What “hosted” and “private” usually mean
Hosted typically means the model API or managed service runs in the provider’s cloud under an enterprise agreement. Private usually means VPC, on-prem, or dedicated tenancy where your team controls networking and keys.
Neither mode removes the need for access control, evaluation sets, and human approval on high-stakes outputs.
Decision criteria that matter
Score the use case on data classification, residency rules, latency, cost predictability, and how fast you need a go/no-go. A due-diligence data room and a marketing copy assistant rarely share the same answer.
If security review will block any external API, do not waste a hosted pilot calendar—design private from discovery.
A common enterprise path
Run a narrow hosted pilot on sanctioned data to prove workflow value in 2–4 weeks, then plan private deployment for production if controls require it.
FocusKPI’s technology approach selects models per task and aligns deployment with compliance—not a single-vendor lock-in.