Comparison

Cloud vs Desktop

Same product, two deployments. Same FastAPI backend, same Next.js UI, same 10-tool agent loop. The only swaps are: where the LLM runs, where the data lives, and how often you talk to idbquery.com.

Try cloud free Request desktop access

Section 1

Data residency

Feature	Cloud	Desktop
Where customer data lives	Intrazero servers + customer sources	Customer machine only
Database credentials transit Intrazero	Yes	No
Data sent to a managed AI service	Yes	No
Verifiable with packet sniffer	No	Yes
FedRAMP / HIPAA / classified networks	Requires extra work	Yes

Where customer data lives

Cloud: Intrazero servers + customer sources
Desktop: Customer machine only

Database credentials transit Intrazero

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: No

Data sent to a managed AI service

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: No

Verifiable with packet sniffer

Cloud: No
Desktop: Yes

FedRAMP / HIPAA / classified networks

Cloud: Requires extra work
Desktop: Yes

Section 2

LLM and embeddings

Feature	Cloud	Desktop
AI engine	Managed cloud AI	On-device, open-source
Embeddings	Managed cloud embeddings	On-device embeddings
Multimodal (image / audio / video)	Yes	Available on select on-device models
Tool calling	Native, frontier-tier	Native — verified by built-in self-test on your hardware
Throughput	~100+ tok/s	~18 tok/s on 16 GB M1; ~45 tok/s on 32 GB; ~60 tok/s with RTX 4090

AI engine

Cloud: Managed cloud AI
Desktop: On-device, open-source

Embeddings

Cloud: Managed cloud embeddings
Desktop: On-device embeddings

Multimodal (image / audio / video)

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Available on select on-device models

Tool calling

Cloud: Native, frontier-tier
Desktop: Native — verified by built-in self-test on your hardware

Throughput

Cloud: ~100+ tok/s
Desktop: ~18 tok/s on 16 GB M1; ~45 tok/s on 32 GB; ~60 tok/s with RTX 4090

Section 3

Connectivity and offline

Feature	Cloud	Desktop
Internet required	Yes	Once a week (Standard) / never (Air-Gapped)
First-launch experience	Open browser, sign in	Install + log in once + admin enables you
Offline grace period	No	7 days fully functional, 7-14 days read-only, 14+ days locked
Air-gap deployment	No	Yes (Air-Gapped Enterprise SKU)
Auto-update	Always latest	Tauri updater (can be disabled)

Internet required

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Once a week (Standard) / never (Air-Gapped)

First-launch experience

Cloud: Open browser, sign in
Desktop: Install + log in once + admin enables you

Offline grace period

Cloud: No
Desktop: 7 days fully functional, 7-14 days read-only, 14+ days locked

Air-gap deployment

Cloud: No
Desktop: Yes (Air-Gapped Enterprise SKU)

Auto-update

Cloud: Always latest
Desktop: Tauri updater (can be disabled)

Section 4

Features and integrations

Feature	Cloud	Desktop
Local file sources (Excel, CSV, SQLite, DuckDB)	Yes	Yes
LAN database sources	Requires tunnel / VPN	Direct LAN reachability
Cloud warehouse sources (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift)	Yes	Yes (direct from desktop, customer chooses)
ERP connectors (Maconomy, Procore, Aconex)	Yes	Yes (needs vendor API reachability)
BIM connectors (Autodesk APS, Speckle)	Yes	Yes (needs vendor API reachability)
Embedded 3D viewer in chat	Yes — Forge Viewer (APS) + native Speckle SDK viewer in a split layout	Yes — same SDK viewer, runs locally
AI-driven 3D highlight / isolate / color	Yes — LLM tools highlight, isolate, color, or filter objects in 3D from chat	Yes — same tools, model stays on-device
Click-to-explain in 3D viewer	Yes — click any object → 'Ask about it' chip pre-fills a question with metadata	Yes
Speckle live re-sync (webhooks)	Yes — opt-in per source	Yes — webhook callback hits the local backend
Folder ingest (PDF, DOCX, TXT)	Yes	Yes
Report builder + PDF export	Yes	Yes (bundled Playwright Chromium)
Embedded 3D viewer report widget	Yes — speckle_view widget with optional SQL object_filter	Yes
Workspace sharing & RBAC	Yes	Local-only workspaces; no team sharing

