Compare responsibilities
Both options help compatible clients and agents communicate. The main difference is who operates the service, manages credentials and pays for infrastructure. Neither option replaces destination authentication or changes the trust boundary of a protocol-handling Gateway.
| Choice | Your responsibilities |
|---|---|
| Managed relay | Sign in as required, use the permitted routes, and review the current usage and service limits in your account. |
| Self-hosted relay | Operate a compatible service, protect its credentials, maintain updates, monitor capacity and pay any hosting or network charges. |
| Direct connection | Provide an approved network path from your native device to the server; no forwarding relay is involved in that direct path. |
Managed access
Hosted managed access requires a valid account even when a free allowance is offered. A device identifier or a free-tier label is not a substitute for signing in. Check the allowance shown by your service rather than relying on a permanently fixed number in a guide.
A managed relay is not an open proxy for arbitrary internet traffic. Destination and usage restrictions are intentional parts of operating the service.
Self-hosted access
Use the official, version-compatible relay kit and its own installation instructions. Kits and deployment models can differ between releases. A kit that forwards WebSocket connections does not automatically provide a complete cloud workspace, a sharing service, an SSH server or every advanced transport.
Free self-hosted software does not mean zero hosting, storage, request or bandwidth cost. Monitor the infrastructure provider's own limits and billing separately from OmniTerm's managed usage.
Shared relay credentials create a shared trust group at that admission layer. Use separate deployments or explicitly supported isolation when participants must not share that trust. Continue with custom relay setup and how relay works.