast. We take that variability onto our side and give you a fixed per-user monthly figure you can put in a budget.

Vertical application experience

We host QuickBooks, Sage, Drake, UltraTax CS, Lacerte, and dozens of industry applications daily. Version rollovers, multi-user setups, and print quirks are familiar territory, not a discovery exercise.

Deploy in any Azure region

Session hosts can run in any of the 60+ Azure regions, which resolves data residency requirements for clients in the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, and India without a separate infrastructure project.

Migration included, not extra

Assessment, image build, data migration, pilot, and cutover are part of onboarding. There is no separate professional services invoice waiting at the end of the deployment.

Solutions Partner: Infrastructure (Azure) Solutions Partner: Modern Work Solutions Partner: Digital & App Innovation (Azure) Solutions Partner: Data & AI (Azure) Solutions Partner: Security

Azure Virtual Desktop Services by Industry

Accounting and CPA firms

Tax software, client files, and seasonal staffing all in one managed environment. Scale up 20 preparers in January and scale back down in May without buying a single machine.

Law firms

Matter files and privileged client data stay in Azure rather than on associate laptops, with screen capture protection and conditional access enforcing the confidentiality obligations you already carry.

Healthcare practices

Practice management and EHR applications delivered to any workstation, with patient data centralized and auditable rather than scattered across front-desk PCs.

Mid-sized businesses, 25 to 1,000 staff

Sophisticated IT requirements without a large IT department. This is the size band where AVD's multi-session economics work best and where managing it in-house hurts most.

Distributed and hybrid teams

When a meaningful share of staff never sits at a company desk, a desktop that follows the user is simpler to secure and support than a fleet of machines you cannot physically reach.

Engineering and design teams

GPU-enabled NV-series session hosts handle CAD, rendering, and visualization workloads that would otherwise require expensive workstations at every desk.

Case Studies

Telecom Equipment Company Moved to Azure

How a Tech Firm Maintained Its Business Continuity During COVID-19 Crisis

Apps4Rent migrated legacy communication systems and IT office infrastructure to Azure in a record time without disrupting business.

Read More >

How An Energy Company Migrated to Azure

How An Energy Company Migrated to Azure to Serve Its Customers Better

A British energy services company leveraged Windows Virtual Desktop on Azure as its solution for cloud-first strategy.

Read More >

Redesigning Career Planning App on Azure

Redesigning Career Planning
App on Azure to Get High
Availability

How an Ohio-based education company implemented Azure for its LMS to get High Availability solutions.

Read More >

Azure Virtual Desktop FAQs:

  1. How much does Azure Virtual Desktop cost?

    Apps4Rent managed Azure Virtual Desktop starts at $90 per user per month for a session-based plan, which includes Azure compute, Windows 11 licensing, 50 GB storage, Azure Backup, bandwidth, and 24/7 support. Dedicated plans start at $90 per month and scale to $525 per month for a 15-user environment, which works out to an effective $66.50 per user per month on annual commitment. If you run Azure Virtual Desktop yourself, you instead pay Microsoft for consumption, which varies with how many hours your session hosts stay powered on.

  2. What determines Azure Virtual Desktop cost?

    Azure Virtual Desktop carries no license fee of its own, because Microsoft provides the brokering and gateway at no charge. Cost comes from four things: the hours your session hosts spend running, the Azure VM series and size you choose, the storage provisioned for FSLogix profiles and user data, and per-user Microsoft licensing, which is zero if your staff already hold Microsoft 365 E3 or Business Premium. Self-managed environments most often overrun because autoscale is never configured and hosts run overnight and at weekends.

  3. What is the difference between Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows Virtual Desktop?

    They are the same product. Microsoft renamed Windows Virtual Desktop to Azure Virtual Desktop in June 2021. Older documentation, forum posts, and vendor pages still use the WVD name, but there is no separate service and no migration required between the two. Anything written about WVD applies to AVD.

  4. Do I need RDS CALs for Azure Virtual Desktop?

    No. Azure Virtual Desktop access is covered by eligible per-user subscriptions including Microsoft 365 E3, E5, A3, A5, F3, Business Premium, Windows Enterprise E3 and E5, Windows Education A3 and A5, and Windows VDA per user. Per-device licenses are not eligible. RDS client access licenses apply to Windows Server Remote Desktop Services, which is a different product.

  5. What is included in Apps4Rent's managed Azure Virtual Desktop plans?

    Every plan includes the Azure virtual machines, Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session licensing, storage, bandwidth, Azure Backup, host pool design and sizing, golden image builds and maintenance, Microsoft Entra ID configuration, FSLogix profile containers, patching, monitoring, autoscale tuning, and 24/7 support delivered directly to your end users rather than only to your administrators. Migration is part of onboarding, not a separate professional services charge.

