Hello and welcome to the community!
Most product features are exactly the same in the online versions and in grist-core. Here are some highlights of the differences:
-
Python version: the online version uses a sandboxed interpreter (new documents use Python 3.9; older documents use Python 2); grist-core uses whatever Python is on the system where it runs, and it is unsandboxed. The version packaged with docker, I think, currently uses Python 2 (soon to be updated to use Python 3).
-
There are no document snapshots (Automatic backups - Grist Help Center) in
grist-core. -
There is no login system out-of-the-box in grist-core, but you can set one up by connecting to a SAML provider. See here for more, including a recommendation of an open-source option: Better support for self-hosting · Issue #44 · gristlabs/grist-core · GitHub
-
grist-coreis generally good for a single user, but is not yet polished for multiple users. For example, if you share a document with another user, the online version will send an invitation email to that user, butgrist-coredoes not do that currently. -
grist-coreis not intended for large teams or for hosting Grist as a service. For example, it does not include team billing, or provisions for scaling to multiple machines as would be needed to serve many users.
For single-user operation, all features are present (except document snapshots that I mentioned): all column types, linking views, formulas, access rules, etc.
It’s a good question, and the answer might change a bit over time as we keep building Grist. Feel free to ask again if you are wondering about any specific features.