> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.algovoi.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Self Hosted Arkivum Alternative > Arkivum alternative you host yourself: air gap capable records preservation, one perpetual licence, post quantum signatures, offline verification. The self-hosted alternative to Arkivum is the AlgoVoi [Verifiable Compliance Suite](/verifiable-compliance-suite): a long-term digital preservation and records estate you run on your own infrastructure, air-gap capable, post-quantum signed (Falcon-1024 and ML-DSA-65), offline-verifiable, and licensed once perpetually instead of by annual cloud subscription. *Last updated: 3 August 2026.* Arkivum is a well-established cloud digital preservation service, and for some organisations it is the right choice. This page is for teams evaluating the other side of one specific trade-off: what you gain and give up by running the preservation estate yourself instead of subscribing to a managed cloud service. ## What Arkivum is [Arkivum](https://arkivum.com/) is a cloud SaaS for long-term digital archiving and preservation, with a primary focus on pharmaceutical and life sciences (eTMF, clinical trial data, laboratory records) alongside galleries, libraries, museums, and corporate archives. It describes itself as a GxP validated digital archiving and preservation solution, and offers managed data migration and staff training. If your organisation wants a fully managed service, needs a vendor-validated GxP package out of the box, and is comfortable with records residing in a vendor-operated cloud under a recurring subscription, Arkivum is a credible option and this page will not talk you out of it. ## Where a self-hosted estate differs The [Verifiable Compliance Suite](/verifiable-compliance-suite) approaches the same problem from the opposite starting point: the archive runs entirely on your infrastructure, and no vendor (including us) is required for the records to remain verifiable. | Axis | Managed cloud preservation (Arkivum model) | Self-hosted estate (Verifiable Compliance Suite) | | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Where records live | Vendor-operated cloud | Your servers, including fully air-gapped networks | | Commercial model | Recurring subscription | One perpetual licence | | Verification | Within the vendor's platform | Offline, against a published public key; no vendor in the verification loop | | Vendor dependency at year 20 | Vendor must still exist and hold your data | None: the estate and its evidence outlive the vendor | | Signatures | Vendor-managed | Post-quantum (Falcon-1024, ML-DSA-65) plus RFC-3161 trusted timestamps, so evidence stays verifiable across cryptographic migrations | | GxP validation package | Vendor-supplied, marketed as GxP validated | Not supplied; your QA validates the deployment in your own environment | | Data sovereignty | Contractual | Physical: the data never leaves your perimeter | | Managed migration and training | Included services | Self-serve install (offline, from one signed bundle) plus documentation | Two honest notes on that table. First, if a vendor-supplied GxP validation package is a hard requirement and your QA team does not want to validate a system themselves, that is a genuine reason to prefer Arkivum. Second, self-hosting means you operate the infrastructure; the suite is built to make that small (SQLite-first, one signed bundle, systemd installer), but the responsibility is yours. ## Why the verification model matters for archives specifically Any archive worth keeping outlives software vendors. A preservation system whose proofs can only be checked inside the vendor's platform makes the vendor's continued existence part of your evidence chain. The suite inverts that: every record is written to a tamper-evident, hash-linked chain, signed with post-quantum algorithms, timestamped under RFC 3161, and verifiable by any third party running the open verifier against a published public key, with no network access and no account. An auditor in 2045 does not need AlgoVoi to exist. The same design covers the compliance workflows around the records: legal and e-discovery holds that block deletion, signed erasure tombstones that prove a record existed after its content is irrecoverable, and a Compliance Command Center that recomputes every signed chain offline rather than asserting figures. The full requirements picture is in the [regulated-records self-hosting guide](/regulated-records-self-hosting-guide), and the long-term cryptography rationale in [post-quantum evidence longevity](/post-quantum-evidence-longevity). ## Pricing The Verifiable Compliance Suite is a single perpetual licence at \$1,000, purchasable self-serve: the licence key both decrypts the installer bundle and runs the estate. There is no per-seat, per record, or per-year charge, which is the structural difference from any subscription preservation service: cost does not compound with retention duration, and retention duration is the whole point of an archive. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is there a self-hosted alternative to Arkivum? Yes. The AlgoVoi Verifiable Compliance Suite runs a long-term digital preservation and records estate entirely on your own infrastructure, including fully air-gapped networks. It covers the same preservation problem as Arkivum (findable, legible, authentic records for decades) without records residing in a vendor-operated cloud, and adds post-quantum signatures and offline verification. ### Is it open standards and does it avoid vendor lock-in? Records are canonicalised under RFC 8785 (JCS), hashed with SHA-256, signed with NIST post-quantum algorithms, and timestamped under RFC 3161. Verification runs against a published public key with no AlgoVoi account or network, so the evidence outlives the vendor: an auditor in 2045 does not need AlgoVoi to exist to check it. ### How does the cost compare to Arkivum's subscription? The suite is a one-time perpetual licence (\$1,000) with no per-seat, per-record, or per-year charge. A cloud preservation subscription compounds cost with retention duration, and retention duration is the entire point of an archive, so the structural difference grows over the life of the records. ### When is Arkivum still the better choice? If you need a vendor-supplied GxP validation package out of the box and your QA team does not want to validate a system in your own environment, or you want a fully managed service with included migration and training, Arkivum is a credible choice. Self-hosting means you operate the infrastructure yourself. ## See also * [Verifiable Compliance Suite](/verifiable-compliance-suite) -- what ships in the estate. * [Regulated-records self-hosting guide](/regulated-records-self-hosting-guide) -- what a compliant self-hosted preservation estate requires. * [Post-quantum evidence longevity](/post-quantum-evidence-longevity) -- why signatures made today must survive cryptographic migration. * [Preservica alternative](/preservica-alternative) -- the same comparison for Preservica evaluators. Arkivum is a trademark of its owner; AlgoVoi is not affiliated with Arkivum. Statements about Arkivum are drawn from its public website as of 2026-07-10; if anything is outdated, contact [chopmob@gmail.com](mailto:chopmob@gmail.com) and we will correct it.