SaaS vs Self-Hosted
Core Concepts
SaaS vs Self-Hosted
- SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) means the application is hosted and maintained by the vendor. Example: GitGuardian SaaS is hosted on GitGuardian's servers, start for free!
- Self-Hosted or On-Premise means the application is hosted on the customer's servers. Example: GitGuardian Self-Hosted is deployed on the customer's servers, choose your installation method.
Deployment
- SaaS: GitGuardian manages and controls the servers, databases, and infrastructure.
- Self-Hosted: GitGuardian ensures compatibility with the customer’s environment.
For more details about self-hosted, refer to the System Requirements page.
Versions and Upgrades
- SaaS: GitGuardian controls version releases and can quickly address issues with hotfixes or rollbacks. (SaaS Release Notes)
- Self-Hosted: The customer decides when to deploy new versions. GitGuardian provides support when needed and sends newsletters with each new release. (Self-Hosted Release Notes)
For more details about self-hosted, refer to the Upgrade page.
Maintenance
- SaaS: GitGuardian monitors the platform and handles alerts.
- Self-Hosted: GitGuardian has no direct visibility and includes self-monitoring capabilities within the platform, managed by the customer.
For more details about self-hosted, refer to the Health Checks page.
Support and Debugging
- SaaS: GitGuardian has full access to data and logs, enabling quick bug identification and fixes.
- Self-Hosted: GitGuardian relies on customer-provided data ("support bundle") to investigate issues, potentially lengthening the resolution process.
For more details about self-hosted, refer to the Support page.
Feature Matrix
The software running in our SaaS and Self-Hosted solutions is essentially the same. However, some features are not available in Self-Hosted versions due to significant differences in environments, requiring more effort for them to work in a self-hosted setup. The tables below highlight some of the differences between our SaaS and Self-Hosted offerings.
- ✅ available
- ⌛ coming soon
- ❌ not available
Platform
For more details, refer to the Platform page.
| Scan source name | GitGuardian SaaS | GitGuardian Self-Hosted | Additional Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub.com | ✅ | ✅ | |
| GitHub Enterprise | ✅ | ✅ | |
| GitLab.com | ✅ | ✅ | |
| GitLab Self-Hosted Community Edition | ✅ | ✅ | |
| GitLab Self-Hosted Premium/Ultimate Plan | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Bitbucket Cloud | ✅ | ⌛ (2025.2.0) | |
| Bitbucket Server/Data Center | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Slack | ✅ | ✅ (2024.3.0) | |
| Microsoft Teams | ✅ (private beta) | ⌛ | No historical scan |
| Jira Cloud | ✅ | ✅ (2024.4.0) | No historical scan |
| Jira Data Center | ✅ | ✅ (2024.12.0) | No historical scan |
| ServiceNow | ✅ | ⌛ (2025.3.0) | |
| Confluence Cloud | ✅ | ✅ (2024.7.0) | No historical scan |
| Confluence Data Center | ✅ | ✅ (2024.11.0) | No historical scan |
No native connector with common artifactories (JFrog, AWS registry, GCP registry, Azure registry), but GGShield can be used to scan images before uploading to the central registry.
Alerting and Notifications
For more details, refer to the Alerting and Notifications page.
| Notifier name | GitGuardian SaaS | GitGuardian Self-Hosted |
|---|---|---|
| Slack | ✅ | ✅ |
| PagerDuty | ✅ | ✅ |
| Splunk | ✅ | ✅ |
| Discord | ✅ | ✅ |
| Jira Cloud | ✅ | ✅ (2024.5.0) |
| Jira Data Center | ✅ | ✅ (2024.12.0) |
| Microsoft Teams | ✅ | ✅ (2025.1.0) |
Honeytoken
For more details, refer to the Honeytoken page.
| Feature Name | GitGuardian SaaS | GitGuardian Self-Hosted | Additional Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honeytoken | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Honeytoken Deployment Jobs | ✅ | ✅ (2024.4.0) | |
| Honeytoken "Publicly Exposed" Detailed Location | ✅ | ❌ | The “Publicly Exposed” tag exists for both, but exact location on GitHub.com is available only for SaaS. |
Other Features
| Feature Name | GitGuardian SaaS | GitGuardian Self-Hosted | Additional Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Filters | ✅ | ✅ (2024.3.0) | |
| Remediation Tracking | ✅ | ✅ (2025.1.0) | |
| False Positive Remover (ML) | ✅ | ✅ (2025.1.0) | |
| Secret "Publicly Leaked" Tag | ✅ | ❌ | Only available on SaaS because it uses information from our Public Monitoring solution. |
| Advanced Analytics | ✅ | ⌛ | Reach out at support@gitguardian.com if you are interested by this feature on Self-Hosted. |
| Secret Manager integration (CyberArk) | ✅ | ❌ | Reach out at support@gitguardian.com if you are interested by this feature on Self-Hosted. |
| Certificate-based authentication | ❌ | ✅ (2024.8.0) | Reach out at support@gitguardian.com if you are interested by this feature on SaaS. |
| IP allowlist | ✅ | ❌ | This feature is not available on self-hosted environments, as there are alternative methods to restrict access. |
