Cloud vs Self-Hosted
LibraOS comes in two editions. They are the same product — the same engine,
the same eight supervised employees, the same OpenAI-compatible API and
libraos SDK. What differs is who runs the servers and
where your data lives.
| LibraOS Cloud | LibraOS Self-Hosted | |
|---|---|---|
| Get started | Sign up free — workspace in minutes | Install a 59MB binary |
| Infrastructure | We run and update it | Your hardware — on-prem, VPC, or air-gapped |
| Data residency | Our managed environment | Never leaves your network |
| Compliance posture | Managed | SOC 2 Type II certified · HIPAA-ready · air-gapped |
| Updates | Automatic | You choose when to upgrade |
| Best for | Getting started fast, smaller teams | Regulated, sovereign, or offline work |
| Pricing | Free tier, then from $249/mo | Free to start; commercial license per node |
Same engine, either way
Both editions run the identical LibraOS runtime and the identical agent model. Anything you read in Building agents, Defining employees in YAML, the Guides, or Model settings applies to both — the only thing that changes between them is the base URL and API key your clients point at.
That is the point of shipping one product in two editions: you never learn two systems, and you never rebuild when you switch.
Moving between editions
Because the two editions are the same LibraOS, an employee built in one runs in the other unchanged. Employees are portable bundles — agents, prompts, knowledge-collection bindings, and configuration — that export from one deployment and import into another:
- Cloud → Self-Hosted — the common path: prototype fast on Cloud, then move to your own infrastructure when compliance, data-residency, or scale calls for it. Export your workspace, stand up a self-hosted binary, import. No agent rebuild, no prompt rewrite.
- Self-Hosted → Cloud — hand operations to us for a team or workload that no longer needs to stay on your hardware.
How to choose
- Start on Cloud if you want to evaluate quickly, you're a smaller team, or you don't have a hard data-residency requirement. It's the fastest path from idea to a working assistant. → LibraOS Cloud
- Start on Self-Hosted if your data cannot leave your network, you need air-gapped or on-prem deployment, or you're in a regulated environment where the sovereignty guarantees are the requirement. → Getting started
Not sure? Start free on Cloud today — you can always move to self-hosted later without rebuilding anything.