A full, owned agentic AI platform with enterprise support — vs. an open-source enterprise-search and chat tool you run yourself
Both ibl.ai and Onyx can run on your own infrastructure, so the real question isn't whether you self-host — it's scope, support, and what you can build.
Onyx (formerly Danswer) is an open-source enterprise-search and chat tool. It connects to your apps, runs RAG over your documents, and lets a team self-host it for free — a strong choice if you want transparent, code-available search and have engineers to run it.
ibl.ai is a full, owned agentic AI Operating System: enterprise search plus agents, workflows, learning, and content — model-agnostic across any LLM, with enterprise support, forward-deployed engineering, and compliance built in. This comparison covers where Onyx's open-source focus wins and where ibl.ai's breadth and support matter.
by ibl.ai
Owned agentic AI platformby Onyx (formerly Danswer)
Open-source enterprise search / chat| Criteria | ibl.ai | Onyx |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Search & RAG | Permissions-aware retrieval and RAG over your knowledge as part of a broader platform. | Purpose-built, well-regarded open-source enterprise search and RAG chat. |
| Full Agentic OS (agents, workflows, LMS, content) | Agents, multi-step workflows, AI-native learning, and content generation in one owned platform. | Focused on search and chat; agents and broader workflows are limited. |
| Any-LLM Routing | Run any open or commercial model and route by cost, latency, and capability. | Supports many models you configure; routing is more manual. |
| Connectors & Integrations | Connects via APIs and MCP, with forward-deployed engineers to wire in your systems. | A solid set of open-source connectors to common apps. |
| Criteria | ibl.ai | Onyx |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Source / Code Transparency | You receive and own the full source under license; the platform is yours to run and modify. | Fully open-source and code-available by default. |
| Self-Hosting / On-Prem / Air-Gapped | Runs on your servers, private cloud, or fully air-gapped with zero external calls. | Self-hostable on your own infrastructure, including offline. |
| Data Sovereignty & Privacy | Prompts, documents, and embeddings stay entirely in your environment. | Self-hosted, so your data stays on your infrastructure. |
| Source-Code & Data Ownership | Own the platform code and all data — no vendor lock-in. | Open-source code and self-hosted data; you control both. |
| Criteria | ibl.ai | Onyx |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Support & SLAs | Enterprise support with SLAs; a managed option is also available. | Community support, with paid support via Onyx's cloud/commercial tier. |
| Forward-Deployed Engineering / Services | Engineers deploy, integrate, and build custom agents alongside your team. | Largely self-service; you provide the engineering to deploy and extend it. |
| Compliance (HIPAA / FERPA / SOC 2) | Compliant by design with audit logging across every interaction. | Self-hosting helps, but compliance posture is yours to implement and prove. |
| Time-to-Value | Owned-or-managed deployment with a team to stand it up quickly. | Fast for a technical team to trial; production hardening is on you. |
ibl.ai delivers enterprise search as one capability inside a broader owned platform — agents, workflows, learning, and content — across any LLM, with support and compliance built in.
Onyx is a focused, open-source search-and-chat tool that's excellent when retrieval over your docs is the core need and you have engineers to run it.
Choose Onyx for free, transparent, self-run enterprise search; choose ibl.ai when you need a full agentic platform with support, compliance, and any-LLM breadth.
ibl.ai can be fully owned and self-hosted with enterprise support and forward-deployed engineers — or run managed — so production reliability isn't solely your team's burden.
Onyx is typically run by your own engineers; the open-source core is free, with paid support available through Onyx's commercial offering.
If you have strong in-house engineering and want pure open-source, Onyx fits; if you want ownership plus a partner on the hook, ibl.ai fits.
ibl.ai suits regulated organizations and enterprises that need agents, compliance, support, and model freedom in one owned stack.
Onyx suits teams that want a free, code-available search assistant and are comfortable operating it themselves.
Both keep data on your infrastructure; the decision is scope and support, not whether you can self-host.
ibl.ai pairs ownership with enterprise SLAs, forward-deployed engineering, and HIPAA/FERPA/SOC 2 posture that a self-run open-source tool leaves to you.
Onyx's open-source core gives a transparent, self-hosted search-and-chat tool at no license cost for teams able to run it.
ibl.ai extends beyond search into owned agents, workflows, learning, and content across any LLM.
Onyx is quick for a technical team to trial RAG over internal docs before committing to a broader platform.
Timeline: A few weeks, depending on data sources and integrations
Timeline: Days to weeks for a technical team
See how ibl.ai deploys AI agents you own and control—on your infrastructure, integrated with your systems.