Comparison · 2026
On-premise vs cloud video AI
Both approaches can answer questions about footage. They differ on who holds your recordings, what happens when the connection drops, and what you pay in year five.
Side by side
| On-premise | Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $1,200 once, per machine | Per camera, per month, forever |
| Cameras included | Unlimited on the machine | Each one billed separately |
| Where footage lives | Your building only | Vendor infrastructure |
| Works with no internet | Yes, including alerts | No |
| Question metering | None | Often per query or per credit |
| Data retention control | Yours, on your drives | Vendor policy |
The five-year arithmetic
Take a modest fourteen-camera shop. At a typical cloud rate of $20 per camera per month, that is $280 a month, $3,360 a year, and $16,800 over five years — and it keeps running. The same site on-premise is $1,200 once for the machine licence, whether it has fourteen cameras or a hundred.
Multi-site operators feel this hardest, because cloud pricing multiplies by camera and by location at the same time.
Privacy is not a feature you can bolt on later
Footage of customers and staff is some of the most sensitive data a business holds. On- premise removes the question of vendor access entirely: there is no account, no password shared with a provider, and no copy of your recordings anywhere else. Faces are only ever named by you, from your own recordings, and that labelling never leaves the machine.
When cloud still makes sense
If you have one or two cameras, no space for a machine, and no intention of reviewing footage more than a few times a year, a subscription is simpler. Past that — more cameras, more sites, or footage you would rather not hand over — the on-premise math and the privacy position both flip.
Frequently asked
- Is on-premise video AI cheaper than cloud?
- For anything past a handful of cameras, yes. Cloud video AI is priced per camera per month, so cost grows with every camera and never stops. On-premise is $1,200 once per machine with unlimited cameras on it, so the total stops growing after install.
- What happens to cloud video AI when the internet drops?
- Search, analytics and alerts stop, because the processing happens elsewhere. An on-premise system keeps indexing and alerting because the machine doing the work is in the building.
- Does on-premise mean I lose remote access?
- No. You reach the machine the same way you reach any device on your own network, without your recordings being copied to a third party to make that possible.
Keep reading
- AI security camera search
What it indexes and what you can ask it.
- Works with your NVR
Keep the cameras and recorder you already own.