Self-hosting or cloud?
Both are right, for different organisations. The question is not which sounds safer, but who can sustain the operation over time.
What speaks for running it yourself.
The data never leaves the building
For public authorities, defence, critical utilities or research this is often not a preference but a requirement. Where the requirement exists, the trade-off no longer arises.
No data processing agreement needed
Nobody processes on your behalf, so the agreement under Article 28 falls away. That noticeably simplifies your data protection paperwork.
Operation without an internet connection
In isolated networks this is the only possibility at all. A cloud solution simply cannot be deployed there.
Independent of the provider's continued existence
The installation keeps running even if something changes at the provider. It is an argument that is rarely spoken aloud, but it counts over long contract terms.
What speaks against it, honestly costed.
Somebody has to be responsible, permanently
Not setting it up once, but month after month: applying updates, renewing certificates, reading the logs. If that person falls ill or changes employer, somebody else has to be able to take over.
Backups that can genuinely be restored
A backup that has never been restored is an assumption. A real test once a year is part of the job; otherwise you discover in an emergency that it has been running empty for months.
Resilience costs twice
A single server is a single point of failure. Anyone who wants resilience needs two, and that is where the real effort begins. Four hours without access to passwords brings a company to a standstill.
The arithmetic often does not work out
Below roughly fifty users, running it yourself is almost always more expensive than the cloud once working time is honestly included. Below that threshold, usually only a requirement speaks for it, not the price.
The most common misconception.
Many consider in-house operation safer because the data sits in their own building. That holds only as long as the operation is genuinely maintained. A server whose updates have been left untouched for eight months is more exposed than a maintained cloud. With a zero-knowledge solution there is the further point that the provider cannot read the content anyway. The difference then no longer lies in confidentiality, but in availability and in the question of who is responsible in an emergency. Anyone who looks at that soberly often decides differently from their first instinct.
Common questions. Clear answers.
Your question is not here? Write to us, we answer personally.
From what size is running it yourself worthwhile?
Purely economically, rarely below fifty users once working time is honestly included. Below that, the decision is as a rule driven by a requirement from your sector, from data protection or from a contract with a large customer, not by the cost calculation.
What do I need technically?
A server or a virtual machine, a database, a valid certificate for the internal address and a fixed place in your backup plan. The specific requirements for FidenoVault are on the page covering both deployment models.
Can I switch later?
With FidenoVault, yes, in both directions, by exporting and importing the entries. Plan a maintenance window in which nobody is working, so that no change is lost. With any provider, check beforehand whether a complete export is possible.
Are both variants equally secure?
The encryption is the same; in both cases it happens on the user's device. The difference lies in operation: who updates, who backs up, who reads the log. In the cloud we do it, in your own building you do. The answer follows from that, not from the technology.
What happens if our server fails?
Then nobody reaches their credentials until it runs again. That is why serious in-house operation includes either a second server or a rehearsed restart with a clear time commitment. The question of how long a standstill is bearable should be answered before deployment.
Enterprise Security. No Compromise.
Register for our next free, no-obligation live webinar and see how FidenoVault protects your logins.
- Zero-knowledge
- European sovereignty
- GDPR-compliant
