---
title: "Features"
description: "There are 5 tiers of organizations and each tier has its own set of features on Local Platform."
canonical: https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/local-platform/key-concepts/features
markdown: https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/local-platform/key-concepts/features.md
language: python
source: https://github.com/QuantConnect/Documentation/tree/master/02%20Local%20Platform/01%20Key%20Concepts/03%20Features
modified: 2026-10-28
index: https://www.quantconnect.com/llms.txt
---

# Features

[Documentation](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2.md) > [Local Platform](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/local-platform.md) > Key Concepts > Features

> Code examples are shown in Python. Append `?lang=csharp` to this URL for the C# version of this page.

## Introduction

There are 5 tiers of organizations and each tier has its own set of features on Local Platform. To accommodate the growth of your trading skills and business, you can [adjust the tier of your organization](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform/organizations/billing.md#07-Change-Organization-Tiers) at any time.

## Hybrid Workflow

The Local Platform lets you run backtests, deploy research notebooks, and deploy live algorithms on your local machine and in QuantConnect Cloud. This is the best of both environments, letting you use your local hardware or our scalable cloud systems.

## Version Control

The Local Platform syncs your local and cloud project files. If you pull your cloud projects to your local machine, you can use your own version control systems to track project changes.

## Self-Sovereign Security

The Local Platform offers you the ability to take ownership of your project security. On the Institution tier, you can create local projects without pushing them to QuantConnect Cloud.

## Custom LEAN Images

With the Local Platform, you can use custom images of the LEAN to add extensions or fixes at your convenience, and then run these images with the Local Platform interface.

## On-Premise Compute

Out of the box, the Local Platform enables you to run backtests, optimizations, research notebooks, and deploy live algorithms on a local computer or single server.

## Private Cloud

Build your own private cloud cluster on private hardware or clouds. The Private Cloud add-on allows scaling the Local Platform to serve multiple engineers on thin clients, like laptops, with powerful work servers that can be loaded with GPUs and centralized copies of proprietary data. The Private Cloud is a much more efficient local-cloud setup and can easily scale to large teams.

## Coding

The following table shows the coding features of each platform:

| Feature Feature | Platform Local Platform | Cloud Platform |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Development Environment The tool you can use to edit project files | Any IDE | Cloud-hosted VS Code |  |
| Version Control Track file changes over time and easily revert mistakes | Your own git systems | Access [historical project files](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform/backtesting/results.md#15-Project-Files) through your [backtest results](https://www.quantconnect.com/docs/v2/cloud-platform/backtesting/results.md#18-View-All-Backtests) |  |
| Anonymous Projects Create and edit local projects without syncing to QuantConnect Cloud | Self-sovereign security | Managed by QuantConnect |  |
| Custom LEAN Versions Build and run custom versions of LEAN | ![green check](https://cdn.quantconnect.com/i/tu/check.png) | ![green check](https://cdn.quantconnect.com/i/tu/check.png) |  |
| Autocomplete Easy-to-use tool to speed up your development | ![green check](https://cdn.quantconnect.com/i/tu/check.png) | ![green check](https://cdn.quantconnect.com/i/tu/check.png) |  |

## Backtesting & Optimization

The following table shows the backtesting and optimization features of each platform:

| Feature Feature | Platform Local Platform | Cloud Platform |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Data Source Where does the data come from? | Licensed data | Provided by QuantConnect |  |
| Data Maintenance Who ensures the data is clean and ready? | Self-maintaned | QuantConnect Team |  |
| Compute Where is the hardware that runs backtests? | Your compute | QuantConnect Cloud compute |  |
| Proprietary Data Data that's not in the Dataset Market | Never leaves premise | Upload to cloud |  |
| Debugging Easy-to-use tool for solving coding errors | ![green check](https://cdn.quantconnect.com/i/tu/check.png) | ![green check](https://cdn.quantconnect.com/i/tu/check.png) |  |

## Live Trading

The following table shows the parameter optimization features of each platform:

| Feature Feature | Platform Local Platform | Cloud Platform |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Data Source Where does the data come from? | Licensed data | Provided by QuantConnect |  |
| Stability How stable is your live trading environment? | Your local setup | Stable co-located environment |  |
| Notifications SMS, email, Telegram, and webhooks |  | ![green check](https://cdn.quantconnect.com/i/tu/check.png) |  |