Why Choose an On-Premises Rich Text Editor from CKEditor?

Imagine you’re working for a defense organization. You need to protect sensitive, classified information by keeping your systems fully detached from the Internet. Can the rich text editor (RTE) in your application handle it?

CKEditor can. Offering both SaaS and self-hosted options, you can choose whichever version best suits your specific circumstances and needs. You can view a high-level comparison of the two in the post, CKEditor Implementation: Cloud vs On-premise Compared.

This article focuses specifically on the on-premises version of CKEditor and why you might choose to go this route.

#Why choose to run CKEditor’s on-premises?

While SaaS offers great features for many organizations with minimal setup and maintenance, on-prem trumps SaaS in a few situations. In some cases, such as strict compliance regulations, your goals mandate self-hosting. In others, on-prem plays a strategic, long-term goal for your organization.

#When running on-premises is non-negotiable

Internal policies, geography requirements, or industry-related compliance organizations can dictate on-prem deployments. These can include:

• Industry regulations: Highly regulated industries such as defense and healthcare mandate that certain systems remain offline. Working for these industries makes the choice black-or-white. Sometimes, it’s more situational. For instance, a healthcare team can use SaaS for some systems, but must use on-prem if protected health information (PHI) passes through the editor. It’s not always straightforward, so work with your compliance teams to understand your obligations.

• Extreme security requirements: CKEditor’s SaaS already offers enterprise-grade security. Some organizations may mandate more control, such as a company-wide internal policy about data storage. For instance, companies preferring to airgap R&D systems to protect intellectual property may dictate the RTE be kept offline. In most cases, compliance regulations will guide this choice, but it’s worth noting that internal policies can have the same effect.

• Data sovereignty: You may have to host your editor on-prem if a regulation requires storage in a specific country or region. Our cloud storage centers are located in Northern Virginia in the US and in Frankfurt, Germany in the EU. If you need a different option, on-prem provides that flexibility.

• Low-connectivity environments: Industrial plants, factories, and remote research facilities often can’t connect to the web regularly. In these situations, on-prem becomes a must.

#When running on-premises is strategic

For many organizations, running CKEditor in house makes better long-term sense. For instance, if you have a blue-chip client located outside of the EU or US, hosting CKEditor on servers near that client can give you a performance boost, keeping the VIP client satisfied.

You’ll have to weigh the pros and cons before making a choice, but here are some of the main strategic benefits you get from on-prem.

#Performance optimization

CKEditor SaaS already optimizes for enterprise-grade performance, but if you want enterprise-grade performance with even more control, bringing the editor inside your four walls lets you fine-tune performance and gain increased transparency over traffic patterns.

Some common performance optimizations include:

• Connecting with internal tools, like in-house caching or CDNs

• Fine-tuning performance for your specific workloads, such as adjusting CPU, modifying memory allocation, or optimizing database storage

• Colocating servers to optimize for globally distributed teams or user bases

• Minimizing network hops between internal services for intranets or enterprise WANs

#Bespoke security

Both SaaS and self-hosted options offload most security to CKEditor, but some organizations prefer more control. Our on-premises version gives you this option, allowing you to:

• Use your own internal single sign-on provider

• Fine-tune firewall rules

• Keep data fully in house

• Leverage internal security monitoring

• Audit for security events

You will take a bit more of the security on board yourself. However, not everything’s on you. We provide secure software to begin with, using a secure software development lifecycle, coding best practices that are SOC 2 Type 2 certified and include regular pen tests and third-party audits.

#Cost predictability

With our self-service SaaS plans, we price per editor load (up to 20,000 per month before custom pricing plans kick in). However, on-prem offers more pricing flexibility. You can pay by the number of active users, concurrent users, or client-organizations (if you’re developing a B2B application). Please note that if you host a real-time collaboration server on your own hardware, only active or concurrent users are relevant. If you pay per active user, you only get charged by the number of people who touch the editor, not just per seat in the organization.

One key benefit here is that on-prem offers predictable costs. When paying by the editor load with SaaS, these costs can vary per month depending on usage. On-prem offers consistent costs for the length of the contract term.

#Testing patches

We regularly release patches and security updates. But patching can cause instability depending on your internal IT setups in rare cases, particularly if you have a unique setup. If you prefer caution here, on-prem lets you decide when to roll out changes to the editor, ensuring stability. This is particularly important for mission-critical apps that require reducing risks.

#Operational realities and what to expect

Self-hosting CKEditor does come with trade-offs. Make sure you’re prepared before you dive in, as you can always start with SaaS and move to on-prem later.

Your IT team should be able to handle setting up the editor. We offer strong, thorough documentation to help and support if needed, but if your team is stretched thin, you can always start with SaaS.

Also, security falls a bit more in your court. You’ll need to have the security controls in place as well as plans for incident response, forensics, and disaster recovery. This control will be appealing to many, but just keep this in mind.

#FAQs

Q: Does on-prem maintain feature parity with SaaS?

A: Yes. CKEditor’s on-premises version offers the same features as our SaaS implementation. However, some features may require additional setup. For instance, our collaboration features require a dedicated collaboration server with both an application server and a database server (you can read the requirements in our help documentation). Second, on-prem users typically get new features a few weeks or months after our SaaS customers.

Q: How do I deploy advanced CKEditor features like real-time collaboration, document converters, or CKBox?

A: We provide Docker containers to simplify your deployment of advanced features. This gets your team up and running with real-time collaboration, document conversion, and CKBox fast and without complicated setups.

Q: Am I charged per domain, subdomain, or application?

A: Regardless of the hosting mode, CKEditor is always licensed per application, not per domain or subdomain. With cloud-hosted SaaS, pricing is usage-based per application (with custom plans for multiple apps). Self-hosted plans price per enterprise based on mutually agreed metrics. In both cases, your license allows unlimited domains and subdomains.

Q: Is there support available?

A: While you do take more control and responsibility with CKEditor, you also get unlimited enterprise support, a dedicated Account Manager, and a Customer Care Coordinator. This is in addition to the already extensive technical documentation available for setting up and running CKEditor. The CKEditor team commits to your success, so we’re here to help.

Q: I’m on the fence. Should I go with SaaS or on-prem?

A: If you’re not sure, you can always start with SaaS and then move to on-prem later. Your organization may grow over time or you may open to new customers that require data to be kept in-house. Regardless, you can always migrate. If you’re unsure, start with SaaS, try it out, then move to on-prem when you’re ready.

Q: Am I fully responsible for security?

A: We work hard to deliver secure software. To do that, we follow a secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC), undergo regular penetration testing and third-party audits, and follow coding best practices. In fact, we consistently strive to adhere to best practices for SOC 2 Type 2. But beyond providing secure software, your in-house security takes the rest.

Q: Can I run a private cloud or hybrid cloud setup?

A: Yes. While you can run everything on-premises, you can always self host with any cloud or hybrid cloud setup you prefer.

#Is on-prem the right choice for you?

On-premises CKEditor offers you deep customization and flexibility. Whether you’re required by law or simply want a strategic advantage, on-prem can give you the ability to meet sophisticated use cases.

To find out if CKEditor’s on-premises version is right for you, contact us today.