---
layout: docs
page_title: Get started
description: >-
  Understand the difference between HCP Boundary, Boundary Enterprise, and Boundary Community Edition to determine which is best for your needs.
---

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> [!IMPORTANT]  
> **Documentation Update:** Product documentation previously located in `/website` has moved to the [`hashicorp/web-unified-docs`](https://github.com/hashicorp/web-unified-docs) repository, where all product documentation is now centralized. Please make contributions directly to `web-unified-docs`, since changes to `/website` in this repository will not appear on developer.hashicorp.com.
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# Get started

This section walks through how to get started with Boundary. You’ll learn how
Boundary provides secure access to private endpoints.

There are three options to get started with Boundary:

- **HCP Boundary** is a managed offering of Boundary that streamlines deployment and operations.
  HCP Boundary allows users to run their own
  worker proxies, preventing exposure of your network to HashiCorp or clients.
  HCP Boundary has features that are not available in the Community Edition of the product, as well as support.
  It has full feature-parity with Boundary Enterprise.
  Review the [Get
  started with HCP Boundary](/boundary/docs/getting-started/deploy-and-login) section to
  learn more.
- **Boundary Enterprise** is a customer-hosted offering of Boundary with Enterprise support.
It has full feature-parity with HCP Boundary.
The Enterprise version is self-managed in your environment, making it the perfect choice for agencies that are not able to use SaaS products for compliance or regulatory reasons.
The [Deploy Boundary](/boundary/docs/deploy/self-managed) section can help you build a self-managed production environment using Boundary Enterprise.
- **Boundary Community Edition** is a free distribution of Boundary that users can run
  in their own environments. The [Dev Mode quick start](/boundary/docs/getting-started/dev-mode) section discusses running Boundary
  in Dev mode on your local machine, allowing you to get started with the Community Edition distribution quickly.

We recommend you use the Boundary model that best meets your intended use case.
If you’re not sure what’s best for you, we recommend reviewing the [Getting
started with HCP Boundary](/boundary/docs/getting-started/deploy-and-login) section.

## Key concepts

Before getting started with Boundary, it's important to understand a few key concepts.
Please consult any of the following Boundary concepts pages to familiarize yourself with Boundary's architecture and terminology:

- [Auditing](/boundary/docs/concepts/auditing)
- [Identity and access management](/boundary/docs/concepts/iam)
- [Credential management](/boundary/docs/concepts/credential-management)
- [Workers](/boundary/docs/concepts/workers)
- [Aliases](/boundary/docs/concepts/aliases)
- [Transparent sessions](/boundary/docs/concepts/transparent-sessions)
