Cloud vs On-Premises
Gaard ships as two distributions of the same platform: a managed cloud service that Gaard operates for you, and a self-hosted on-premises bundle that you run on your own hardware. Both distributions run the same core components and expose the same web app, API, and CLI. This page explains what each includes and how to choose between them.
The cloud distribution is a fully managed service. You sign in at app.gaard.ai, submit video through the API at vision.gaard.ai, and Gaard runs everything behind those endpoints.
Key properties:
- Nothing to install or operate. There is no infrastructure for your team to provision, patch, or monitor. You manage users, tokens, and platform settings from the web app; Gaard runs the underlying services.
- Continuous, zero-downtime updates. New model versions, features, and fixes are rolled out continuously without a maintenance window or an upgrade step on your side.
- EU data residency. Your videos, classification results, and account data are stored and processed in the European Union.
- Scales on demand. Ingest and classification capacity is managed for you, so bursts of submissions do not require you to size hardware in advance.
The cloud distribution is the default and the fastest way to start: you can create a tenant and classify your first video without any deployment work. See Quickstart: Web App to begin.
On-premises
Section titled “On-premises”The on-premises distribution is a self-hosted bundle that you deploy on your own servers with Docker Compose. It runs the same platform as cloud, but inside your network and under your operational control.
The bundle includes every component the platform needs to run:
- the Gaard API
- the classification worker (available in CPU and GPU builds, so you can match the hardware you have)
- MongoDB for operational data
- ClickHouse for analytics
- Redis for coordination
- MinIO for object storage (videos and artifacts)
Key properties:
- Runs in your environment. All video and data stay on infrastructure you own and control. Nothing leaves your network unless you configure an outbound integration.
- Air-gapped installs are supported. Container images can be exported to archive files on a connected machine and loaded onto a disconnected host, so the platform can run with no internet access.
- You control upgrades. You choose when to apply a new release. Each release ships with step-by-step upgrade instructions, including any database migrations, provided by your Gaard contact.
- Runs on your hardware. GPU acceleration is optional: a CPU-only build is available where a GPU is not present.
Choosing a distribution
Section titled “Choosing a distribution”Both distributions deliver the same product. The choice comes down to where your data must live and who operates the platform.
| Consideration | Cloud | On-premises |
|---|---|---|
| Who operates it | Gaard | You |
| Where data lives | Gaard cloud (EU) | Your infrastructure |
| Setup effort | None: sign in and go | Deploy the Docker Compose bundle |
| Updates | Continuous, zero-downtime | You apply releases on your schedule |
| Air-gapped / no internet | Not applicable | Supported |
| Hardware | Managed for you | Your servers (CPU or GPU) |
| Scaling | Managed on demand | Sized by you |
Choose cloud if you want the fastest path to production, automatic updates, and no infrastructure to run, and EU data residency meets your requirements.
Choose on-premises if a policy or regulatory constraint requires video and data to remain inside your own network, if you operate in an air-gapped environment, or if you need full control over when upgrades are applied.
Next steps
Section titled “Next steps”- Security & Data Isolation: how Gaard isolates tenants, scopes tokens, and protects data at rest.
- Data Retention & GDPR: how long data is kept, and how erasure works.
- Core Concepts: tenants, solutions, flows, and the classification lifecycle.