Own the models, data, and code behind your enterprise AI on your own servers — vs. a per-seat work assistant and search delivered as managed SaaS
Self-hosted AI runs on infrastructure you control — your own servers, your private cloud, or a fully air-gapped network. You own the code, the data, and the models, you can run any LLM, and you can build production agents on top of your own knowledge.
Glean is a managed enterprise-search and work-assistant platform. It indexes your company knowledge across 100+ connectors — docs, chat, email, tickets — and layers permissions-aware search, an assistant, and agents on top, delivered as a SaaS (with a VPC option) on models Glean manages.
Glean's strength is fast, polished enterprise search across the SaaS tools you already use, with little setup. Self-hosted AI's strength is ownership, model freedom, air-gapped deployment, flat cost at scale, and a full agentic platform you control. This comparison covers both — and when each is the right call.
by ibl.ai
Owned agentic AI platformby Glean
Enterprise AI search / work assistant| Criteria | Self-Hosted AI | Glean |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Search Out-of-the-Box | Strong permissions-aware retrieval once deployed; you configure the sources and ranking you need. | Polished, permissions-aware search across connected SaaS tools from day one. |
| Prebuilt Connectors | Connects to your systems via APIs and MCP, with forward-deployed engineers to wire them up. | 100+ prebuilt connectors across common SaaS apps out of the box. |
| Custom Agents & Workflows | Build and own production agents and multi-step workflows tailored to your processes. | Capable agent builder, bounded by the platform's hosted model and runtime. |
| Any-LLM & Model Control | Run any open or commercial model, route by cost/latency/capability, and switch anytime. | Runs on models Glean selects and manages; limited customer control over the model layer. |
| Criteria | Self-Hosted AI | Glean |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Hosting / On-Prem / Air-Gapped | Run on your servers, private cloud, or fully air-gapped with zero external calls. | Primarily managed SaaS; a VPC option exists, but it is not a fully owned, air-gapped deployment. |
| Data Sovereignty & Privacy | Prompts, documents, and embeddings never leave your environment. | Enterprise controls and a VPC option help, but the platform is operated by the vendor. |
| Model Choice | Any LLM — open-source or commercial — under your control. | Model selection is managed by Glean, not chosen and swapped by the customer. |
| Source Code & Platform Ownership | Own the full platform code; no lock-in to a vendor's roadmap or hosting. | You rent access; the platform, models, and roadmap belong to the vendor. |
| Criteria | Self-Hosted AI | Glean |
|---|---|---|
| Time-to-Value | Requires infrastructure and setup, or a partner to deploy and manage it for you. | Connect your SaaS tools and search across them within days. |
| Cost at Scale | Flat, usage-based cost on owned compute — no per-seat fees as headcount grows. | Per-seat licensing; cost rises with every employee you add. |
| Compliance Fit (HIPAA / FedRAMP / FERPA) | Data stays in your perimeter and every interaction is logged for audit. | Strong enterprise compliance coverage under shared-responsibility SaaS terms. |
| Support & Maintenance | Self-managed, or fully supported with forward-deployed engineers. | Fully managed by Glean with enterprise support. |
Self-hosted AI lets you index your knowledge, run any model offline, build owned agents on top, and keep every prompt and document inside your walls — essential under strict data-residency or air-gap requirements.
Glean excels at fast, permissions-aware search across the SaaS tools employees already use, with 100+ connectors and an assistant that works out of the box.
Choose Glean for the quickest cross-SaaS enterprise search with minimal setup; choose self-hosted AI when ownership, model freedom, and air-gapped privacy matter most.
Self-hosting replaces per-seat licensing with flat cost on compute you own, so a workforce-wide rollout doesn't scale linearly with headcount.
Glean's per-seat model is predictable per user but grows with every employee added across a large organization.
For organization-wide deployment, owned infrastructure is often far cheaper than per-seat search at scale.
Run a self-hosted platform for sensitive, high-volume, or custom-agent workloads you need to own and for any-LLM flexibility.
Keep Glean for broad cross-SaaS search where its connectors and out-of-box polish help.
Some organizations pair a managed search layer with a self-hosted, model-agnostic platform for private, owned AI agents — the owned platform is where sovereignty and cost control live.
Self-hosting keeps data in your environment, supporting HIPAA, FedRAMP, FERPA, residency, and air-gap requirements a managed SaaS cannot fully meet.
Glean's 100+ connectors and permissions-aware search deliver immediate value across the tools employees already use.
Flat, usage-based cost on owned compute avoids per-seat fees that scale with every employee.
Owning the platform lets you build, route, and tune production agents across any model — beyond a managed assistant's bounds.
Timeline: A few weeks, depending on infrastructure and MLOps maturity
Timeline: Days to a couple of weeks
See how ibl.ai deploys AI agents you own and control—on your infrastructure, integrated with your systems.