Microsoft Access replacement for the database your business has outgrown
Access is not being discontinued. But Access 2021 stops receiving security updates on 13/10/2026, and Access still only runs on Windows PCs.
If your business depends on an Access database, we can rebuild it as a web system that does what the database does today, works in any browser, and keeps every record you have. You own the code, the data, and the account it runs in.
Dates from Microsoft's lifecycle pages, checked on 10/10/2026.
- Access 2021 and Access LTSC 2021
- Support ends on 13/10/2026. Microsoft stops security updates, other fixes, and assisted support. The database keeps opening, but any security flaw found after that date stays open.
- Access 2016 and Access 2019
- Support ended in October 2025.
- Access in Microsoft 365
- Still updated, on the Microsoft 365 plans that include the desktop apps. It is still a Windows program: Microsoft retired Access web apps in 2018, so there is no browser or phone version.
- Access LTSC 2024
- The one-off purchase version, supported until October 2029.
- People working from home, or on a Mac, cannot open it.
- It lives on one shared drive, and slows down or locks when several people use it at once.
- One person built it, and only they know how the forms and macros fit together.
- You cannot see who changed a record, or when.
- It is getting close to the 2 GB limit on an Access file.
- Other systems, such as Xero or your website, need the same details typed in again.
Map what it does
We open the database with the people who use it and write down every table, form, query, report, and macro, including the VBA behind them, before anything changes.
Rebuild it for the web
The tables become a proper database, the forms become screens that work on any device, and the reports run whenever you need them. Staff sign in with their Microsoft 365 or Google accounts and see only what their role needs.
Bring the history across
Every record is imported and checked against the original, so the counts match before anyone relies on the new system.
Connect the rest
Where the database fed other tools by hand, such as Xero or Microsoft 365, the new system passes the information across itself.
Most rebuilds follow our usual stages: a Blueprint of 1 to 2 weeks, then a build of 4 to 10 weeks, with a working version on a private link from the first week. How we work
If the database is small, used by a few people in one office, and works well, moving to the Microsoft 365 version of Access may be all you need. We will tell you if that is the case. We rebuild when the database has become something the business depends on and has outgrown the way Access works.
What changes, what stays, and how a rebuild works.
No. Microsoft still includes Access in the Microsoft 365 plans that come with the desktop apps, and sells Access LTSC 2024 as a one-off purchase. What is ending is support for particular versions: Access 2016 and 2019 lost support in October 2025, and Access 2021 loses it on 13/10/2026.
It keeps working. Microsoft stops releasing security updates and fixes for that version, so any flaw found after 13/10/2026 stays open, and help from Microsoft is no longer available.
No. We import every record and check it against the original before go-live, and your Access file stays as it is until you decide to retire it.
Yes. The new system runs in a web browser, so it works on any device your team signs in from.
We read them to understand what they do, write that down, and rebuild the same behaviour in the new system.
Most rebuilds take 4 to 10 weeks, after a Blueprint of 1 to 2 weeks in which we map the database and design the new system.
Not answered here? Tell us about your process
Tell us which process takes up the most of your team's time
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