Web Apps Vs. Native Apps: What is Best for Your Business?

Apps have become an essential part of everyday life for billions of people. But, the debate about which among web apps vs native apps will succeed, cannot be settled due to many reasons. Both types of apps are popular and have their own fan base. They are used due to different reasons but both types of apps are crucial for industries. Now, before we proceed to an in-depth discussion of the importance of native or web apps development, why don’t we throw some insight into questions that help us in deciding which app is suitable for us?

• Devices generally used by our target audience?
• Accessibility to the high-speed internet in our target market?
• Are our users technically literate enough to use any of the options among web apps vs native apps?
• What are our competitors doing and is it working for them?
• After the app development process, will revenue generated be enough to cover costs and profits?
• How much money can we spend on the app development project?

These are some questions that help us in understanding if native or web apps will be suitable for our business. Now, let’s move on to the pros and cons of native apps vs web apps.

What are Native Apps?

Built for a specific operating system, native apps are usually used for high-speed, more features, and better visuals. However, compared to web apps or hybrid app development, Native apps can cost higher. You need to build them separately from the scratch for each operating system. They also require separate maintenance for each system which directly impacts the app maintenance cost. To understand in simple terms, Native apps are the apps that store all the data offline on a device so that every time native apps are launched, they do not have to rely on the internet.

Pros of Native apps

• Robust quality gives leverage in terms of performance and speed
• Lets you build apps with stunning visuals, especially with increasing hardware capacity of devices regularly to support good graphics
• Allows you to take strict cybersecurity protocols that will be less vulnerable to hacks compared to web apps
• Saves required data offline so that the app loading time is as less as possible
• Allows you to add tons of features to your apps without the performance being jeopardized
• Better compatibility with devices and operating systems it is built for
• Ability to rank on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store with the technique called App Store Optimization (ASO)

Cons of Native apps

• A high budget will be required to develop platform-specific apps, maintain them separately, and market them
• Less scalability to multiple devices as they are mostly designed by keeping targeted devices in mind
• With many versions of devices being released in global markets, compatibility with all devices might get tricky to maintain
• Native apps demand platform-specific support which can be too much for small businesses to take care of
• To launch updates, native apps will need to release them separately for multiple versions

What are web apps?

Web apps are the scalable alternative to native apps that can be used on browsers such as Google Chrome, or Firefox, among others. Developers do not have to list and wait to publish these apps on app stores. Web apps are provided through extensions, websites, and browser widgets to users. Users can access the up-to-date versions of web apps anytime. Developers do not need to ask for permission from users to add features or make any tweaks to these apps.

Not only these, but there are also many other perks of web apps that we need to discuss. So let’s move forward.

Pros of web apps

• Web apps are scalable and supportive to many smartphones, tablets, web browsers, and operating systems
• Web apps do not require creating compatibility with multiple devices as they are scalable and can be either accessed on smartphones or systems like laptops or Macbooks
• Web apps are easy to update and do not require separate maintenance for each operating system or device
• Web apps can be ranked on search engines such as Google with SEO techniques to help users in finding them easily
• Developers do not require repetitive web app development for multiple device support, only developing once is enough
• Suitable for low budget development, web apps can help small businesses in growing their digital presence effectively

Cons of web apps

• Web apps often are limited in features as adding extra features might increase their loading times
• Developers have limitations in creating web apps visually appealing, especially if their target markets include areas with low internet speed
• An average or low internet speed might also increase the app loading time of web apps, which eventually leads to the annoyance of the user
• Web apps also are vulnerable to cyber-attacks because they are server-based and if the server is compromised, hackers can steal the data
• It is hard to look for a suitable web app related to a task that you want to execute unless their marketing is very good
• As mentioned, web apps require an internet connection to run. Thus, they are worthless for users traveling to areas with no internet connection

So, which type of apps is better for you?

To conclude, the answer to this question is conditional. For instance, you need to figure out the average cost of data packs in your area. If continuous access to the internet in your target market is affordable for everyone, then web apps can be a good idea. On the other hand, types of smartphones also matter. Native apps are usually developed to keep up with the latest technologies and require better configuration to run. Thus, if your target market can afford such phones on an average that would not hamper the performance of your native app, it is certainly a good decision.

The information that we shared above was based on the analysis done from different markets. Now, that you have all the information you need, you decide what suits your business the most.

Until next time, All the best!

Ahana Pearl is a very creative writer and active contributor for mobileappdaily.com. She loves to share news and updates on various topics that brings great information to the readers.