PositioningPrivate document Q&A versus a cloud LLM or RAG API
Cloud models are excellent. The problem is the shape of the transaction: to get an answer about a customer file, the customer file has to be sent to somebody else.
Private document Q&A versus a cloud LLM or RAG API| Criterion | Cloud LLM or RAG API | Enterprise BYOC tier | DocxIntel |
|---|
| Where prompts and documents go | Vendor inference endpoint | Your cloud tenant, vendor images | Your GPUs, inside your network |
|---|
| Works with no internet connection | No | Requires cloud connectivity | Yes, by default |
|---|
| Granularity of citations | Text chunk, sometimes a page | Text chunk, sometimes a page | Page number and bounding box |
|---|
| Behaviour with no supporting evidence | Often answers anyway | Often answers anyway | Explicit refusal naming the gap |
|---|
| Permissions applied to retrieval | Your responsibility to build | Your responsibility to build | Built in, enforced before generation |
|---|
| Retention of submitted content | Per vendor policy, often cachedsome managed parsers cache parsed data for 48 hours by default | Per vendor policy in your tenant | Only in your own storage |
|---|
| Training on your content | Contractually excluded, technically possible | Contractually excluded | No path for it to happen |
|---|
| Cost of asking ten thousand questions | Metered per token | Metered per token | No incremental charge |
|---|
| Arabic questions over Arabic documents | Varies by model | Varies by model | First-class in both directions |
|---|
Where prompts and documents go
- Cloud LLM or RAG API
- Vendor inference endpoint
- Enterprise BYOC tier
- Your cloud tenant, vendor images
- DocxIntel
- Your GPUs, inside your network
Works with no internet connection
- Cloud LLM or RAG API
- No
- Enterprise BYOC tier
- Requires cloud connectivity
- DocxIntel
- Yes, by default
Granularity of citations
- Cloud LLM or RAG API
- Text chunk, sometimes a page
- Enterprise BYOC tier
- Text chunk, sometimes a page
- DocxIntel
- Page number and bounding box
Behaviour with no supporting evidence
- Cloud LLM or RAG API
- Often answers anyway
- Enterprise BYOC tier
- Often answers anyway
- DocxIntel
- Explicit refusal naming the gap
Permissions applied to retrieval
- Cloud LLM or RAG API
- Your responsibility to build
- Enterprise BYOC tier
- Your responsibility to build
- DocxIntel
- Built in, enforced before generation
Retention of submitted content
- Cloud LLM or RAG API
- Per vendor policy, often cachedsome managed parsers cache parsed data for 48 hours by default
- Enterprise BYOC tier
- Per vendor policy in your tenant
- DocxIntel
- Only in your own storage
Training on your content
- Cloud LLM or RAG API
- Contractually excluded, technically possible
- Enterprise BYOC tier
- Contractually excluded
- DocxIntel
- No path for it to happen
Cost of asking ten thousand questions
- Cloud LLM or RAG API
- Metered per token
- Enterprise BYOC tier
- Metered per token
- DocxIntel
- No incremental charge
Arabic questions over Arabic documents
- Cloud LLM or RAG API
- Varies by model
- Enterprise BYOC tier
- Varies by model
- DocxIntel
- First-class in both directions
Comparison reflects publicly documented behaviour of managed LLM, parsing and retrieval services as of 2026, including per-token and per-page metering, default caching of parsed data and self-hosting gated to enterprise plans. Verify against current vendor documentation before making a decision.