  6. What is the difference between session-based and dedicated AVD plans?

    Session-based plans place multiple users on a shared multi-session host pool with burstable RAM and vCPU, and include preinstalled applications only. Dedicated plans reserve a fixed amount of RAM and vCPU for your environment and allow you to install custom applications. Most businesses running line-of-business software need dedicated plans; teams that only need browsers, email, and Microsoft 365 are usually well served by session-based.

  7. Can I run Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session?

    Yes. Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session is the current default session host operating system for Azure Virtual Desktop and is what Apps4Rent deploys. It allows several users to work on one session host at the same time, each in a separate session. It is licensed for use within Azure Virtual Desktop running in Azure or Azure Local, and cannot be used as a general-purpose desktop operating system elsewhere.

  8. How long does an Azure Virtual Desktop deployment take?

    Most Apps4Rent deployments go live within 3-4 hours after the assessment, image build and application installation, and identity and profile configuration are completed. The assessment and sizing are based on your specific requirements. Pilot testing and phased user migration follow based on the project scope.

    Larger environments with complex application dependencies or multi-site data migration may take longer, and we provide a dated project plan before work starts.

  9. What does a managed Azure Virtual Desktop service include that a reseller does not?

    A reseller sells you Azure capacity and hands over the portal. A managed Azure Virtual Desktop service runs the environment for you: host pool sizing, golden image builds and updates, Microsoft Entra ID and FSLogix configuration, autoscale tuning, patching, backup, monitoring, and 24/7 support answered for your end users rather than only your administrators. Apps4Rent bills all of it as one fixed monthly figure per user rather than passing through variable Azure consumption.

  10. Which client do users connect with?

    Users connect through Windows App, which is the current Microsoft client for Azure Virtual Desktop and replaced the older Remote Desktop client. Windows App is available for Windows, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Android, and there is a browser-based option that requires no installation. It supports multi-monitor setups, device redirection, FIDO security keys, and passkey sign-in with Microsoft Entra ID.

  11. Will QuickBooks, Sage, and other Windows applications run on Azure Virtual Desktop?

    Yes. Any application that runs on Windows 11 runs on an Azure Virtual Desktop session host. Apps4Rent hosts QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Enterprise, Sage 50 and Sage 100, Drake, UltraTax CS, Lacerte, AutoCAD, and many industry-specific applications. Multi-user database configurations, annual version rollovers, and printing to local hardware such as check printers and scales are handled as part of the managed service.

  12. Is Azure Virtual Desktop persistent or non-persistent?

    Azure Virtual Desktop supports both. Persistent desktops keep the same session host and state for each user, while non-persistent pooled desktops assign users to any available host and restore their settings from an FSLogix profile container. Apps4Rent plans are based on persistent multi-session environments by default, and we build non-persistent pools where the workload calls for it.

  13. Can I choose where my data is stored?

    Yes. Session hosts are provisioned in a US Azure region by default, and can be deployed in any of the 60-plus Azure regions worldwide on request. This is how we meet data residency requirements for organizations with clients or regulatory obligations in the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, and India. Tell us the jurisdiction during sizing and we will place the environment accordingly.

  14. Why use an Azure CSP partner instead of deploying AVD directly?

    Microsoft manages the Azure Virtual Desktop control plane, but everything below it is yours: host pool sizing, image lifecycle, profile storage, autoscale policy, patching, and cost governance. That is ongoing engineering work rather than a one-time setup. A Tier-1 CSP partner absorbs it, converts variable Azure consumption into a fixed monthly price, and supports your end users directly rather than only your administrators.

  15. Is there a long-term contract?

    No. Apps4Rent Azure Virtual Desktop plans are billed monthly with no minimum term. Annual payment is optional and saves 10% on dedicated plans. You can add or remove users, resize the environment, or move between plans as your requirements change.

Henry, IT Auditor, Charleston, West Virginia

"I wasn't sure if they could deliver what they promise, but I must tell you, they did a great job in installing the software on the cloud. I am not exaggerating, but I don't think there is a better option than Apps4Rent for those who are looking for low-price Virtual Desktop hosting.?"

Joshua, Sr. Manager, Cincinnati, Ohio

"I always prefer Apps4Rent over other Virtual Desktop providers because of the ease I get. Whenever there is even a minor issue, I quickly turn to their representative through phone/chat. Going with Apps4Rent as our cloud hosting partner proved to be a good decision. "

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