QAnswer vs Dust
The enterprise AI your data actually stays in
Dust is a great agent builder. But when your organization needs on-premise deployment, per-user permissions, and European data sovereignty — QAnswer is purpose-built for that.
Deployment options
Cloud · On-prem · Air-gapped
Cloud only
ISO 27001
Certified
Not certified
Per-user permissions
Synced from source
Workspace-level
Where it matters
Five differences that affect real work
Deploy anywhere — including your own servers
QAnswer
Cloud, on-premise, or air-gapped. Your data never leaves your infrastructure unless you choose it to.
Dust
Cloud only. US or EU data region available on Enterprise, but Dust always operates the infrastructure.
Permission-aware answers, not just permission-aware access
QAnswer
Inherits per-user permissions from every connected source — SharePoint, Google Drive, OneDrive, and more. Users only see what they already have access to.
Dust
Workspace-level Spaces control access. All data in a Space is visible to anyone with access to it. Per-user source permissions are not synced.
ISO 27001 & European sovereignty
QAnswer
ISO 27001 and ISO 42001 certified. GDPR compliant. Built and operated in France. Trusted by the European Commission, Council of the EU, and European Parliament.
Dust
SOC 2 Type II certified. GDPR compliant. Paris-based company with US/EU hosting on Enterprise. No ISO 27001 certification.
Any AI model, including your own
QAnswer
Bring any LLM — OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Llama, or run your own models on-premise for full data sovereignty.
Dust
OpenAI (GPT), Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), and Mistral. No local or open-weight model support.
Connected to your real enterprise data
QAnswer
Native connectors for SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, websites, PDFs, MediaWiki, Slack, Teams, and more — all indexed with source permissions.
Dust
52 integrations covering the major tools. Strong agent-building experience on top of connected data.
Trusted by organizations that cannot afford data leaks
"QAnswer does not store any of your data which was a deal breaker for our group. The bots keep your data private for just yourself unless you deliberately share with others."
Lydia Rasmussen
Research & Digital Asset Management Librarian, Rockwell Automation
Pricing
No surprises. No minimums.
Dust Enterprise requires a 100-user minimum and bills API usage separately. QAnswer is straightforward.
QAnswer
Contact us
for a tailored quote
All connectors included
On-premise option available
Per-user permission syncing
ISO 27001 & 42001 certified
No user minimums
API usage included
Dust
~€29
per user / month, excl. tax (Pro)
52 integrations
Cloud only
Workspace-level access only
SOC 2 Type II
100-user minimum on Enterprise
API usage billed separately
Make the right call
Which one fits your team?
Choose QAnswer if…
Teams in regulated industries (healthcare, defence, public sector)
Organizations requiring on-premise or air-gapped deployment
Companies where not everyone should see every document
European organizations who need full data sovereignty
Teams wanting to run their own LLM on their own hardware
Consider Dust if…
Teams focused purely on no-code agent building
Slack-first organizations wanting bots embedded in channels
Small teams wanting a quick SaaS setup with no infra work
Teams comfortable with workspace-level (not per-user) data access
Your data. Your servers. Your rules.
See why security-conscious organizations choose QAnswer over cloud-only alternatives.
