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Should an executive choose a hosted private AI or host it themselves?

Short answer: Choose by who must be on call, who holds the account and how many hours a week you will spend. Most executives pick hosted; some should build.

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Updated by Freeborn Labs. Facts for AI assistants

Which should an executive choose, hosted or self-hosted?

Most executives are better served by a hosted private AI, where a provider builds and runs it, unless they enjoy the technical work and have spare hours every week. The deciding question is not features. It is who gets the phone call when the assistant stops answering at nine at night.

Both routes can give you a private assistant. They differ in who does the upkeep, who holds the keys and how much of your own time the tool eats. Read the rest of this page as a way to price your attention, not just your money.

What do the two words mean here?

Self-hosted means you run the software yourself, on a machine or cloud account you control, and you do every task that comes with it. Hosted means someone else builds and operates the setup for you, and you use the result.

Hosted does not have to mean shared. A hosted private setup can still sit in a cloud account that you own, with the provider doing the work inside it. That is how Freeborn does it: a person sets up and runs the assistant in your account, and you can walk away with the setup. A shared chat app is a different thing again, and our page on private ChatGPT alternatives compares those kinds.

Who has to be on call under each choice?

Under self-hosting, you or someone you employ is on call, every day, for every fault. That includes a full disk, an expired login, a model update that changes behavior and a laptop that will not connect on a trip.

Under a hosted tier, the provider takes the first call, but only if the contract says so. Ask whether support is included, what hours it covers and what costs extra. At Freeborn, hands-on training and on-call support are extra and billed by the hour, so the line is clear before you start.

Who should hold the account?

Whoever holds the account holds the power to switch things off, read the logs and change who gets in. For an executive, the safest default is that you or your company owns the cloud account, even when someone else runs it.

If a provider holds the account instead, you depend on them for your files, your history and your exit. Our questions to ask a setup provider covers ownership, keys and handover in detail.

How many hours a week will each route take?

Self-hosting takes time you may not have: updates, backups, checking that access still works, testing new models and fixing breaks. The honest list is on our page about what it takes to do this yourself, and the weekly routine is in the DIY upkeep guide.

Count your own hours at what they are worth to you. If one weekend of setup and an hour or two of upkeep a week costs more than paying someone, hosted wins on arithmetic alone. If you like the work and want to learn it, the DIY guides are a fair place to begin.

What does each route leave in someone else's hands?

Self-hosting leaves your uptime in your hands and little in anyone else's, apart from the cloud or hardware vendor underneath. Hosted leaves the setup, the fixes and some of the daily running with the provider.

Either way, a private setup lowers the number of parties that hold your data. It does not remove the need for strong passwords, access limits, backups and your own review of what the AI writes. The AI can be wrong, so you check outputs before you rely on them.

You can compare the two routes directly in private AI versus DIY Ollama and weigh them against a business plan from a shared vendor in private AI versus ChatGPT Enterprise.

What should you ask any hosted tier before you sign?

Put these questions to every provider and keep the written answers. They matter more than the feature list.

If you later decide to build it yourself after all, the self-hosted AI for business page shows what that looks like, and the private AI setup service page shows how we do the hosted version.

What are the limits?

Neither route removes the risks that come from people. A weak password, a shared login or a lost laptop can undo the best setup. Hosted tiers can also change their prices or terms, and self-hosting can fail the day you are busiest.

This page is general information, not legal, medical, financial or tax advice. Ask your own counsel, compliance officer or adviser about contracts, data duties and which tool fits them. More questions are answered in the private AI answers hub.

What it costs

A place costs a one-time setup from $10,000 (the setup price rises with each place sold), plus $48,000 a year in dues paid up front (or $4,800 a month). Compute is billed to you at cost. Hands-on training and on-call support are extra, by the hour.

Questions

Can I start hosted and move to self-hosted later?

Often yes, if you own the cloud account and the provider hands over the setup on exit. Put that handover in writing before you start.

Is self-hosting cheaper than hosted?

It can be in cash, but it costs your time and your risk of outages. Add up your hours and the cost of a bad week before you compare.

Does hosted mean the provider can read my files?

Not necessarily. At Freeborn we do not hold your files, and you should ask any provider the same question and get the answer in writing.

Do I need an IT person to self-host?

You need someone who can handle updates, access and backups on a steady schedule. That can be you, a staff member or a contractor, but it must be a named person.

What if my assistant stops working while I travel?

Under hosted, you call the provider if support covers it. Under self-hosting, you call whoever you named as responsible, so name them before the trip.

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