What do you consider when supporting a product in companies? (Question about supporting local tools)
I'm gradually seeing how many people in my circles are calling for more capable alternative solutions for products that originally came from the US.
They are switching, for example,
– from ChatGPT to Mistral
– from Figma to Sketch and the like.
Do you also decide when buying a product where it comes from, so that you support your country or territory?
(For example, I first look at usability and affordability; the country of origin is a parameter that I consider last.)
But if you know about any good European alternatives in tools, please let me know. :)
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For me, it's less about whether a product is local and more about whether it solves a real problem well.
A few things I usually look for:
• Does the team genuinely engage with the community?
• Have I tried the product or explored it enough to understand the value?
• Is the team open to feedback and improving the product?
• Would I feel comfortable recommending it to someone else?
Being local is definitely a nice bonus, but product quality and the people behind it matter more to me.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@harini_mukesh The thing is the closer the tool is to you (affinity – e.g. you know founders), you are more likely to support :)
At this point my strategy is simple: ignore 95% of AI news and wait until it breaks something in my workflow😅
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@iris_carr Sometimes ignoring is the best strategy :D
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@pranay19 This decade, everything falls apart, tbh.
still the model's/tool's performance is most important in the selection process ofc, it's nice to help your local solution, but life is life =)
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@xgrejid At the end of the day, we always grab the cheapest (or most of us) :)
ReplyMind
Supporting local tools isn’t just about convenience, it’s about resilience. When companies invest in products built close to their market, they get faster feedback loops, stronger cultural fit, and the confidence that critical workflows won’t be disrupted by distant priorities. That’s how local innovation scales into global strength.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@moon10 But the thing is that it is very demotivating to scale that when you know that your US competition is covering most of the market and has an infinite budget. 😬
ReplyMind
@busmark_w_nika That's true 😬
Dirac
There's just much less trust these days.
For some reason (At least to me), using these niche ai tools (eg. Mistral) is like, in the past, listening to niche music (like Daniel Cesar).
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@peterz_shu like don't you trust EU tools or?
For me location is last on list, if at all - does it do the job I need it do to, is it a fair price, are the two goto decisions.
Linked to does it do the job, how easy it is to configure, learn, get started...
Country of Origin does not come into my thoughts, if I am honest.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@mark_trowbridge Good to know, because lately I started noticing a hard push to show the US alternatives, and I feel a little bit like it is a part of a "political fight". But anyway, it is good to see that we have local companies, people and tools we can be proud of too.
usability and affordability first, always. I'd love to support local tools but if the product doesn't solve the problem well enough it doesn't matter where it's from. that said I've noticed more genuinely competitive alternatives coming from outside the US lately especially in AI. a year ago the default was always the American product. now the gap is closing fast and in some cases the alternatives are actually better for specific use cases. origin is a tiebreaker for me, not a dealbreaker
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@tina_chhabra Is it that those non-US tools filling any gap in the market?