Editorial status: Source-researched draft. Recheck product defaults, availability, pricing, and terms before publication.
Quick answer
Local agents run near a developer’s files and credentials; cloud agents typically run in a remote environment connected to repositories and services. Local is not automatically private, and cloud is not automatically isolated—the concrete controls decide.
A fair comparison method
- Map data flows for both models
- compare host and cloud credential exposure
- require auditable review before either mode changes external state.
Keep the model, task, repository state, test suite, and permission boundary as similar as practical. If one product uses a cloud runtime and another runs locally, document that difference rather than hiding it inside one score.
Security criteria
Compare filesystem scope, command approval, outbound network policy, credential handling, extension or MCP trust, logging, retention, and external-action permissions. A polished approval dialog is useful, but it is not equivalent to operating-system or network isolation.
Quality and cost criteria
Record whether the task was completed, which tests passed, how much human correction was required, wall-clock time, and total metered usage. Treat advertised benchmarks and startup times as vendor claims unless you can reproduce their conditions.
What this article does not claim
Affiliate availability, sponsorship, popularity, and GitHub stars do not determine the editorial conclusion. An undocumented feature is marked unverified rather than assumed absent. No universal winner is declared because deployment needs differ.
Bottom line
Choose the option whose verified controls and observed workflow match your actual environment. Repeat the evaluation when major models, defaults, or pricing change.