If you'd rather not manage a GCP project yourself, Chameleon can provision and run a dedicated instance on your behalf — the same architecture as self-hosting, just operated by Chameleon instead of by you.
A hosted Chameleon instance runs in its own dedicated GCP project — its own keys, its own data, its own billing, nothing shared with any other customer. This isn't row-level tenancy inside a shared database; it's the same isolated architecture self-hosting uses, just provisioned and operated by Chameleon on your behalf instead of by you.
That distinction matters for anyone evaluating the security model: a hosted instance isn't a weaker version of self-hosting with data comingled behind the scenes — it's the identical Key Vault, PII ingestor worker, and console stack, running in infrastructure Chameleon manages instead of infrastructure you manage.
The hosted-specific path through the shared signup-to-protection flow.
Choose hosted, and tell us your warehouse (BigQuery or Snowflake) and instance details.
A person reviews and approves each hosted signup before anything is provisioned, since it runs on Chameleon's own billing.
Once approved, your dedicated GCP project and instance are typically ready within the hour.
You receive your console URL and password by email — there's nothing to install or configure on your end.
Log into your console and declare which warehouse tables and columns hold PII, exactly as you would on a self-hosted instance.
| Self-hosting (BYOC) | Hosted | |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure runs in | Your own GCP project | A GCP project dedicated to you, managed by Chameleon |
| Setup | Run the installer yourself, ~10-15 minutes | Sign up, get reviewed and approved, ready within the hour |
| GCP knowledge required | Yes — you own the project | None — nothing to configure |
| Chameleon's access to your data | None beyond one read-only image-pull permission | N/A — Chameleon operates the instance directly |
| Best for | Security-conscious teams with existing GCP operations | Teams who want zero infrastructure overhead |
Is a hosted instance really isolated from other customers?
Yes — each hosted instance runs in its own dedicated GCP project with its own keys and data, not a shared database with logical tenant separation. The isolation boundary is the project itself, the same boundary self-hosting uses.
How long does hosted onboarding take?
Signups are reviewed manually before anything is provisioned. Once approved, project creation and setup typically finish within the hour, and you'll get an email with your console URL and password.
Can I move from hosted to self-hosted later, or vice versa?
Each is a separate signup today, without an in-place migration path between them yet. If you need to move between the two, reach out and we can talk through what makes sense for your setup.
Run the identical stack yourself, entirely inside your own GCP project.
What the control plane and data plane actually do, wherever they're deployed.
All available developer documentation.