Licensed to be used in conjunction with basebox, only.
// start
Which basebox environment am I using?
Applies to
Product: Cloud · Server · Audience: All
basebox comes as basebox Cloud and as basebox Server. They do not differ in the interface, but in who owns the hardware, where it stands and who operates it. Many technical pages in this documentation apply to only one of them – so it pays to know your own environment.
Cloud and Server differ in hardware, location and operation
| basebox Cloud | basebox Server | |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the hardware | FAST LTA, basebox's hardware partner; basebox operates the servers | Your organization – server from FAST LTA or hardware of your choice |
| Where it stands | noris network data center, Munich East | Your data center or basebox data center (by default noris network, Munich) |
| Separation | Own environment and own user management per organization | A server belongs to exactly one organization |
| Who operates it | basebox | You – or basebox, where separately commissioned |
| Who administers the application | You | You |
| Updates | basebox | You – or basebox, where commissioned |
Cloud transition phase until November 2026
Cloud accounts created before the Cloud start in November 2026 – including via "Get started for free" – run until the move in a shared environment at Hetzner in Nuremberg with AI models from Google Vertex in Frankfurt, logically separated from each other. basebox moves them into the Cloud. Details: basebox Cloud (transition phase until November 2026).
The one confusion to avoid
A server in the basebox data center is not Cloud.
If your organization has a server of its own that physically stands at basebox, you are using basebox Server – with the hosting option "basebox data center". The server is yours or assigned to you, nobody shares it with you, and the Server documentation applies to you. Cloud, by contrast, means servers operated by basebox on which several customers have separate environments.
So the location of the hardware does not determine the product. The product is Cloud or Server; hardware source, location and operation are properties of a Server, not products of their own.
Four questions instead of one label
Instead of labels like "On-Prem", "Hosted" or "Self-hosted", this documentation always describes a Server environment through four questions:
- Product: Cloud or Server?
- Hardware: sourced through FAST LTA or hardware of your choice (platform only)?
- Location: your own data center or the basebox data center?
- Operation: self-managed or operated by basebox?
Every combination is possible. If the AI models come from a location other than basebox, this is called hybrid; that is a Server too. A self-procured server in your own data center, operated by you, is just as much "basebox Server" as a FAST LTA system at basebox that basebox operates.
How to find out
If you are not sure which environment you are using:
- Ask your administrators or your organization's IT.
- In basebox, open the user menu at the bottom left and choose Version Info. The On-Premise-Modus line shows whether this is a Server installation.
- Look at the address at which you open basebox. For a Server, your IT or basebox sets it for your organization; your administrators know it.
- If your organization created its account via "Get started for free" or as a Cloud account before November 2026, you are using the Cloud in the transition phase.
Read on
- basebox Cloud – production at basebox
- basebox Cloud (transition phase until November 2026) – accounts created before the Cloud start
- basebox Server – a server for your organization only
- Reviewing data protection and security? Go straight to Security → Deployment models.
Next step: Cloud or Server – which fits?