Is Hugging Face HIPAA compliant?
Only on the right plan. Hugging Face signs a Business Associate Agreement with its customers on Enterprise. Other plans aren't covered, so keep patient data out of them. Hugging Face doesn't say whether the BAA covers its AI features.
Does Hugging Face sign a BAA?
Only on some plans or setups
Hugging Face says it can offer a Business Associate Addendum through its Enterprise plan, sold through sales. It publishes no BAA scope, so which services (Inference Endpoints, Inference Providers, Hub storage) the addendum covers is unknown.
Not confirmed for the AI features: Hugging Face doesn’t say whether its BAA covers Inference Endpoints (dedicated); Inference Providers (routing to third-party providers). Get that in writing before using them with patient data.
- Business associate
- Hugging Face
- Tool
- Hugging Face
- Plans with a BAA
- Enterprise
- Checked
By plan
| Plan | BAA | How to get it | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | Signs a BAA | Through sales | Hugging Face's security docs say it can offer Business Associate Addendums through an Enterprise plan. The pricing page lists Enterprise from $50 per user per month with annual commitment and includes 'legal and compliance processes', arranged with sales. No request process or BAA scope is published.[1],[2],[3] |
| Free / PRO / Team | Not confirmed | Not stated | The BAA is described only for the Enterprise plan. No page says these plans are barred from PHI, and the Terms of Service do not mention health data.[1],[2],[4] |
Are the AI features covered?
Vendors often sign a BAA for the core product but leave some AI features out. Here is what Hugging Face says about each one.
| AI feature | Under the BAA | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Inference Endpoints (dedicated)Enterprise | Not stated | Hugging Face says it doesn't store request payloads and keeps logs for 30 days, with private endpoints over AWS or Azure PrivateLink. No page states whether Inference Endpoints are inside the BAA.[5] |
| Inference Providers (routing to third-party providers)Enterprise | Not stated | Requests go to outside providers, which Hugging Face says are responsible for their own security and data policies. No page says the BAA extends to them.[6] |
LLM APIs that offer a BAA
- Claude API (Claude Platform)BAA on: First-party API (custom / negotiated BAA), First-party API (self-serve Console enablement)Some plans only
- CohereBAA on: Custom model development engagementSome plans only
- GroqCloudBAA on: GroqCloud paid, generally available services (customers with an existing Groq agreement)Some plans only
- ModalBAA on: EnterpriseSome plans only
- BasetenBAA on: All plans (Basic, Pro, Enterprise)Signs a BAA
- OpenAI API platformBAA on: API (enterprise / sales-managed accounts), API (pay-as-you-go / self-serve organizations), API FedRAMP (with Modified Retention)Signs a BAA
All BAA-ready alternatives to Hugging Face
Sources
- Security (Hugging Face Hub docs)
- Hugging Face Team & Enterprise
- Pricing
- Terms of Service
- Security & Compliance (Inference Endpoints docs)
- Security & Compliance (Inference Providers docs)
Change history
- Hugging Face — Enterprise: updated conditions (our correction after re-checking the vendor's pages).
A signed BAA is necessary but not sufficient for HIPAA compliance, which also depends on configuration, access controls, and your own policies. Verdicts summarize the vendor's own published terms as of the date checked; confirm with the vendor and your counsel before sending protected health information. Not legal advice.