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Lightdash Cloud vs. Self-Hosted

Lightdash is open-source and licensed under the MIT license. This means that you are free to self-host Lightdash on your own infrastructure but without any warranty or support from the Lightdash team.

Self-hosting is great for hobbyist projects or if you want to go wild with a completely custom implementation (maybe you'd prefer the whole app was translated into pirate-speak). For most companies and teams, we recommend Lightdash Cloud.

To self-host Lightdash securely in production, you should have an excellent understanding of running services with Docker and kubernetes, as well as the security considerations.

If you're unsure whether to self-host or use Lightdash Cloud, here are some things to consider:

When to use Lightdash Cloud​

Unless you have a specific need to self-host, we recommend using Lightdash Cloud:

  • Suitable for most teams
  • Get started with Lightdash quickly
  • Secure and reliable out-of-the-box.
  • No need to maintain your own infrastructure.
  • Always have the latest version of Lightdash.
  • Incredible support from the core Lightdash team and maintainers.

When to self-host​

There are a few reasons why you might want to self-host Lightdash:

  • You're a large enterprise and want to run a proof-of-concept on your own infrastructure. This can be a great way to get your hands on Lightdash, while your infosec team approves the use of Lightdash Cloud.
  • You're a hobbyist and want to run Lightdash on your own infrastructure.
  • You want to customise Lightdash to your specific needs.