it sounds as though you are saying the data syncs.
Indy's replies here carry a lot more weight than mine, but since I think you are responding to something that I said, I decided to reply. Of course there are lots of ways of doing this and I am only basing my conception of it based on Jon B's history and recent statements. This is conjecture. Jon B describes the cost of his cloud service as "on top of" your cost of AC. I take that to mean that you own a copy of AC, including your database. If you chose to keep a copy of that on your desktop, you could do so. I would not presume that the cloud version syncs with the one on your desktop; but I would think that if you choose to part ways with AC, you could ask for, and receive, a copy of your data. That is far different than Practice Fusion, for example, where if they go under or otherwise don't want to deal with you, you are SOL.