I ran a full comparison of nine different models - from remote giants to my local setup - and found that how finished your draft is matters way more than which model you pick, especially when privacy and speed are non-negotiable.
I rebuilt my blog engine to make sure that everything you see here is transparent, private, and free from third-party tracking.
A small toolkit of habits for using AI honestly - tagging what it touched, owning what you ship, and setting the tool up to poke holes in your thinking instead of flattering it.