Website vs Web app: What does your Startup need?
A website and a web application seem all the same for those viewing them through a web browser. But for businesses, the context goes deeper.
There are over 1,518,207,412 websites across the world as per a web server survey conducted by Netcraft in January 2019. This number is rapidly increasing as we speak. It is obvious that a website is absolutely essential for any startup or small business to make its presence felt on the Internet- which by itself is a huge pool for fishing large groups of target customers.
But hold on. There’s another term that is highly synonymous with a website and is used a lot these days. This term is a “web application” or simply put, a web app. Now, what is the difference between a website vs web application? Most importantly, which among these does your business need?
Being an IT Consultant myself, I’ve encountered this question a hell lot of times. The other day, one of my clients loudly stated in a funny accent,
“Why do you people complicate matters so much. A website and a web application are the same, aren’t they?”
If you ask an average consumer or a common individual, they would consider everything accessible on a web browser as a website. But while that is true for them, the same terminology does not apply to businesses seeking to build increase their online presence through web development. The term “website” for businesses has a different definition, which I’ll discuss below.
What is a website meant for?
A website, in its most basic definition, is a set of web pages built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that contains information in the form of text, images, audio, and video content.
That means if you’re leveraging web development services to build a website. You’re essentially trying to present information about your business in a set of web pages that your visitors will see.
This is exactly where the need for a terminology becomes clear in this comparison between website vs web application. If you only want your visitors to go through the web pages and know more about your business, or perhaps go through your business portfolio and fill a contact form- then all you need is just a website.
Websites are meant to present information to visitors. The presentation of information is what matters the most in designing web development UI/UX.
A website becomes a web app when the purpose shifts from information to interaction
If you need your visitors to do something more than just going through the information, you would need to integrate functions that would let them do so. For example, you may choose to integrate a live chatbot application across your website.
A single application such as this doesn’t change a website into a web app. However, if you’d want your visitors to interact with your website in more unique ways (user accounts, reactions, customizations, CRM integration, etc.), simply adding functionalities would negatively affect the performance of the website.
In order to have all such interactive functions while keeping the performance intact, you’d need to build a complete web app altogether using technology stacks such as MERN, Angularjs, among others.
Website vs web application: What’s the difference?
1. A static website is meant to convey specific information to the visitor. Whereas a web application is built to cater to a need of the user, thus requiring their response.
2. Examples of websites include advertisement websites, News magazines and the like. Examples of web apps are eCommerce stores such as Amazon, social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and entertainment portals such as Netflix, Hulu, among others.
3. Websites facilitate one-way communication where a user visits a website, goes through the information on a website and leaves. A web application, on the other hand, facilitates two-way interaction wherein a user performs certain actions on a website which also prompts responses from the website server.
All web apps are websites. But not all websites are web apps
If you choose to hire web app developers from an experienced IT Outsourcing company, they would help you create a powerful web application with all the functionalities you’ll need to sustain customer interaction. However, it’s obvious your customers would term it as a website since it’s accessed directly from the browser.
But that’s fine because web applications are also websites. What makes them so advanced as compared to a website using traditional HTML, CSS and JavaScript is the use of modern stacks and languages. This is the reason why you can’t just have your web application built by anyone. There are plenty of software companies out there providing top-notch web app development services for startups & small businesses.
Advantages of a web app
Almost every modern website is indeed a web application. In a world where the attention span of people on the internet is incredibly low, you need a platform which a user simply couldn’t resist leaving. That’s exactly what a web app helps you do, and why they have the edge in this comparison between website vs web application.
Here are some of the greatest advantages of a web app for businesses:
1. Modern browsers allow websites to execute a lot more actions than ever before. Through a web app, you could request visitors to accept push notifications so they’re constantly engaged with updates of your business services.
2. Lack the budget of investing in mobile app development? As a Consultant working for the needs of startup & small business leaders, I guess I understand that situation pretty well. But the progress in web app development has come so far that everything possible on a mobile app can be done from the web browser almost equally well.
Progressive web apps are the best example of this, as multiple platforms such as Tinder and Alibaba have reported a significant increase in overall engagements after implementing PWAs.
3. A web app can be a great non-intrusive way to track your customers and obtain relevant data to cater to their needs. Since they’re accessed from the web browser itself, they’re not as invasive as mobile apps.
4. What better way to enhance customer interaction with your business than offering personalized services? Web apps can let you integrate subscription services into a website, through which you can offer users personalized services as per their subscription. Such personalization is even possible even without the need for subscriptions (as done by Amazon, Spotify while spreading users’ screens with recommendations).
5. Web apps can also help startups deliver unique services which connect customers to businesses at a deeper level. To give you a hint, here are two examples of some excellent web apps that enhance the depth of B2C interaction:
- Ford GT Supercar Configurator- This unique configurator app lets users customize a Ford GT car at every level, from the interior color to exterior vinyl, everything! Not everyone using this web app will buy a Ford GT, but at least they’ll have fun playing around it for a while.
- CustomInk: CustomInk lets users design their own t-shirts and other apparel online, then have them ordered instantly!
Website vs Web application. What would you choose for your startup?
From this comparison of website vs web application, it is undoubtedly clear that web apps are the better choice among the two. Unless you’re a small business which doesn’t have anything to offer its customers online apart from some information, there’s no valid reason to not hire web app developers and build a sophisticated web application.
In the past two years, I’ve worked with many small businesses wanting to switch to a web app from a website. This is the reason why I thought this comparison of website vs web application could be useful for somebody out there confused about the same.
In the increasingly digital world, businesses are focusing on personalization and engagement more than ever before- and these are exactly what web applications do the best!
