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Mobile App or Mobile Website: What to Choose for Your Enterprise?

   Nitish      December 25th, 2021

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Our modern life revolves around mobile phones, and today there are more than 5 billion users of these devices in the world. Therefore, the demand for digital solutions and mobile websites is enormous. However, the main problem is that not all companies have the financial resources to develop a mobile website and application. As a result, many have to choose.

In this article, we will take a closer look at these digital solutions, their strengths, and their weaknesses so that you can make the right choice for your business. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

Apps and Websites. How They Differ?

Before diving into the details, there are a few basic things to settle.

Websites are a collection of various pages that a user can visit through a browser and their main purpose is simply to display this or that content. This feature entails that the websites are not particularly interactive and require a permanent Internet connection. However, at the same time, they are a fairly economical solution for starting a business.

On the contrary, mobile applications are full-fledged digital solutions designed to work on mobile operating systems Android and iOS. As a result, they get the maximum capabilities of devices and their power, which allows broadcasting content and providing certain services. However, it is worth keeping in mind that app development cost is quite substantial, and support will also cost a pretty penny.

Those were the basics. Now let’s get down to the details.

Advantages of Mobile Websites

Some 10–15 years ago, many entrepreneurs believed that it was enough to have a simple website for a successful start and development of a business. However, with the development of technology and an increase in the audience of mobile device users, the focus has shifted. In 2020, the share of mobile traffic was 52%, and this figure is growing every year. As a result, there was an urgent need for mobile websites, and many entrepreneurs started to create them for their businesses. And they did not fail, as mobile websites have several trump cards up their sleeve:

• Compatibility. Mobile websites have extremely high compatibility with all devices as users can open them on any device that can launch a browser. There are no restrictions on operating systems or other platform features. In addition, the website does not require installation, which makes it even more accessible than mobile applications.
• Updates. Users of your website receive all updates instantly and without the need to download them, as is usually the case with mobile applications. Instead, you just need to upload the updated website version to the server, and users can immediately try out new features and changes.
• Search Engine Optimization. SEO is an advantage that helps mobile sites compete with mobile apps. You have many parameters that affect the ranking of your website in the search engines and have complete control over this. In the meantime, mobile apps are completely dependent on app stores and cannot influence SERP rankings in any way.
• Cost-effectiveness. To develop mobile applications, you need separate teams specializing in working with a specific platform, which is not cheap. Meanwhile, the website development cost is much lower since you have to make a single website version that can run on any device.

Drawbacks of Mobile Websites

Nothing in this world is perfect, so it’s worth talking about the weaknesses of mobile websites that you should know about before you make your choice.

• No offline access. Web sites simply cannot do without an online connection. Without it, you can at most view the preloaded page when the connection was. However, any subsequent action with the website will be impossible until you connect to the Internet again.
• Platform limitations. Programming languages ​​and browsers are extremely limited in technical terms and cannot make the most of the capabilities of mobile devices. Meanwhile, mobile devices that are specially written, taking into account all the technical possibilities, have a much wider range of tools that can be used for the benefit of a technical solution.
• User experience. In this aspect, mobile applications are far ahead, as they are sharpened for certain devices, screen sizes, and so on. And in general, thanks to a combination of thoughtful designs, they outperform websites made in the most uniform way.

Advantages of Mobile Websites

Okay, so we got to grips with mobile websites. It’s time to take a closer look at their main competitors — mobile applications.

• Wide capabilities. The functionality of mobile applications and the possibility of implementing various features are really amazing, and every year they only expand. Mobile applications have the ability to provide a huge range of services, while websites are extremely limited in this aspect.
• User experience. To put it bluntly, mobile applications are simply more pleasant to use. Beautiful animations, a well-thought-out user path, ample opportunities. All these add up to create a pleasant user experience.
• Offline access. Most applications do not become useless when the wifi icon shows no signal. Users can still use both the entire application and its certain part of the functionality (if the developers have foreseen this).
• Brand promotion opportunities. Mobile apps are a great tool to advertise your brand. You can provide users with services through the application and always stay in touch thanks to various push notifications and mailings.

Drawbacks of Mobile Apps

So, in order to have a complete picture, let’s look at the weaknesses of mobile applications.

• High cost. You should be prepared that the development of mobile applications for iOS and Android will bite off a significant chunk of your budget since you will need to hire two different development teams who will create these solutions for your business.
• Support. It will also be on your shoulders to support two different versions of applications, which will require constant planning and significant injections of funds in order to maintain a competitive advantage.
• Complicated approvals. Before appearing in the store, any application goes through a rigorous approval process, which must reveal that your solution meets the platform’s standards. And such a check can take a lot of time, and if the site rejects your application, you will need to start the development process again and fix the problems.

Mobile app vs Mobile website

It’s time to summarize all of the above, and we decided to collect all the information in a convenient table format for your convenience.

Criteria	Mobile app	Mobile website
User experience	Great experience with the use of device features	Limited due to technical restrictions
Customization	Unlimited	Pretty good but have certain restrictions
Offline access	Yes	No
Compatibility	Separate versions for different operational systems	One version for all devices
Reach	Limited to device	Can be accessed on any device
Cost	Pretty high	Relatively low

Wrapping Up

So, as you can see, each digital solution has its pros and cons, and there are no clear winners. Next, you need to make an informed decision, and in this matter, everything depends on your business goals and financial resources. Either way, mobile apps, and mobile websites will compete for the attention of entrepreneurs for a long time to come.My name is Katherine Orekhova and I am a technical writer at Cleveroad – mobile app development company. I’m keen on technology and innovations. My passion is to tell people about the latest tech trends in the world of IT.