Cloud vs On-Premise
What is On-Premise?
On-premise refers to a software and hardware infrastructural setup, deployed and running on the premises of your organization, rather than at a remote facility (such as cloud). You have complete control over your data as well as the infrastructural set up. Data stays in your private network (intranet), nobody other than your organization's users has access to the information. Once the software is purchased and downloaded, it is then installed on your servers. With no third-party involvement, you assume complete ownership and need not rely on internet connection or external factors to access your software.
Key differences between Cloud and On-Premise
- Essentially, the fundamental difference between cloud and on-premise software is where the software resides or where it is hosted. On-premise software is installed locally on your organization’s servers, whereas cloud software is hosted on the vendor’s server and accessed via a web browser.
- When compared to cloud software, on premise is more flexible, reliable, and secure. On the other hand, cloud software eases the pressure of maintaining and updating systems, allowing you to focus your time, effort and money into fulfilling your core business strategies.
- Cloud software requires a reliable internet connection, whereas in on-premise, you need not rely on internet connection or external factors to access your software.
Therefore, choosing between cloud and on-premise depends on your organization's requirements, which eventually influences the selection of a suitable deployment strategy.
Feature availability - Cloud and On-premis
| Module | Feature | Cloud | On-Premise |
| Account Setup | Email Management - Domain Authentication | Yes | Not supported |
| Account Setup | Email Management - Domain Restriction | Yes | Not supported |
| Account Setup | Connections | Yes | Only Clickatell is supported |
| Account Setup | Marketplace | Yes | Not supported |
| Account Setup | SAML Authentication | Yes | Yes |
| Account Setup | Backup/Restore account | Not supported | Yes |
| Account Setup | Payment gateway | Yes | Not supported |
| Account Setup | Zoho Directory integration | Yes | Not supported |
| App creation | Using gallery app (template) | Yes | Yes |
| Application Settings | Widgets | Yes | Supported. However, there is no support for internal hosting. |
| Application Settings | Federated Sign-in | Yes | Supported |
| Application Settings | Download and publish rebranded mobile applications | Yes | Supported on-demand |
| Application Settings | Multi-language support (localization) | Yes | Google translate is not supported. Can manually translate all supported languages. |
| Form Properties | Email data | Yes | Not supported for both cases — Allow from everyone and Allow only from application users |
| Forms | Integrations form | Yes | Not supported |
| Field types | Integration fields | Yes | Not supported |
| Field types | AI fields | Yes | Not supported |
| In-built Integrations | PayPal, iCal Feed, Box, Dropbox, GDrive, OneDrive, Zoho Docs, WordPress | Yes | Not supported |
| Reports | Pivot chart | Yes | Can be supported using Zoho Analytics On-premise |
| Reports | Pivot table | Yes | Can be supported using Zoho Analytics On-premise |
| Workflows | Email notifications | Yes | Yes, via your email client; for PDF attachments, max file size is 15 MB |
| Workflows | SMS notifications | Yes | Yes, subject to your network permission |
| Workflows | Mobile push notifications | Yes | Not supported |
| Workflows | Payment | Yes | Not supported |
| Workflows, API | External calls (webhooks and integration tasks) | Yes | Yes, subject to your network permission |
| Deluge tasks | AI tasks | Yes | Not supported |
| General | Unified data service (Microservices) | Yes | Not supported |
| General | Email Server (SMTP) | Not supported | Yes |
| General | Design apps for the web, mobile, and tablet | Yes | Yes |
| General | Application Lifecycle Management | Yes | Not supported |
| General | Zoho Flow | Yes | Not supported |
Note: The following features are cloud-specific and hence, not applicable to On-premise:
- My Developers
- Developer Zone
- Workspace
- App filtering based on workspace
Native and other in-app mobile features
| Common features | Cloud | On-Premise | ||
| iOS | Android | iOS | Android | |
| Navigation from map reports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Push notifications | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| State restoration | Yes | No | No | No |
| Launching Zia Search from List Reports | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Multi-window support for iPad (iOS 13) | Yes | — | No | — |
| Siri shortcuts (iOS 13) | Yes | — | No | — |
| Spotlight search (iOS 13) | Yes | — | No | — |
| App shortcuts (Android) | Yes | — | No | — |