Local vs. Remote Build

I have always built apps remotely using Adobe’s Phonegap service. I’m wondering if there are any big advantages to building an app locally?

I see the pros of the remote/service based build mainly being:

  • no need to maintain local SDKs
  • value add services (distribution for testers, hydration, centralized debug server)

The biggest downsides I can see are:

  • it does have a monthly cost, for private apps
  • not much detail when a build fails
  • you can only use the plugins that have been published

Is this an accurate picture? Are there other reasons to build locally?