Technology
Website, web app or mobile app: which one do you need?
The three are often mixed up, and the choice affects cost, timing and how people reach you. A few questions about your users usually settle it.
2 min read
Clients often start by asking for an app when what they need is a website, or the other way round. The difference matters, because each one is built, paid for and found in a different way.
A website tells people about you
A website is mostly for reading: what you offer, where you are, how to contact you. It is found through search and links, opens in any browser and costs the least to build and run.
A web app lets people get something done
A web app also opens in the browser, but people log in and use it to do work: book, order, track, manage records. Customer portals, booking systems and internal tools are web apps. They work on phones and laptops with nothing to install.
A mobile app lives on the phone
A mobile app is installed from the Play Store or the App Store. It earns its place when people use it often, need notifications, work without a connection or use the camera and location. It also needs store approval, updates for each platform and a reason for people to download it.
Questions that settle it
How often will people use it: once, monthly or every day? Do they need to log in? Must it work without internet? Will they find you through search, or are they existing customers? Rare visits from new people point to a website. Regular use by people who log in points to a web app. Daily use on the move, with notifications, points to a mobile app.
Starting with one and adding another
Many products begin as a web app because it reaches every device at once, and add a mobile app once people use it often enough to want one. Building the system behind it with that in mind keeps the second step smaller.