What is a web application?
A web application is software you use in a browser, without installing anything. You go to an address, sign in and do something: place an order, book an appointment, update a file, look at your own invoices. The software runs on a server and your browser shows what happens.
The difference from an ordinary website is not how it looks but what you can do with it. A website gives information. A web application processes what you enter, remembers it and shows it to the right people.
What are examples for a small business?
An accountancy firm that lets its clients sign in to view invoices and upload documents has a web application: a client portal. Other examples that businesses have built:
- A booking or appointment system: customers choose a moment themselves and your staff see the calendar.
- An internal tool for planning, time tracking, quotes or stock, instead of a spreadsheet that has grown too big.
- An ordering or request portal for business customers who keep ordering the same things.
- A screen where data from two systems comes together, so that you can see how they connect.
How does a web application work?
A web application has three parts. Your browser shows the screens. A server runs the rules: who may see what, which calculations apply and what happens to an order. A database stores the data. That is why you see the same data on every device, and a change is visible to everyone at the same time.
What is the difference between a website, a web application and an app?
The three differ on eight points:
| Website | Web application | App | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Inform, be found | Let people do something: sign in, order, manage | Let people do something, also with phone features |
| Signing in | Usually not | Usually yes | Usually yes |
| Installing | No | No | Yes, from the App Store or Google Play |
| Approval by Apple and Google | No | No | Yes |
| Camera and notifications | Limited | Limited | Full |
| Without internet | Hardly | Limited | Possible |
| Making a change | Once, visible at once | Once, visible at once | Per version, through the app stores |
| Suits | Businesses that want to be found | Customers or staff who must do something online | Users who come back daily or need the phone |
What does your business need? Four questions
Four questions point to what you need:
- Do you only need to be found and to explain what you do? Then a website is enough.
- Do customers or staff have to sign in and do something? Then you need a web application, usually alongside your website.
- Do you need notifications, the camera or working without an internet connection, or do users come back daily? Then an app is worth it. One app for iPhone and Android is enough for most businesses; this is how to choose.
- Do you not know? Start with a web application. You can also use the system behind it later for an app, so you do not build that part twice.
Did you land on question 2 or 4? Request a quote and say which task customers or staff need to do online.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a web application?
The advantages of a web application compared with an app are that no installation is needed, because you only share a link; that there is one version for everyone, so a change is visible everywhere at once; that it works on every computer, phone and tablet with a browser; and that no approval from Apple and Google is needed and no accounts with the app stores.
The disadvantages are that it usually needs an internet connection, that notifications and camera work in a more limited way than in an app, and that the web application is not on the phone’s home screen unless users add it themselves.
What does a web application cost?
A web application is custom software: it is built for your business. A simple one, with a sign-in and a few screens for one task, therefore costs the same as a custom tool for one task: from €2,500, excluding VAT. Think of a booking system in which customers pick a time and staff see the calendar. After that the price rises with what you add. Allow about €100 an hour: an extra screen or feature is 2 to 6 hours of work, a connection to software you already use 8 to 40 hours. Permissions per kind of user and data that has to be moved also take hours.
Compared with an app, publishing in the app stores and the Apple and Google accounts fall away. On the other hand, a web application has to work as well on a large computer screen as on a phone. The cost breakdown shows how to work out the amount yourself, because the hours and the rate set the price, whether it is an app or a web application.
Know which screens your web application needs? Request a quote and describe who signs in and what they do there.
What about security and privacy?
A web application in which people sign in stores data about those people. Three things belong in the design: who may see what, who can sign in and how signing in is secured, and what happens to the data when the software is replaced. If the application contains personal data, the GDPR applies, and you or your client are the controller. Settle that beforehand, in words you understand.
What is a progressive web app?
A progressive web app (PWA) is a web application that behaves like an app: you put it on the home screen and it partly works without internet. It is a middle ground for those who want an app without needing all phone features. One difference that counts: on the iPhone, notifications from a PWA only work if the user first puts it on the home screen. Phones differ here and it changes, so test before you build on it. Turn your website into an app explains what it gets you and what it costs.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a website and a web application?
A website gives information. A web application processes what users enter: signing in, ordering, booking, managing. Many businesses have both.
Is a web application the same as a web app?
Yes, in everyday use. Both words mean software that runs in the browser.
Do I also need an app if I have a web application?
Not necessarily. An app is worth it for notifications, the camera and use without internet. If the browser is enough, you do not need an app.
Is a web application secure?
Whether a web application is secure depends on how it is built. Any web application with a sign-in should have five things: an encrypted connection (https), passwords that are never stored in readable form, permissions that are checked on the server and not only on the screen, backups, and updates to the parts it runs on. If one is missing from a quote, ask about it.
Can I extend a web application into an app later?
Yes. The system behind the web application (the server and the database) can also supply an app with data, so you build that part once.
What does a client portal cost?
A client portal is a web application, so it starts at the same amount: from €2,500 for a sign-in and a few screens. If clients should see their invoices in it, it needs a connection to your accounting software, and that costs €800 to €4,000.
Having a web application built
If you only need to be found, a simple website is enough and you do not need a web application. A web shop with a large catalogue is better built on a ready-made platform than as custom software. If customers or staff must do something online that off-the-shelf software does not do, we build the web application, from €2,500, with a system behind it that can serve an app later. Request a quote and describe in a few sentences what is now done by hand or in a spreadsheet.
Want this built, or want to talk it through?
Write to us with what it is for, who will use it and when you need it. We reply within one working day.
Read next
- Native vs cross-platform app: which should you choose?When one app is enough, when you need two, and how to decide in five questions.
- How much does it cost to build an app? From €2,500Where the price of an app starts, what each addition costs and how to work out a number for your own idea.
- Turn a website into an app: four ways and what they costHow to put a website on a phone as an app, when a web app is enough, what Apple accepts in the App Store and what a native app costs.
- What is a static website? Cost, pros and when to choose oneHow a website made of ready-made files works, what you can and cannot do with it, and what it saves over three years.
