Costs And Budgets
| Business Central in the Cloud | Business Central On-premise | |
| Licensing Model | Subscription model based on monthly fees. | Perpetual license – one-time payment to own the ERP software in perpetuity. |
| Hardware Requirements | Not necessary – Business Central is hosted on Microsoft Azure. | Requires investment in server hardware and space on company premises. |
| Maintenance Expenses | None – all maintenance is carried out by Microsoft or partners. | May involve large expenses associated with maintaining, upgrading or adding servers. |
Ownership And Control Over Business Central
| Business Central in the Cloud | Business Central On-premise | |
| Data Storage | Business data is stored on Microsoft Azure servers. | Business data is stored on on-premise servers, giving you complete ownership and control. |
| Data Access | Access to data only possible through application programme interfaces (APIs) | Full access to all data stored on-premise. |
| Product Updates | Automatic updates ensure that you always have the latest features. | Updates require manual installation on a regular basis. |
| Backups And Disaster Recovery | Microsoft guarantees 99.9% uptime and multiple backups. | Relies on in-house IT resources to maintain backups. |
Flexibility Of Use
| Business Central in the Cloud | Business Central On-premise | |
| Customisability | Not as flexible and adaptable as on-premise version. All customisations must be implemented through Extensions. | Very flexible and can be tailored to business needs. Supports Extensions as well as core object changes |
| Connectivity | Requires connectivity to the Internet. | Does not require Internet connectivity to work. |
| Scalability | Easily scalable – only requires subscription fees for additional users. | Requires additional investment in server hardware or systems |
Integration With Cloud Apps and Add-ons
| Business Central in the Cloud | Business Central On-premise | |
| Add-ons | You can access and install apps for Business Central through AppSource | AppSource is not available, so you cannot install apps |
| Power Platform Applications | Supports integration with Power Platform applications (Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents) | Requires a data gateway to connect Power Platform apps with data on Business Central on-premises. |
| Microsoft Teams | Can integrate with Microsoft Teams with the 2020 Release Wave 2 update. | Not available for Business Central on-premises. |