Guide
Web app vs mobile app: which to build first, and what each costs
Build the one your customers will open first: a web app if they order from a computer, a phone app if they order from the phone in their pocket. Price won’t decide it. A wholesale ordering app is $28,000 – $42,000 in a browser and $29,000 – $44,000 on iPhone and Android. Guessing wrong costs less than starting over: a customers’ phone app added later on the web app’s server is $20,000 – $30,000, against $25,000 – $39,000 built from nothing.
- $28,000 – $42,000
- The ordering app in a browser, office screens included
- $29,000 – $44,000
- The same app on iPhone and Android
- $20,000 – $30,000
- A customers’ phone app added later, on the web app’s server
Written by
WhatWillMyAppCost
We build the estimator this site runs on, and we design and build custom mobile and web software for a living. Every figure below is the estimator’s own output, except the published vendor prices, which are read off each company’s own page and dated.
You know what you want your customers to be able to do. You haven’t settled whether they’ll do it in a browser or in an app they download, and you’d like to know what each one costs before you pick.
Web apps and mobile apps differ in how people get them, how fixes reach them and what keeps them running. Which to start with comes down to where your customers order. What the second one costs later tells you how much a wrong guess hurts, and on price the two land close together.
What is the difference between a web app and a mobile app?
A web app opens from a link in the browser people already have, and a mobile app gets downloaded from the App Store or Google Play and sits on their home screen. Most of what that changes for a business shows up after launch.
- Getting it
- In a browser, a link opens it. As an app, people find it in the store and download it before they can sign in.
- Fixing something
- A browser fix is live once it’s published. A phone fix waits on store review.
- Keeping it running
- A web app needs hosting. An app needs hosting too, plus a developer account with Apple that’s paid every year and one with Google. What it costs to keep an app online has the fees.
When is a web app the better choice?
When the people using it sit at a computer, or only need it now and then. A restaurant owner who puts in the week’s order from the office on a Sunday night has no reason to download an app for it.
When does a business need a mobile app?
When its customers will open it from their phones, or when it has to do something a browser can’t do on every phone. The web app cost guide lists those.
What does it cost to add a mobile app to a web app later?
$20,000 – $30,000 over 11–16 weeks, for a phone app that lets the ordering app’s customers sign in, browse the catalog, reorder and pay by card on iPhone and Android. It runs on the server the web app already has, and the office carries on in the web app.
- The same customer app, built from nothing
- $25,000 – $39,000 over 12–18 weeks, with a new server under it.
- On the server the web app already runs
- $20,000 – $30,000 over 11–16 weeks. Most of the server work got paid for when the web app was built.
Start where your customers order today. If they want it on their phones later, that’s $20,000 – $30,000, because sign-in, the catalog and the invoices already run on a server that works.
That price assumes the web app’s server was built so a phone app can use it, with a documented API. If phones might come later, say so while the web app is being planned.
One way to get one customer app in a browser and on phones is to build one, then add the other on the same server. A phone app for customers with a separate web app for the office is a different build, about $12,500 more than the phone app alone, and what $25,000 buys goes through that one on a smaller app.
Is a web app cheaper to build than a mobile app?
A little. The ordering app is $28,000 – $42,000 as a web app and $29,000 – $44,000 on iPhone and Android, $1,500 apart in the middle of the range. Restaurants and cafés sign in, browse the catalog, reorder and pay their invoices by card. The office has its own screens in the same app for incoming orders and customer accounts.
The web app cost guide explains where that gap comes from.
Build first for where your customers order today: a web app if they order from a desk, a phone app if they order from the phone in their pocket. On the ordering app that’s $28,000 – $42,000 against $29,000 – $44,000.
A customers’ phone app added later on the web app’s server is $20,000 – $30,000, against $25,000 – $39,000 built fresh.
FAQ
Questions about web apps and mobile apps
What are the three types of mobile apps?
Native apps, written separately for iPhone and Android. Apps built once for both from a shared codebase. And web apps, which run in the browser. A wholesale ordering app with sign-in, a catalog, card payments and office screens comes to $35,000 – $53,000 as two native apps, $29,000 – $44,000 from one shared codebase, and $28,000 – $42,000 as a web app. The React Native guide covers when native code is worth it.
Can a web app send push notifications on an iPhone?
Yes, on iOS 16.4 or later, once the web app is built to install to the home screen, the person has added it there, and they’ve said yes when it asks. WebKit’s announcement covers Home Screen web apps only, so plan on customers taking that step.
Can a web app connect to Bluetooth devices?
From some browsers. Chrome on Android can talk to a Bluetooth device from a web page. Safari can’t, on a Mac or an iPhone, and neither can Firefox. If the device has to work with iPhones, it needs an installed app.
Can you put a web app in the App Store?
Not as a repackaged website. Section 4.2 of Apple’s review guidelines asks for more than that, and says an app that isn’t particularly useful, unique or “app-like” doesn’t belong in the store. Apple wants features, content and screens beyond the website, so the version that gets in adds something the site doesn’t do.
How long does it take to build a web app compared with a mobile app?
12–19 weeks for a wholesale ordering app with sign-in, a catalog and card payments as a web app, and 13–19 weeks on iPhone and Android, kickoff to launch, so the two take about as long to build.
Can you add a web app to a mobile app later?
Yes. If the phone app came first, a web app for the same customers, running on the phone app’s server, is $19,000 – $28,000 over 10–16 weeks for a wholesale ordering app with sign-in, a catalog and card payments. That assumes the phone app’s server has a documented API the web app can use.