Glossary
Definition
Self-hosting
Hosting an application yourself — including an AI platform — on infrastructure you control, rather than consuming a SaaS.
Self-hosting covers on-premise in the strict sense (servers in your offices) but also hosting on a private cloud or a trusted cloud you administer. The decisive criterion: you control who accesses the machine, where the data lives, and you can cut any outbound call.
For enterprise AI, self-hosting changes the nature of the product: the vendor provides software and support but never sees your data. It also protects against unilateral cut-off risk — the service runs on your side and cannot be remotely 'unplugged'.
Further reading
Sovereign AI, in practice
Every AI model, deployed on your infrastructure, with your documents connected.