Local file sources (Excel, CSV, SQLite, DuckDB)

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Yes

LAN database sources

Cloud: Requires tunnel / VPN
Desktop: Direct LAN reachability

Cloud warehouse sources (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift)

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Yes (direct from desktop, customer chooses)

ERP connectors (Maconomy, Procore, Aconex)

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Yes (needs vendor API reachability)

BIM connectors (Autodesk APS, Speckle)

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Yes (needs vendor API reachability)

Embedded 3D viewer in chat

Cloud: Yes — Forge Viewer (APS) + native Speckle SDK viewer in a split layout
Desktop: Yes — same SDK viewer, runs locally

AI-driven 3D highlight / isolate / color

Cloud: Yes — LLM tools highlight, isolate, color, or filter objects in 3D from chat
Desktop: Yes — same tools, model stays on-device

Click-to-explain in 3D viewer

Cloud: Yes — click any object → 'Ask about it' chip pre-fills a question with metadata
Desktop: Yes

Speckle live re-sync (webhooks)

Cloud: Yes — opt-in per source
Desktop: Yes — webhook callback hits the local backend

Folder ingest (PDF, DOCX, TXT)

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Yes

Report builder + PDF export

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Yes (bundled Playwright Chromium)

Embedded 3D viewer report widget

Cloud: Yes — speckle_view widget with optional SQL object_filter
Desktop: Yes

Workspace sharing & RBAC

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Local-only workspaces; no team sharing

Section 5

Auth and admin

Feature	Cloud	Desktop
Login	Email/password + SSO	Same idbquery.com account, OS keychain caches a 7-day JWT
Admin entitlement	Workspace plan + seat	Per-user desktop_enabled flag, set by admin
Device limit	n/a	Default 2 devices per seat (admin-configurable)
Instant revoke	Yes	Yes — effective on next refresh (max 24h)
Audit log	Yes	Yes — all desktop auth events logged on cloud

Cloud: Email/password + SSO
Desktop: Same idbquery.com account, OS keychain caches a 7-day JWT

Admin entitlement

Cloud: Workspace plan + seat
Desktop: Per-user desktop_enabled flag, set by admin

Device limit

Cloud: n/a
Desktop: Default 2 devices per seat (admin-configurable)

Instant revoke

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Yes — effective on next refresh (max 24h)

Audit log

Cloud: Yes
Desktop: Yes — all desktop auth events logged on cloud

Section 6

Hardware and pricing

Feature	Cloud	Desktop
Hardware needed	Any modern browser	8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB recommended, 32 GB+ for the bigger models
Disk footprint	~0	~3-15 GB depending on model + ~15 GB extra on Air-Gapped (bundled weights)
Pricing	Free / Pro / Enterprise	Bundled with Enterprise (Standard) · quoted separately (Air-Gapped)

Hardware needed

Cloud: Any modern browser
Desktop: 8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB recommended, 32 GB+ for the bigger models

Disk footprint

Cloud: ~0
Desktop: ~3-15 GB depending on model + ~15 GB extra on Air-Gapped (bundled weights)

Pricing

Cloud: Free / Pro / Enterprise
Desktop: Bundled with Enterprise (Standard) · quoted separately (Air-Gapped)

Decision tree

Which one is right for you?

A short, opinionated guide. If you can't pick after this, talk to us — we'd rather you pick the right thing than the wrong thing.

Pick Cloud if…

✓Your team is on the Free or Pro plan and the cloud privacy posture is fine.
✓You need sub-second LLM responses and can't trade latency for privacy.
✓Your data is already in cloud warehouses (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift).
✓You want frictionless team collaboration: shared workspaces, RBAC, public report links.
✓You don't have an admin to enable per-user desktop entitlements.
✓Your laptops have less than 8 GB of RAM.

