> Why Build Local-First Apps

We spend hours each day on our computers—especially those of us working in digital fields. In many ways, we're citizens of the connected world.

AI is reshaping our tools and workflows at an incredible pace. Every week, new apps appear, from indie creations to VC-backed startups. But more often than not, they're sold as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

The SaaS Trade-Off

SaaS offers a smooth on-ramp for users: open a browser, sign up, and start working. But behind that convenience is an ongoing cost structure. Compute, storage, and infrastructure aren't free—so the business model depends on recurring subscriptions.

Your work and data typically live on someone else's servers. This allows for easy access anywhere, but it also means you're dependent on a company's uptime, policies, and pricing decisions. And when breaches happen, your information is part of the blast radius.

Over time, trust becomes a bigger question. The same companies providing the service often have incentives to collect and monetize data in ways you didn't sign up for. Spam, scams, and identity theft keep growing—not because of one bad actor, but because the system makes it easy for information to be bought, sold, and repackaged.

Before SaaS: The Box on the Shelf

It wasn't always like this. In the pre-SaaS era, you'd walk into a local computer store, browse shelves lined with boxed software, and make a one-time purchase. Inside the box was a CD—or earlier, floppy disks—and maybe a printed manual. That was it.

The game or app was yours to keep. No account, no "cloud sync," no terms of service that could change overnight. Updates were rare but exciting, often coming as entirely new versions you could choose to buy. The same went for most of our video games—you owned them outright, and they worked as long as your hardware did.

The incentives were clear:

• Deliver real value upfront.
• Build quality to earn word-of-mouth.
• Improve the product to bring in new customers—not to keep existing ones locked into monthly fees.

Why We're Building Local-First

Building software today is easier than ever—but making something useful that runs entirely on your device, without outsourcing compute and storage, is harder. That's exactly why we chose to make Dinoki local-first.

Local-first means your data stays on your computer. It means the app works without phoning home. It means performance, privacy, and longevity are the priorities—not maximizing subscription revenue or mining your habits.

We believe software should be built to last. Make something people love, and let it stay that way. That's the standard we're holding ourselves to with Dinoki, and we hope it inspires others to follow suit.