Hot take: Excel is actually better than Google Sheets.Not because it’s prettier or newer — but because it’s local-first. Excel was built in an era where software had to run well offline. You install it, you open it, and it just works — no loading spinner, no syncing issues, no “reconnecting…” toast at the top of your screen. Meanwhile, Google Sheets was born in the browser. It assumes you’re always online and always sharing.And that’s where the problem starts.
Cloud-first tools like Google Sheets, Notion, or GitBook trade convenience for control. Your data lives somewhere else, on someone else’s infrastructure, governed by their policies. They log, store, analyze — and sometimes leak — your information. That’s fine for grocery lists or project wikis. But if you’re working with sensitive notes, client intel, IP, or anything you don’t want indexed, it’s a different story.Local-first flips the model: your data stays on your machine. You own it. You see the file path. You can back it up on your terms. You can unplug from the internet and keep working without any loss in functionality. Imagine an Excel that requires Wi-Fi to do math — that’s basically where modern productivity tools are heading.
Let’s be real. Almost everyone uses at least one cloud-first product. I’m typing this in GitBook right now. But if I were writing a draft of a legal doc, a pitch deck, or notes from a confidential meeting — no way I’d do it here. Some things just aren’t meant to leave your device.If you’d rather not share it with the world, it probably shouldn’t go through five unknown cloud APIs before rendering on your screen.
Here’s the other thing: reliability. Cloud-first tools break the moment your connection gets shaky. Try loading a heavy Notion doc on hotel Wi-Fi. Try opening a Google Sheet on a train with bad reception. Try working on an airplane without paying $30 for laggy internet.Now open Excel. It doesn’t care. No internet? It’s chill. Local-first tools keep going when the grid goes down.
Cloud-first tools are great — until they aren’t. They shine in collaboration, but stumble when it comes to privacy and reliability. Local-first software like Excel reminds us what it’s like to have speed, control, and trust baked in by default.Not everything needs to be collaborative. Not everything should be in the cloud.Sometimes, working alone — locally — is the smartest move you can make.And if you do need collaboration? You can still get it. Proxy servers or self-hosted sync layers can bridge the gap — giving you the benefits of local-first design without giving up control. Privacy and collaboration don’t have to be at odds. You just need better architecture.
