---
title: "Operating modes"
description: "Depot runs in one of four modes, msp, it, remote or hosted. The licence decides which, and the mode decides what the server does."
url: "https://support.outpostplatform.com/depot/modes/"
product: "depot"
type: "concept"
status: "stub"
ai_summary: "Explains the four Depot operating modes. msp serves many client organisations from one console, it serves a single organisation, remote is the air gapped edition, and hosted is run by Outpost. The mode comes from the signed licence and cannot be set in configuration or the environment."
source: "https://gitlab.com/outpostplatform/docs/-/edit/main/src/content/docs/depot/modes.md"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Operating modes

The same Depot binary behaves as four different products depending on the mode
in its licence: `msp`, `it`, `remote` and `hosted`. The mode changes who gets a
console, how tenants are separated and which features exist at all, so this is
the page to read before you install anything.

<!-- TODO: write this page against the concept template.

Sections:

- Where the mode comes from, and why it is not a setting.
- msp: many client organisations, one console, the provider's own.
- it: one organisation running Outpost for itself.
- remote: the air gapped edition, licensed annually.
- hosted: Outpost runs the server, the customer runs nothing.
- What differs between them, as one table: consoles, hostnames, tenants,
  storage, billing.
- Which interface each kind of person uses in each mode.
- Changing mode, and what that means for existing data.
-->

Follow the [concept template](https://gitlab.com/outpostplatform/docs/-/blob/main/templates/concept.md).