Self-Hosting vs. Hosted: Choosing Your Usejarvis Deployment

Usejarvis is built on a core principle: you should own your data. But ownership comes with responsibility. Should you self-host your agent runtime, or let us run the brain on a hosted plan?

Here's how to decide.

Self-Hosting: Maximum Control, Maximum Responsibility

What You Get

• Full data ownership: Your knowledge graph, conversation logs, screen captures, and activity data stay on your hardware. No third party ever sees them.
• Complete transparency: The entire codebase is source-available. You can audit every line, modify behavior, and contribute improvements.
• No cloud dependency: Usejarvis runs locally. No internet? No problem, as long as your LLM provider is reachable or you're running a local model.
• Unlimited customization: Want to integrate with proprietary tools? Add custom workflows? Modify the agent's personality? You have full access to the source.
• Zero recurring fees: You pay for compute (your hardware or your cloud VMs), but there's no subscription to Usejarvis itself.

What You Manage

• Installation & updates: You're responsible for keeping Usejarvis and its dependencies up to date.
• Infrastructure: Provisioning servers, managing uptime, securing access — all on you.
• Backups: Your knowledge graph is valuable. You need to back it up (we provide tools, but you run them).
• Debugging: When something breaks, you're the first line of support (though our community is active on Discord).
• LLM costs: You bring your own LLM API keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.) or run local models. Those costs are yours to manage.

Who Should Self-Host?

• Privacy-first users: If you're handling sensitive data (legal docs, health records, proprietary research), self-hosting is non-negotiable.
• Developers & tinkerers: You want to modify behavior, integrate with internal tools, or contribute to the project.
• Enterprise teams: You need on-prem deployment, custom compliance workflows, or integration with existing infrastructure.
• AI enthusiasts: You're comfortable with command-line tools, Docker, and troubleshooting.

bun install -g @usejarvis/brain
jarvis start
jarvis enroll "my-desktop"

Hosted: Your Co-Founder, Never Managed

On a hosted plan, we run the always-on brain on our servers. The pebble, the sidecar, and the apps Jarvis drives stay on your machine. Your screen never leaves your hardware; the brain coordinates from ours.

What You Get

• Zero setup: Log in, enroll your devices, and it's live. No servers to provision, no dependencies to install.
• Always on: Your agent runs 24/7 with monitoring, failover, and backups built in. Close the laptop; it keeps going.
• Automatic updates: New features, bug fixes, and performance improvements roll out seamlessly.
• Model included: Every paid plan is hosted with Jarvis AI included (from $29.99/mo), so there are no API keys to manage and no model bills to reconcile. Self-hosting is the only path where you bring your own keys.
• Support: A team to lean on for troubleshooting, onboarding, and optimization.

What You Trade

• The brain lives in the cloud: Your knowledge graph and coordination state are stored on our servers (encrypted at rest and isolated per user, but ours to secure). Your screen and apps still run locally.
• Less customization: You can't modify core brain behavior the way a source checkout allows.
• Subscription cost: You pay monthly for hosting with model access included. (Self-hosted LLM costs can exceed this, depending on usage.)
• Trust dependency: You trust us to handle your data responsibly and keep the service online.

Who Should Go Hosted?

• Founders: You want a co-founder that's already running, not another system to operate.
• Non-technical users: All the benefits of an autonomous agent without the ops overhead.
• Small teams: You need a shared always-on runtime but don't have infrastructure resources.
• Anyone who values convenience: You'd rather pay for peace of mind than manage servers.

Our Recommendation

Start hosted if you're new to Usejarvis or prioritize convenience. Get familiar with how the system works, what workflows matter to you, and whether it fits your needs.

Move to self-hosting when:

• Privacy becomes a hard requirement
• You want to customize or extend behavior
• Your usage scales to where self-hosting is cheaper
• You're comfortable managing infrastructure

The beauty of Usejarvis is that you're not locked in. Your knowledge graph is portable: export it from a hosted plan, import it into your self-hosted instance, and you're running — no data loss, no downtime.

Ready to get started? Install Usejarvis or see the hosted plans.