Native app or progressive web app: which should you build?
By The AsasWeb team 2 min read
For most businesses a progressive web app is the better first step. It installs to the home screen, works offline, and ships from one codebase at a fraction of the cost of a native build, with no app store review. A native app earns its higher cost only when you need deep device features, heavy offline processing, or the discoverability of an app store listing. Validate demand with the web app first, then go native if the case proves itself.
“We need an app” is one of the most expensive sentences in business. Before you commit to building for the app stores, it is worth knowing that a progressive web app often delivers what people actually want for a fraction of the cost. We build both, so here is how we help clients decide.
What a progressive web app gives you
A progressive web app is a website that behaves like an app. It can be installed to the home screen, work offline, and open full screen with no browser chrome, all from a single codebase that also works as a normal website. There is no app store review, no separate download, and one thing to maintain. Our Reysko project is a good example: a fast, installable transit app delivered straight from the web.
When a native app is the right call
A native app earns its cost when you need deep device features, heavy offline processing, tight platform integration, or the discoverability and trust of an app store listing. If your product depends on those, a native build for iOS and Android is the right investment, and we build those too.
The honest middle ground
For many businesses the best first step is a progressive web app: lower cost, faster to ship, and easy to evolve. If demand proves a native app is needed, the web app keeps serving everyone in the meantime. Spending six figures on a native app before you have validated demand is a common, avoidable mistake.
How we help
We start from the problem, not the platform, then recommend the approach that fits your goals and budget. Tell us what you are building and we will give you a straight answer, even when that answer is “you do not need a native app yet”.