Just spent a week running both Tabnine models side-by-side. The latency difference isn't subtle—it's a chasm. Local model feels like you're on a 56k modem when you're used to fiber, but there's a catch.
Local model (running via Docker on my M2) is dog-slow for the first completion in a new context, but then it's weirdly okay. Cloud is instant, but you're paying with network hops and data exfiltration. Here's the kicker: the local model chokes on my k8s manifests and Helm templates. The cloud version? Actually useful.
```yaml
# local model suggests this garbage for a simple probe:
exec:
command:
- cat
- /tmp/healthy
# cloud gave me the correct httpGet with proper path/port
```
If you're offline or paranoid about your code leaving the building, you'll tolerate the local lag. For actual daily velocity, the cloud model wins, even with the extra 100-200ms. It's a trade-off: sovereignty vs. speed. The local model needs more muscle or better optimization to be anything but a niche fallback.