Self-hosted licensing is for teams that want to run BackgroundErase on their own hardware and inside their own environment. Instead of depending on the public hosted API for each request, your team deploys the model wherever it makes the most sense for your workflow: a private server, your own cloud provider, a GPU box, an internal Kubernetes cluster, or even a local workstation such as a MacBook for smaller-scale internal use.
This licensing path is usually the best fit for organizations that want tighter operational control, private deployment flexibility, or a runtime that sits entirely inside their own infrastructure boundary.
Simple summary: self-hosted licensing lets your organization run BackgroundErase on infrastructure you control, with yearly or perpetual licensing options and an optional maintenance package for enterprise support.
What self-hosted means
In a self-hosted model, the BackgroundErase runtime lives in your environment rather than ours. That means your team is responsible for where it runs, how it scales, how it plugs into your broader application stack, and how it is exposed to internal or external systems.
For some customers, this is mainly about control. For others, it is about privacy, procurement policy, predictable infrastructure behavior, or reducing dependence on an external runtime path. Either way, the main appeal is the same: your team decides where and how the model runs.
Where customers typically run it
Self-hosted does not mean one single deployment style. It can fit a wide range of environments depending on the size and maturity of the customer:
- Local servers: useful for teams with on-prem infrastructure or internal media systems
- Private cloud: ideal for teams that want to run on their own AWS, GCP, or Azure footprint
- Dedicated GPU boxes: a common fit for high-throughput batch processing or specialized internal tools
- Workstations and laptops: sometimes appropriate for smaller internal workflows, demos, local tooling, or engineering use
- Containerized deployments: useful for teams integrating the model into a broader production platform
The deployment target depends less on a hard rule and more on what your organization actually needs operationally.
Why teams choose self-hosted
Self-hosted licensing is attractive because it gives teams a different kind of freedom than a hosted API. Instead of thinking in terms of per-request cloud usage, the customer can think in terms of infrastructure ownership, deployment control, and internal workflow fit.
- Run the model entirely inside your own stack
- Choose your own hardware and scaling strategy
- Keep inference closer to internal systems
- Avoid per-call hosted API dependency in the runtime path
- Fit the model into private or procurement-sensitive environments
Common motivation: customers often want the model to live where the rest of their production system already lives, instead of routing every request through a third-party hosted endpoint.
Best fit use cases
Self-hosted licensing is usually the strongest fit for teams with server-side workflows or internal media operations. Common examples include:
- SaaS backends integrating background removal as a service layer
- Internal media pipelines and catalog operations
- Marketplaces or listing systems processing large batches of images
- Organizations that want private deployment on their own cloud
- Teams with procurement or compliance reasons to avoid a public hosted path
- Businesses that already operate GPU infrastructure internally
Yearly and perpetual licensing
Self-hosted licensing is available in both yearly and perpetual forms.
A yearly license is often the better fit for teams that want a lower upfront commitment, a cleaner annual budgeting cycle, or more flexibility as their deployment evolves. A perpetual license is often the better fit for teams that want a long-term licensing path with a one-time purchase model for the core runtime rights.
Which one makes more sense usually depends on internal budgeting preferences, rollout horizon, and whether the team expects the licensing decision to behave more like software subscription or capital-style platform investment.
Optional maintenance and enterprise support
Both yearly and perpetual self-hosted licenses can come with an optional maintenance package. This is generally the right choice for customers who want a more active relationship after deployment rather than just a raw model handoff.
A maintenance package can include enterprise support, rollout guidance, upgrade help, deployment assistance, and a stronger support path if the self-hosted system becomes an important part of a production workflow.
- Enterprise support access
- Help with deployment and rollout questions
- Assistance with upgrades and future revisions
- More predictable long-term support coverage
- Better fit for business-critical deployments
Good rule of thumb: if the self-hosted deployment will become important to a real business workflow, maintenance is usually worth considering.
Self-hosted versus hosted API
The main difference between self-hosted and the public API is not just pricing. It is where the runtime lives. With the hosted API, BackgroundErase manages the runtime path and your team calls it as a service. With self-hosted, your team runs the inference environment itself.
Some organizations prefer the convenience of a hosted API. Others prefer the control and deployment flexibility of a self-hosted model. This page is for the second group.
When self-hosted is usually better than on-device
Self-hosted is usually the better licensing path when inference needs to happen on servers you control rather than inside a mobile app. If your workflow is mainly backend-driven, batch-oriented, or part of a larger internal platform, self-hosted is usually more natural than on-device packaging.
On-device is the better fit when the model needs to live inside a user-facing iOS or Android application. Self-hosted is the better fit when the model needs to live inside your infrastructure.
Operational planning still matters
Even though self-hosted gives your team more control, it also means your organization needs to think more carefully about deployment shape, scaling, rollout planning, monitoring, and how the model fits into the rest of your platform. That is why many customers pair self-hosted licensing with enterprise support or a maintenance package rather than treating it as a simple one-time download.
For many teams, the value of self-hosted is strongest when it is rolled out as part of a real infrastructure strategy and not just as a raw runtime artifact.
Related licensing paths
If you are comparing deployment models, you may also want to review the broader licensing overview and the on-device path before making a final decision.
The simplest version
Self-hosted licensing lets your organization run BackgroundErase on infrastructure you control, including local servers, private cloud deployments, dedicated hardware, or internal workstations. It is available with yearly or perpetual licensing, with optional maintenance for enterprise support.
Contact sales
If your team wants to run BackgroundErase on its own infrastructure, visit backgrounderase.com/enterprise and tell us what kind of environment you want to deploy in.