# AI application topologies: cloud, edge, local, and hybrid inference

DevFeed: [AI application topologies: cloud, edge, local, and hybrid inference](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/ai-topology-29075.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.alexewerlof.com/p/ai-topology>)

Author: Alex Ewerlöf

Published: 2025-10-24T21:15:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Alex Ewerlof Notes](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/alex-ewerlof-notes.md>)

Topics: [Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai.md>), [Cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cloud.md>), [Local AI](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/local-ai.md>), [Inference](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/inference.md>), [On-device AI](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/on-device-ai.md>), [Latency](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/latency.md>), [Software as a service](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/saas.md>)

Tags: [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [cloud](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cloud.md>), [edge](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/edge.md>), [edge-ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/edge-ai.md>), [inference](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/inference.md>), [latency](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/latency.md>), [local-ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/local-ai.md>), [on-device-ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/on-device-ai.md>), [privacy](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/privacy.md>), [saas](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/saas.md>)

## AI overview

The article categorizes AI application topologies by where inference compute occurs relative to data: cloud, edge, local, and hybrid. It describes trade-offs involving capability, latency, cost, privacy, connectivity, vendor limits, and centralized-service outages.

## Source excerpt

Cloud AI, Edge AI, Local AI, and Hybrid AI