| Data & offline access | Keep processing on site. Fully offline operation needs the entire workflow to run locally. | Requires connectivity and agreement on provider location, retention and access. | Keep sensitive tasks local. Define exactly what may leave for external processing. |
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| Cost & workload | Assess against steady use; lease or hardware, energy and support costs continue when idle. | Usage charges can suit occasional work and bursts; compare costs at your expected volume. | Budget for local capacity, external usage and the work of connecting both. |
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| Models & response time | Choose compatible open models within memory and concurrency limits. Benchmark your actual tasks. | Access hosted models; account for rate limits, network delay and provider changes. | Select models by task. Test quality, response time and the offline fallback. |
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| Operations & ownership | Assign responsibility for updates, access, backups and hardware maintenance. | Provider-managed infrastructure; your team still manages access, integration and output review. | Maintain both environments, routing rules and recovery when a service is unavailable. |
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