LiveKit docs › Self-hosting › Overview --- # Self-hosting overview > An overview of self-hosting options for LiveKit servers. ## Overview Self-host LiveKit servers for full control over your infrastructure, data, and configuration. Self-hosting enables you to deploy LiveKit on your own infrastructure, whether for local development, production deployments on virtual machines or Kubernetes, or distributed multi-region setups. Self-hosting gives you complete control over your deployment, allowing you to customize configuration, manage your own data, and scale according to your specific needs. You can deploy LiveKit servers on a variety of platforms, from local development environments to production-grade infrastructure. You can also deploy LiveKit Agents to your own infrastructure, connecting them to your self-hosted LiveKit server. ### Comparing self-hosted to LiveKit Cloud When building with LiveKit, you can either self-host the open-source server or use the managed LiveKit Cloud service: | | Self-hosted | LiveKit Cloud | | **Realtime media (audio, video, data)** | Full support | Full support | | **Egress (recording, streaming)** | Full support | Full support | | **Ingress (RTMP, WHIP, SRT ingest)** | Full support | Full support | | **SIP & telephony** | Full support | Full support including native telephony support for fully managed LiveKit Phone Numbers | | **Agents framework** | Full support | Full support, including managed agent hosting. | | **Agent Builder** | N/A | Included | | **Built-in inference** | N/A | Included | | **Who manages it** | You | LiveKit | | **Architecture** | Single-home SFU | Global mesh SFU | | **Connection model** | Single server per room | Each user connects to the nearest edge. | | **Max users per room** | Up to ~3,000 | No limit | | **Analytics & telemetry** | Custom / external | LiveKit Cloud dashboard | | **Uptime guarantees** | N/A | 99.99% | ## Self-hosting topics When self-hosting LiveKit, you can deploy agents to your own infrastructure alongside your LiveKit server. Agents connect to your self-hosted server and run on your own resources. See [Custom agent deployments](https://docs.livekit.io/deploy/custom/deployments.md) for details on deploying agents to Kubernetes, Render, or other container orchestration systems. Manage your self-hosted LiveKit deployment with these topics. | Topic | Description | Use cases | | **Running locally** | Get LiveKit running locally for development and testing with minimal setup. | Local development, testing, and prototyping. | | **Deployment** | Deploy LiveKit servers to production with SSL, load balancing, and TURN configuration. | Production deployments, secure configurations, and network setup. | | **Virtual machines** | Deploy LiveKit servers on virtual machines for production use. | VM-based deployments, cloud infrastructure, and traditional server setups. | | **Kubernetes** | Deploy LiveKit servers on Kubernetes clusters for scalable, containerized deployments. | Container orchestration, scalable deployments, and cloud-native infrastructure. | | **Distributed multi-region** | Deploy LiveKit servers across multiple regions for global distribution. | Global deployments, low-latency access, and multi-region redundancy. | | **Firewall configuration** | Configure firewalls and network settings for your LiveKit deployment. | Network security, port management, and access control. | | **Benchmarks** | Measure and optimize performance of your self-hosted LiveKit deployment. | Performance testing, capacity planning, and optimization. | | **Egress** | Set up egress services for recording and streaming from your self-hosted deployment. | Recording rooms, streaming to platforms, and media export. | | **Ingress** | Set up ingress services to bring external media sources into your LiveKit rooms. | RTMP ingest, WHIP streams, and external media integration. | | **SIP server** | Deploy and configure SIP servers for telephony integration with your self-hosted LiveKit. | Phone call integration, SIP trunking, and telephony features. | ## In this section Learn how to self-host LiveKit servers: - **[Running locally](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/local.md)**: Get LiveKit running locally for development and testing. - **[Deployment](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/deployment.md)**: Deploy LiveKit servers to production with SSL, load balancing, and TURN configuration. - **[Virtual machines](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/vm.md)**: Deploy LiveKit servers on virtual machines for production use. - **[Kubernetes](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/kubernetes.md)**: Deploy LiveKit servers on Kubernetes clusters for scalable, containerized deployments. - **[Distributed multi-region](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/distributed.md)**: Deploy LiveKit servers across multiple regions for global distribution. - **[Firewall configuration](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/ports-firewall.md)**: Configure firewalls and network settings for your LiveKit deployment. - **[Benchmarks](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/benchmark.md)**: Measure and optimize performance of your self-hosted LiveKit deployment. - **[Egress](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/egress.md)**: Set up egress services for recording and streaming from your self-hosted deployment. - **[Ingress](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/ingress.md)**: Set up ingress services to bring external media sources into your LiveKit rooms. - **[SIP server](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting/sip-server.md)**: Deploy and configure SIP servers for telephony integration with your self-hosted LiveKit. --- This document was rendered at 2026-06-07T11:35:12.533Z. For the latest version of this document, see [https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting.md](https://docs.livekit.io/transport/self-hosting.md). To explore all LiveKit documentation, see [llms.txt](https://docs.livekit.io/llms.txt).