--- title: Detailed deployment comparison description: This reference provides detailed comparisons of features and capabilities across Elastic's deployment options: fully self-managed clusters, Elastic Cloud... url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/deploy/deployment-comparison products: - Elastic Cloud Enterprise - Elastic Cloud Hosted - Elastic Cloud Serverless - Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes - Elastic Stack - Elasticsearch - Kibana --- # Detailed deployment comparison This reference provides detailed comparisons of features and capabilities across Elastic's deployment options: [fully self-managed clusters](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed), [Elastic Cloud Enterprise](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/deploy/cloud-enterprise) (ECE), [Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/deploy/cloud-on-k8s) (ECK), [Elastic Cloud Hosted](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/deploy/elastic-cloud/cloud-hosted) (ECH), and [Elastic Cloud Serverless](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/deploy/elastic-cloud/serverless). For a high-level overview of deployment types and guidance on choosing between them, refer to the [Deploy and manage overview](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/deploy). For more details about feature availability in Serverless, refer to [Compare Elastic Cloud Hosted and Serverless](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/deploy/elastic-cloud/differences-from-other-elasticsearch-offerings#elasticsearch-differences-serverless-feature-categories). ## Security | Feature/capability | Fully self-managed, ECE, ECK | ECH | Serverless | |--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------|-----------------|---------------------------------------| | [Security configurations](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/security) | Full control | Limited control | Limited control | | [Authentication realms](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/users-roles) | Available | Available | Available, through Elastic Cloud only | | [Custom roles](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/users-roles) | Available | Available | Available | | [Audit logging](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/security/logging-configuration/security-event-audit-logging) | Available | Available | No | ## Infrastructure and cluster management | Feature/capability | Fully self-managed | ECE | ECK | ECH | Serverless | |----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------| | Hosting | Any infrastructure | Any infrastructure | Any infrastructure | Elastic Cloud through AWS, Azure, or GCP | Elastic Cloud through AWS, Azure, or GCP | | Hardware configuration | Full control | Full control | Full control | Limited control | Managed by Elastic | | [Autoscaling](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/autoscaling) | No | Available | Available | Available | Automatic | | [Data tier](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/manage-data/lifecycle/data-tiers) management | Through [ILM policies](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management) | Through [ILM policies](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management) | Through [ILM policies](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management) | Available | No data tiers | | [Snapshot management](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/tools/snapshot-and-restore) | Custom | Custom | Available | Available | Managed by Elastic | | [High availability and disaster recovery](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/production-guidance/availability-and-resilience) | Available | Available | Available | Available | Managed by Elastic | | [Shard management and replicas](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/distributed-architecture/clusters-nodes-shards) | Available | Available | Available | Available | Managed by Elastic | ## Monitoring | Feature/capability | Fully self-managed, ECE, ECK | ECH | Serverless | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | [Deployment health monitoring](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/monitor) | AutoOps or monitoring cluster | AutoOps or monitoring cluster | Managed by Elastic | | [Alerting](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/explore-analyze/alerting) | Watcher or Kibana alerts | Watcher or Kibana alerts | Alerts ([why?](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/explore-analyze/alerting#watcher)) | ## Data lifecycle | Feature/capability | Fully self-managed, ECE, ECK | ECH | Serverless | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | [Data lifecycle management](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/manage-data/lifecycle) | ILM, data tiers, data stream lifecycle | ILM, data tiers, data stream lifecycle | Data stream lifecycle ([why?](/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/manage-data/lifecycle#ilm)) | | [Snapshot management](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/tools/snapshot-and-restore) | Custom | Available | Managed by Elastic | ## Integrations and extensions | Feature/capability | Fully self-managed, ECE, ECK | ECH | Serverless | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------|-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Custom plugins and bundles | Available | Available | No | | [Self-managed connectors](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/search-connectors/self-managed-connectors) | Available | Limited | Limited | | [Elasticsearch-Hadoop integration](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/reference/elasticsearch-hadoop) | Available | Available | No | | [Cross cluster search (CCS)](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/explore-analyze/cross-cluster-search) | Available | Available | [Planned](https://www.elastic.co/cloud/serverless/roadmap) (as cross project search) | | [Cross cluster replication](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3028/deploy-manage/tools/cross-cluster-replication) | Available | Available | [Planned](https://www.elastic.co/cloud/serverless/roadmap) | ## Development and testing features | Feature/capability | Fully self-managed, ECE, ECK | ECH | Serverless | |----------------------------------|------------------------------|-----|------------| | Advanced testing and development | Available | No | No | | Java (JVM) customization | Available | No | No |