Web Application vs Website: What Suits Your Business Better

Before we compare the notions of website and web application, let's find out what each of them means and what set of peculiarities they have.

A website is a static page on the Internet which isn't very functional. It's main purpose is to provide an end user with some particular information. Users in most cases do nothing but read (or watch or listen to) the information which a website contains. The brightest examples of typical websites are news, recipes, weather, blog portals.

The main idea of this type of software is that a customer has little or no interaction with the program. For instance, on the news website, you can choose news section. Another example is a subscription form which can also be present on a site. But nothing more. A user doesn't input any information to a website.

Its notion implies an interactive page. The web app architecture allows users to input, get and manipulate data in different ways with the help of interaction. Such software programs usually have a very tight connection with the server and send lots of requests to it.

If you need a clue of what a web app is, think about an online content editor, which processes users' files. Another example is a social network. Here users can communicate, share content, post news and so on. It's a web app too.

We at Cleveroad have a vast experience in web app development. Our team has created a Train Away project, which we would like to present to you. The full scope of work included an IOS and Android app development plus a web application. The project helps people all around the world find a plate for trainings with the needed facilities. The program also allows users to pay for a visit or to buy one-week or monthly subscription.

As a matter of fact, nowadays, we see that these notions integrate into each other and it makes even more difficult to identify the website and web application difference. Some web apps can work as a website until you log in or buy a premium account. To make it easier, we'll try to follow the generally accepted classification in this particular article.

Now you know what is the difference between website and web application in their functionality and complexity. Therefore, let's compare the technologies which are needed to build them and their cost, as a consequence. Below, you can find the description of the technologies which we mainly use to create website or web application.

It's worth mentioning that our company doesn't create such simple websites as a standalone project. We create them to promote our main products - mobile applications or fully-functioning web apps.

Tip. Frankly speaking, if you really need such a simple product, you can create it by yourself. The modern CMS platforms don't require any technical knowledge from you. So you can create your website without a line of code. Try to do it by yourself!

There also could be bigger website projects with complex navigation and multiple pages. Like a blog, company website and so on. The number of hours needed for it's building depends on the complexity and size of the project.

Tip. It's obvious that such development costs more than the one with a simple landing page or blog. But don't try to save money by hiring the cheapest freelancer. If your business relies on this project and you want to expand and improve it in the future you should hire a professional in web and mobile app development services that will build your app elaborating the architecture and taking all the detail into consideration. And don't forget to make your web app or website mobile friendly! Did you know that Google lowers the rate of the mobile non-friendly websites and web apps? If you want your site or app to be on the top all the time, don't forget to include this requirement when you are hiring a development agency!

Now, let's figure out how to choose between web application or website project and find the best variant for your company and business strategy and consider the topics you need to analyze before the development stage starts.

The biggest issue here is to think upfront. If you are planning to launch a small startup, you may think that a single web page would be enough for you. The thing is that your products, whether it's a website or a web app, should grow as your startup do. This phase requires some calculation from you and precise planning. Yet, all these efforts allow your development team to think the architecture of a product through. In such a way, you'll never face an issue of scaling when your site or web app fails because of a high load.

Apart from this regulation, there are many others in each particular sphere. For instance, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or simply HIPAA. HIPAA is an act which regulates data storage and processing issues in the medical sphere. If you are developing a web app to handle customers' medical records, you'll have to make it HIPAA compliant.

Tip. Try to find out what protocols and certificates are there in a sphere you want to work in and inform a development team about them. If the web development company is experienced enough, they would know about these acts and can advise you how to follow them and how they influence the development of your product.

As a bottom line, we need to emphasize that the choice of a software type will have a significant influence on your business and it's future. That is why it's very important to set priorities and have a deep understanding of what way you want your business or a startup to grow and develop. So if you want to order website and web application development, contact our managers and tell us about your project, we have lots of experience to help you!