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briefkist
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free to self-host · AGPL-3.0

Pricing

The product is the same everywhere — nothing is paywalled. You are choosing who runs the server, and prices include VAT.

self-hostFree foreverAGPL-3.0 · no account neededInstall guide
hosted€15/mobilled monthly · VAT incl.Get started
dedicated€24/mobilled monthly · VAT incl.Get started
runs on
Your own hardware — a Mac mini, any Linux box.
A single-tenant server we run in the EU (Falkenstein).
Your own single-tenant EU server with reserved capacity.
AI processing
Local models on your machine.
On your instance — shared inference pool.
Reserved inference — consistent speed, even at the evening mail pile.
who can see your documents
No one but you.
Us, technically, during the seconds of processing — purpose-limited, never retained, never trained on. At rest: ciphertext only.
Same as hosted. The passphrase, and the key derived from it, are yours alone.
storage
Whatever your disk holds.
50 GB included.
100 GB included.
ops & backups
Yours — guides in the docs.
We patch, monitor and back up (backups are encrypted too).
Same, plus priority support from the people who wrote it.
exit
It's your machine. Export is built in anyway.
Full export anytime, one-click delete.
Full export anytime, one-click delete.

The trade is convenience against control, not features against features. Self-hosting keeps every byte on hardware you own and asks you to do your own updates and backups. Hosted hands us the operations while the key to your documents stays with you — we store ciphertext and can't read your archive at rest. If you're comfortable running a Docker command, self-host; if you'd rather never think about it, we'll run the server.

Questions people actually ask

How does billing work?

Monthly or annual, prices include VAT. Card, SEPA direct debit or iDEAL. Annual billing is simply cheaper — €12 instead of €15, €19 instead of €24 — no other difference. Invoices land in your account dashboard.

Can I cancel?

Any time, self-serve, from the account page — no email, no call. Your server runs until the end of the paid period; export stays available throughout, and you choose when the instance is deleted.

What happens if I lose my passphrase?

We cannot reset it — we never have it, which is the whole design. A lost passphrase means the archive is unrecoverable. At signup we ask you to write it down or download a recovery sheet; please actually do that.

Can I move between tiers, or leave for self-hosting?

Hosted and dedicated migrate in place with a click. Leaving is a full export from the dashboard, then an import on your own server — the same software, so nothing is lost in translation.

What if the company stops?

The entire server is AGPL-3.0 and public. You would export your archive, run the same software on your own machine, and carry on. Hosting is a convenience on top of the open source, not a hostage situation.

something else? write to hello@briefkist.eu — a person answers