Cloud vs. On-Premise vs. Hybrid: The Architecture Decision for 2026

For years, the IT dogma was "Cloud First". Anyone running their own servers was considered old-fashioned. But in 2025/2026, the wind is turning. Facing AI regulation and exploding cloud costs (egress fees), own infrastructure is experiencing a renaissance – the so-called "Cloud Repatriation".

As an IT decision-maker, you face a complex matrix today: Where should my AI run?

In the public cloud for maximum scalability? Or in my own data center for maximum security?

Syntriq's answer is: Why decide?

TheroAI is "Agnostic by Design". We don't force you into any model. In this article, we analyze the three ways you can operate enterprise AI today – and which way makes sense for whom.

Option 1: Managed Private Cloud (The "Worry-Free" Way)

This is the standard for 80% of our SME customers. You use TheroAI as a SaaS solution, but with a crucial difference from US providers:

* Hosting: We operate your instance on German servers (e.g., Hetzner or STACKIT).

* Isolation: You don't share a database with other customers (Single Tenant).

Pro: Ready to go immediately (Time-to-Value < 24h), no maintenance, no hardware investment.

Contra: Data leaves (legally safe) your premises.

Ideal for: Marketing, HR, Sales, general knowledge management.

Option 2: On-Premise / Self-Hosted (The "Fort Knox" Way)

This is where TheroAI shows its true strength. Because our software is fully containerized, you can run the entire stack in your own infrastructure. We provide you the Docker images – you provide the hardware.

The special part: Thanks to the latest open-weights models (like Llama 3 or Mistral) and quantization, you no longer need data centers. A powerful edge server with a modern NVIDIA card often suffices.

The "15-Minute Deploy":

We've optimized TheroAI so it starts via docker-compose up. It connects locally to your file servers (SMB), Confluence, or SharePoint On-Prem.

Pro: Data never leaves the company network (air-gapped possible). Maximum compliance. No ongoing API costs per token.

Contra: You must maintain and administer the hardware.

Ideal for: Defense industry, Government agencies, Law firms, Research & Development.

Option 3: Hybrid (The "Best of Both Worlds" Way)

For many companies, the hybrid approach is the royal road in 2026.

* The data (vector database & index) sits locally on your server. This keeps you in control of your knowledge.

* The inference (the "thinking") happens via a secure API to a German cloud LLM (e.g., Aleph Alpha or our hosted models), with data anonymized before sending.

Pro: You harness the massive power of large cloud models without uploading terabytes of data.

Contra: Somewhat more complex firewall setup.

Comparison Table: What Fits You?

Conclusion: Flexibility Is the Only Security

Nobody knows what regulation will look like in 2028. Anyone who locks themselves into a proprietary US cloud today (vendor lock-in) might have a problem later.

With TheroAI's container architecture, you stay flexible. Start in the cloud today – and move to your own servers tomorrow if needs grow. Or vice versa.

Your AI strategy should adapt to your needs, not the other way around.

Unsure About Sizing?

Do I need an H100 GPU or is an A4000 enough? How much RAM does the vector database need for 500,000 documents?

Let us plan your infrastructure before you spend money.

👉 Schedule Architecture Review with CTO Thies Jensen Now