Start cloud free

Pick Desktop if…

✓Your data-residency policy forbids customer data from leaving your infrastructure.
✓You're in banking, healthcare, legal, defense, or public sector.
✓You need to ingest sensitive PDFs / scanned documents that can't go to a third-party API.
✓Your security team wants to verify zero outbound traffic with a packet sniffer.
✓You're deploying inside a regulated network (FedRAMP, HIPAA, classified).
✓You need air-gap operation — no internet, ever (Air-Gapped Enterprise SKU).

Request desktop access

Still on the fence?

Tell us about your environment and we'll help you pick the right deployment.

Talk to us Contact us

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Feature

Cloud

Desktop

Where customer data lives

Intrazero servers + customer sources

Customer machine only

Database credentials transit Intrazero

Yes

Data sent to a managed AI service

Yes

Verifiable with packet sniffer

Yes

FedRAMP / HIPAA / classified networks

Requires extra work

Yes

Feature

Cloud

Desktop

AI engine

Managed cloud AI

On-device, open-source

Embeddings

Managed cloud embeddings

On-device embeddings

Multimodal (image / audio / video)

Yes

Available on select on-device models

Tool calling

Native, frontier-tier

Native — verified by built-in self-test on your hardware

Throughput

~100+ tok/s

~18 tok/s on 16 GB M1; ~45 tok/s on 32 GB; ~60 tok/s with RTX 4090

Feature

Cloud

Desktop

Internet required

Yes

Once a week (Standard) / never (Air-Gapped)

First-launch experience

Open browser, sign in

Install + log in once + admin enables you

Offline grace period

7 days fully functional, 7-14 days read-only, 14+ days locked

Air-gap deployment

Yes (Air-Gapped Enterprise SKU)

Auto-update

Always latest

Tauri updater (can be disabled)

Feature

Cloud

Desktop

Local file sources (Excel, CSV, SQLite, DuckDB)

Yes

LAN database sources

Requires tunnel / VPN

Direct LAN reachability

Cloud warehouse sources (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift)

Yes

Yes (direct from desktop, customer chooses)

ERP connectors (Maconomy, Procore, Aconex)

Yes

Yes (needs vendor API reachability)

BIM connectors (Autodesk APS, Speckle)

Yes

Yes (needs vendor API reachability)

Embedded 3D viewer in chat

Yes — Forge Viewer (APS) + native Speckle SDK viewer in a split layout

Yes — same SDK viewer, runs locally

AI-driven 3D highlight / isolate / color

Yes — LLM tools highlight, isolate, color, or filter objects in 3D from chat

Yes — same tools, model stays on-device

Click-to-explain in 3D viewer

Yes — click any object → 'Ask about it' chip pre-fills a question with metadata

Yes

Speckle live re-sync (webhooks)

Yes — opt-in per source

Yes — webhook callback hits the local backend

Folder ingest (PDF, DOCX, TXT)

Yes

Report builder + PDF export

Yes

Yes (bundled Playwright Chromium)

Embedded 3D viewer report widget

Yes — speckle_view widget with optional SQL object_filter

Yes

Workspace sharing & RBAC

Yes

Local-only workspaces; no team sharing

Feature

Cloud

Desktop

Email/password + SSO

Same idbquery.com account, OS keychain caches a 7-day JWT

Admin entitlement

Workspace plan + seat

Per-user desktop_enabled flag, set by admin

Device limit

n/a

Default 2 devices per seat (admin-configurable)

Instant revoke

Yes

Yes — effective on next refresh (max 24h)

Audit log

Yes

Yes — all desktop auth events logged on cloud

Feature

Cloud

Desktop

Hardware needed

Any modern browser

8 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB recommended, 32 GB+ for the bigger models

Disk footprint

~3-15 GB depending on model + ~15 GB extra on Air-Gapped (bundled weights)

Pricing

Free / Pro / Enterprise

Bundled with Enterprise (Standard) · quoted separately (Air-Gapped)