Hosted RAG platforms (Glean, AWS Bedrock Knowledge Bases, Google Vertex AI Search) deliver great retrieval-as-a-service — but every query, indexed document, and embedding still lives in someone else's cloud. PrivateDocs AI moves the entire RAG pipeline — ingestion, embeddings, vector search, and inference — onto hardware you already own.
Compared to: Glean · AWS Bedrock Knowledge Bases · Google Vertex AI Search · Azure AI Search · Cohere Coral
PrivateDocs AI vs. hosted RAG platforms like Glean, Bedrock Knowledge Bases, and Vertex AI Search
| Feature | PrivateDocs AI | Cloud RAG Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Where documents are indexed | On your device in a local ChromaDB vault | In the vendor's cloud index |
| Embeddings generation | On-device embedding model | Vendor-hosted embedding API |
| LLM inference path | Local Ollama runtime | Vendor-hosted LLM endpoints |
| DPA required? | No — for AI workloads | Yes — mandatory for every subprocessor |
| Data residency control | Wherever the laptop sits | Limited to vendor cloud regions |
| Connection requirements | Offline after activation | Always-on internet connection |
| Per-query cost | Zero — your hardware is the limit | Per-token or per-query billing |
| Pricing | $249 lifetime per user | Usage-based or per-seat SaaS |
Both are excellent managed RAG services, but both index your documents in their cloud and route every query through hosted embedding and LLM endpoints. That requires a DPA, subprocessor review, and ongoing cloud egress of your content. If your use case tolerates that, they're great. If it doesn't, PrivateDocs AI gives you a comparable retrieval experience with zero egress.
Glean indexes your SaaS apps (Google Drive, Slack, etc.) into a hosted index and uses cloud LLMs for answers. It's powerful for cross-SaaS search. For confidential local documents covered by NDAs or regulatory restrictions, PrivateDocs AI keeps the index and inference on the user's machine — no SaaS connector, no hosted index.
Not always. Many teams run both: cloud RAG for non-sensitive cross-SaaS discovery, PrivateDocs AI for confidential local documents. The architectures are complementary — but for the sensitive subset of your workflow, PrivateDocs AI is the only option that keeps content fully on-device.
$249 one-time license. No recurring fees. Document content stays local for AI processing.
PrivateDocs AI vs. Ollama — Production-ready RAG vs. raw model runtime
PrivateDocs AI vs. self-hosted AnythingLLM, LangChain, and LlamaIndex setups
PrivateDocs AI vs. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot for confidential documents
PrivateDocs AI vs. hosted enterprise RAG portals and tenant AI subscriptions