Website, web app or mobile app?
How a website, a web app and a mobile app differ, how they compare on cost, time and reach, and which one a business or startup should build first.
What’s the difference between a website, a web app and a mobile app?
A website tells visitors about your business and turns some of them into enquiries or sales. A web app runs in the browser, where signed-in users get work done, such as paying an invoice or updating a project. A mobile app is installed on the phone and opens from its home screen.
A restaurant’s site, with its menu, location and phone number, is a website, and every visitor sees the same pages.
A web app shows each person their own data once they sign in. Client portals, dashboards and internal tools all work this way.
An online store mixes the two. Its catalogue works like a website, and its accounts, checkout and order history like a web app.
How do they compare side by side?
A website costs the least and is the easiest to find. A full mobile app costs the most and makes the fullest use of the phone. A web app sits between the two on price. The table shows our build times and fixed fees, excluding GST.
| Aspect | Website | Web app | Mobile app |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main job | Inform people and bring in enquiries or sales. | Let users sign in and get work done. | Keep regular users on their home screen. |
| How people find it | Search engines, links, ads and social posts. | A link or a sign-in page on your website. Pages behind the sign-in don’t appear in search. | App store search and listings, or a link from your website. |
| Install | Nothing to install. | Nothing to install. People sign in from any browser. | Downloaded from the App Store or Google Play. |
| Device features | What the browser allows. | What the browser allows, which on most phones includes the camera and location. | Nearly all of the phone’s features, with the user’s permission. |
| Updates | Live as soon as you publish. | Live for every user as soon as you release. | Each release passes App Store and Google Play review before users get it. |
| Build time with us | Landing page: 2–3 weeks. Marketing website: 6–10 weeks. | 10–16 weeks. | MVP: about 4 weeks. Full app: timed after scoping. |
| Price with us | Landing page: ₹40,000–₹1,00,000. Marketing website: ₹1,50,000–₹5,00,000. | ₹3,00,000–₹12,00,000. | MVP: ₹2,00,000–₹6,00,000. Full app: ₹8,00,000–₹30,00,000. |
When is a website enough?
A website is enough when people need to find you, learn what you do, see your past work and get in touch, and nothing they do needs an account. That covers many service businesses, from clinics to consultancies, and any business whose leads come from search and enquiry forms.
For a service business, the website’s work is turning a search into an enquiry, through clear service pages and a contact form that sends leads to your CRM.
Booking widgets and payment links can sit on a website too, without making it a web app.
Content and SEO are website work as well. Articles and guides bring in people who are still researching, before they’re ready to contact anyone.
Our guide to what a website costs in India covers what each level includes.
When do you need a web app?
If people sign in to book a slot, track an order or approve timesheets, you need a web app. One codebase in the browser serves phones, tablets and computers, so you build and release one product rather than separate iOS and Android apps.
We build web apps in Next.js. Behind the screens sits a backend with user accounts, roles and the data each user is allowed to see, and building it can take as much work as the screens.
When is a mobile app worth it?
Frequent use justifies a mobile app, and so does a job that needs notifications, the camera, location or offline use. Delivery, fitness, banking and field-service apps are typical examples. A tool people open once a month is usually better as a web app.
If your website analytics show most visits on phones and the same people returning each week, that points to an app.
We build in React Native or Flutter for one codebase on iOS and Android, or in Swift and Kotlin when an app needs to be native. Our guide to what app development costs in India covers that choice and the costs after launch, from store fees to maintenance.
We take apps from scoping to store release as part of our app design and development.
What should a startup build first?
Build the cheapest thing that tests whether people want the product. For many startups that is a website that explains the idea and collects sign-ups. If the product is a workflow, such as invoicing, scheduling or reporting, start with a web app. Add a mobile app once people come back every day.
A landing page with a sign-up form shows whether people will leave their email for the idea, before you pay to build the product.
In the early months the product changes most weeks. A web app lets you ship each change the day it’s ready and see what your first users do with it.
If the product is an AI tool, our 30-day AI MVP can test it with one core workflow in production.
To see how we plan and build websites and web apps, start with our web design and development services.
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Yes. If the backend and API are built with that in mind, a mobile app can use the same accounts and data later, so you don’t rebuild the core.
Often. It installs from the browser, can work offline and send notifications on most phones, and skips app store review. It can’t use every device feature a native app can.
With us, a marketing website costs ₹1,50,000–₹5,00,000, an app MVP ₹2,00,000–₹6,00,000 and a full app ₹8,00,000–₹30,00,000, excluding GST. Our cost guides explain what moves each price.
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