# Plans and Billing

CLOUDflex can manage the cloud environment for you, or operate production resources in your organization's AWS account. Both models use CLOUDflex Studio. The right choice depends on who should own the cloud infrastructure behind the production.

## Set Up an Account

Billing is currently handled by the CLOUDflex team. Contact the CLOUDflex team to discuss your production needs and set up an account.

Self-service billing is planned for a future release. Until it is available, plan changes and billing questions are also handled directly by the CLOUDflex team.

:::note
Self-service billing does not yet have a published release date. This page will be updated when it becomes available.
:::

**Choose managed CLOUDflex when you want to focus on the show. Choose self-hosted when your organization needs direct ownership and control of the AWS environment.**

## Compare the Two Models

| Decision area | Managed CLOUDflex | Self-hosted AWS |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cloud account | CLOUDflex manages the cloud environment. | Resources run in your organization's AWS account. |
| Setup | Start without preparing AWS IAM credentials, networking, or account quotas. | Your AWS administrator prepares IAM access, networking, security groups, quotas, and credentials. |
| Infrastructure responsibility | CLOUDflex handles the underlying cloud-account setup. | Your organization remains responsible for the AWS account and its configuration. |
| Control | A practical default when you do not need direct control of the cloud account. | Direct control of cloud resources, policies, network design, and account boundaries. |
| Cloud billing | Usage is viewed through the CLOUDflex managed environment. | AWS provider charges are billed to your organization; CLOUDflex usage may be tracked separately. |
| Internal expertise | Does not require your team to operate an AWS account for CLOUDflex. | Requires people who can manage AWS IAM, networking, quotas, security, and billing. |
| Best fit | Teams that want less infrastructure work and a faster path to operating productions. | Teams with established AWS operations, governance requirements, or infrastructure that must stay in their account. |

The production workflow should drive this decision. Cloud should fit the show, not the other way around.

## Common Scenarios

| If this sounds like your team… | Start with | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| We want to validate a cloud production workflow without building an AWS operating practice first. | **Managed** | It removes AWS account preparation from the initial production plan. |
| Our operators need to focus on production, and we do not have a dedicated cloud engineer. | **Managed** | Your team can concentrate on tools, signals, access, and show-day execution. |
| We run occasional or one-off productions and want to start with the simplest operating model. | **Managed** | It reduces the infrastructure decisions your team must own before the first show. |
| Our security policy requires production resources to remain in our AWS account. | **Self-hosted** | Your organization controls the account, IAM policies, credentials, and resource boundaries. |
| We already have approved AWS networking, monitoring, billing, and operational processes. | **Self-hosted** | CLOUDflex can fit into the cloud foundation your team already operates. |
| We need to control VPCs, subnets, security groups, ports, or internet routing directly. | **Self-hosted** | Those network decisions remain with your AWS administrators. |
| We need AWS charges assigned through our existing accounts, budgets, or internal cost controls. | **Self-hosted** | Provider charges stay within your organization's AWS billing structure. |
| Different clients or productions have different ownership requirements. | **Use separate environments** | An organization can use environment boundaries for different accounts, regions, or operational needs. Evaluate managed or self-hosted for each environment. |

## Questions to Answer Before You Choose

1. Does a client, insurer, or internal policy require resources to run in an AWS account your organization controls?
2. Who will own IAM permissions, credentials, VPC design, security groups, quotas, and AWS billing?
3. Does your team already have a tested AWS operating model for live production?
4. How much cloud setup should your engineers be responsible for before and during a show?
5. Would direct infrastructure control materially improve the production, or only add work?

If direct AWS ownership is not a requirement, managed CLOUDflex is the simpler place to start. If account ownership, governance, or network control is a firm requirement—and your team can support it—self-hosted is likely the better fit.

:::note
Self-hosting gives your organization more control, but it also gives your organization more responsibility. Test permissions, quotas, networking, deployment, access, and recovery with non-critical resources before show day.
:::

## Take the Next Step

- **Choose managed:** [Create a managed environment](/plan-and-build/create-environment/#create-a-managed-environment).
- **Choose self-hosted:** Review the [AWS self-hosted prerequisites](/self-host-cloudflex/aws-prerequisites/) before creating the environment.
- **Still deciding:** Map the production's tools, signals, crew access, regions, and failure plan in [Plan the build](/plan-and-build/).

You are not choosing a new production philosophy. You are choosing who should operate the cloud foundation around the tools and workflow your crew already knows.