Web app, mobile app or PWA: which does your business need?

What each one is

A web app runs in the browser at an address like app.yourcompany.com. Customer portals, booking pages, admin dashboards and SaaS products are usually web apps. Nobody installs anything, and it works on any device with a browser.

A mobile app is installed from the App Store or Google Play and runs on the phone itself. It can be built natively (Swift for iOS, Kotlin for Android) or from one codebase with a toolkit like Flutter. If that is the choice you are weighing, I compare the two in Flutter vs native; this article is about the step before it.

A progressive web app, or PWA, is a web app with extra capabilities. MDN describes it as an app built with web technologies that provides a user experience like that of a platform-specific app. It can be installed to the home screen, open in its own window and keep working offline, while still being one website underneath.

Install, offline, push and stores compared

The differences that matter to a business are less about technology and more about how customers find the app, how often they open it and what it needs from the phone.

What a PWA can and cannot do today

PWAs are often sold as "an app without the app store". That is partly true, and the gaps are worth knowing before you commit.

To be installable, a PWA needs a web app manifest and must be served over HTTPS. Offline support comes from a service worker, a script that can answer requests from a cache when there is no connection. Push notifications use the Push API, which also needs an active service worker and can deliver messages even when the app is not open.

On iPhone, Apple added web push for Home Screen web apps in iOS and iPadOS 16.4. The user has to add the app to the Home Screen first, and permission can only be requested in response to something the user does, like tapping a button. On iOS 16.4 and later a PWA can be installed from the Share menu in Safari and several other browsers, but it is a manual step, so many customers will never do it.

Google's own PWA guide lists the rest: platform apps have deeper access to things like Bluetooth, contacts and local files, and Apple's browser engine misses many features that other browsers have.

Can a PWA go in the app stores?

Yes, with conditions. On Android, a Trusted Web Activity lets a small Android app open your PWA full screen, and that app can be published on Google Play. Google requires the app and the site to come from the same developer, which is verified with Digital Asset Links, and the content must already work well in the browser.

The App Store is stricter. Apple's review guideline 4.2 says an app should include features, content and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website. A website wrapped in an app shell is a common reason for rejection, which I cover in my post on App Store rejection reasons.

How to decide

When someone asks me which one to build, I go through this:

• Choose a web app when users work at a desk, sign in occasionally, or arrive from a link in an email or search result. Dashboards, portals, internal tools and B2B products fit here.
• Choose a mobile app when customers use it weekly or daily on their phones, when you need reliable notifications on iPhone, when being found in the App Store and Google Play matters, or when the app uses the camera, location or Bluetooth as a core feature.
• Choose a PWA when you need one product for desktop and phone, offline use matters (field staff, patchy connections), and most of your users are on Android or desktop, or are willing to add the app to their Home Screen.
• Choose a mobile app plus a web dashboard when customers use the phone and your team runs the business from a laptop. Delivery, booking and service platforms usually end up here.
• If you are unsure, start with the part your customers touch most often, and add the other later. A good backend serves both.

What I build and what it costs

For mobile apps I have three fixed-price packages, all one Flutter codebase for Android and iOS: Launch at $999 for up to 10 screens, Growth at $1,699 for up to 25 screens with its own Node.js backend and PostgreSQL database, and Scale at $2,500 for up to 50 screens with an admin dashboard, integrations and push notifications where supported.

Web apps and portals, built with Next.js, React and TypeScript, are quoted as a fixed price against a written scope, and that is also where a PWA fits if installable or offline use is worth adding. Hosting, third-party fees and ongoing maintenance are not included in either. If you tell me what your customers do and on which device, that is usually enough for me to pick one.