THE PATRIOT KID
ONE'S $900 ONCE. ONE'S A
PHONE APP. THEY ALL DO
THE SAME THING — WHAT'S THE CATCH?
THING. THE DIFFERENCE IS
WHERE IT RUNS AND
WHO HOLDS YOUR DATA.
SaaS/web — their computer, your browser
Desktop — your computer
Mobile — your pocket
On-premise — a server in your building
IF I STOP PAYING?”
customer list is on the other side.
With desktop, it keeps running; you
just stop getting updates.
Ask before you sign, not after.
✓ Can I export my data, any time, myself?
✓ What's the price in year three?
✓ Does it work with no internet?
✓ Who backs it up — them or me?
✓ Per user, or per company?
ONE — BUT I CHECKED I CAN
EXPORT EVERYTHING FIRST.
NOW IT'S MY CHOICE, NOT A TRAP.
Rent it if you like —
just keep the key.
📦 The Four Kinds, Plainly
- SaaS / web app — runs on someone else's computer, you use it through a browser. Monthly fee. QuickBooks Online, Microsoft 365, your booking system.
- Desktop — installed on your PC or Mac, runs whether the internet is up or not. Often a one-time purchase.
- Mobile app — installed on a phone or tablet. Usually a companion to something else rather than the whole system.
- On-premise — runs on a server in your own building. You own it outright and you own every problem it has.
“Cloud” just means it runs on a computer that isn't yours. That's the entire mystery.
⚖️ Renting vs Owning
Renting (SaaS) costs little up front, updates itself, works from anywhere, and is backed up by someone whose job it is. But you pay forever, the price rises, and if you stop paying you lose access — sometimes to your own records.
Owning (desktop / on-premise) costs more on day one and nothing on day 400. It keeps working during an outage. But you handle backups, security patches and the day the hard drive dies.
Neither is right in general. A $40/month tool is $1,440 over three years — fine if it saves you an afternoon a month, poor value if you open it twice a year.
🔑 The One That Matters: Your Data
Whatever you choose, make sure you can get your data out — a real export, in a file you can open, that you can run yourself without asking anyone. Test it once while you're still a happy customer.
The businesses that get stuck aren't the ones who picked the “wrong” type. They're the ones who found out at renewal that ten years of customer history only exists inside a subscription.
Weighing up a system for your business? Ask Chuck — no sales pitch.
Got an IT problem worthy of a comic? Tell Chuck about it.