﻿---
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://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/deploy/deployment-comparison
---

# Detailed deployment comparison
This reference provides detailed comparisons of features and capabilities across Elastic's deployment options: [fully self-managed clusters](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/deploy/self-managed), [Elastic Cloud Enterprise](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/deploy/cloud-enterprise) (ECE), [Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/deploy/cloud-on-k8s) (ECK), [Elastic Cloud Hosted](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/deploy/elastic-cloud/cloud-hosted) (ECH), and [Elastic Cloud Serverless](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/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://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/deploy).
For more details about feature availability in Serverless, refer to [Compare Elastic Cloud Hosted and Serverless](/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/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://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/security)Security configurations                                | Full control                 | Limited control | Limited control                       |
| [Authentication realms](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/users-roles)Authentication realms                                 | Available                    | Available       | Available, through Elastic Cloud only |
| [Custom roles](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/users-roles)Custom roles                                                   | Available                    | Available       | Available                             |
| [Audit logging](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/security/logging-configuration/security-event-audit-logging)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://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/autoscaling)Autoscaling                                                                                             | No                                                                                                                                                      | Available                                                                                                                                               | Available                                                                                                                                               | Available                                | Automatic                                |
| [Data tier](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/manage-data/lifecycle/data-tiers)Data tier management                                                                               | Through [ILM policies](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management)ILM policies | Through [ILM policies](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management)ILM policies | Through [ILM policies](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/manage-data/lifecycle/index-lifecycle-management)ILM policies | Available                                | No data tiers                            |
| [Snapshot management](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/tools/snapshot-and-restore)Snapshot management                                                              | Custom                                                                                                                                                  | Custom                                                                                                                                                  | Available                                                                                                                                               | Available                                | Managed by Elastic                       |
| [High availability and disaster recovery](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/production-guidance/availability-and-resilience)High availability and disaster recovery | Available                                                                                                                                               | Available                                                                                                                                               | Available                                                                                                                                               | Available                                | Managed by Elastic                       |
| [Shard management and replicas](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/distributed-architecture/clusters-nodes-shards)Shard management and replicas                      | Available                                                                                                                                               | Available                                                                                                                                               | Available                                                                                                                                               | Available                                | Managed by Elastic                       |


## Monitoring


| Feature/capability                                                                                                                                   | Fully self-managed, ECE, ECK  | ECH                           | Serverless                                                                                |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Deployment health monitoring](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/monitor)Deployment health monitoring | AutoOps or monitoring cluster | AutoOps or monitoring cluster | Managed by Elastic                                                                        |
| [Alerting](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/explore-analyze/alerts-cases)Alerting                                  | Watcher or Kibana alerts      | Watcher or Kibana alerts      | Alerts ([why?](/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/explore-analyze/alerts-cases#watcher)why?) |


## Data lifecycle


| Feature/capability                                                                                                                                    | Fully self-managed, ECE, ECK           | ECH                                    | Serverless                                                                                    |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| [Data lifecycle management](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/manage-data/lifecycle)Data lifecycle management        | ILM, data tiers, data stream lifecycle | ILM, data tiers, data stream lifecycle | Data stream lifecycle ([why?](/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/manage-data/lifecycle#ilm)why?) |
| [Snapshot management](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/tools/snapshot-and-restore)Snapshot management | 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/elasticsearch/tree/main/reference/search-connectors/self-managed-connectors)Self-managed connectors | Available                    | Limited   | Limited                                                                                     |
| [Elasticsearch-Hadoop integration](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elasticsearch-hadoop/tree/main/reference)Elasticsearch-Hadoop integration                  | Available                    | Available | No                                                                                          |
| [Cross cluster search (CCS)](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/solutions/search/cross-cluster-search)Cross cluster search (CCS)          | Available                    | Available | [Planned](https://www.elastic.co/cloud/serverless/roadmap)Planned (as cross project search) |
| [Cross cluster replication](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4103/deploy-manage/tools/cross-cluster-replication)Cross cluster replication    | Available                    | Available | [Planned](https://www.elastic.co/cloud/serverless/roadmap)Planned                           |


## 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         |