Technologies are described herein for automatically selecting a best application delivery method based on a centrally maintained policy. An agent executing on a user computing device receives a request to initiate an application. The agent requests a centrally maintained application placement policy document regarding the application program from a policy server. The application placement policy document may describe a policy for determining a method for delivery of the application to the user computing device based on a number of conditions. The agent selects the method for delivery of the application based on the application placement policy document and the current conditions, and then initiates the application program utilizing the selected application delivery method.