Try googling the keyword “web app vs website”; you'll find tons of articles breaking down the difference between websites and web applications. Yet, if we look closely at how industry authorities discuss it, we find this is actually a false dichotomy.
Jeremy Keith, for example, has written about this since 2010. He lists “documents and applications” as one of the most common misleading impressions about websites, which is actually where the misconception of “website vs web app” originated.
The Difference Between A Web App And A Website
Due to their similarities, it can be hard for users to tell the difference between a website and a web application. But most of the time, they don’t really care. What matters most to the user is getting results that match what they are looking for.
If you’re a developer, however, you should care. You need to understand how they differ. Let’s talk about the difference between a web app and a website.
What Is A Website?
A website consists of many web pages, each a digital file made with HTML. To be accessible, it needs to be hosted on a computer connected to the Internet, known as a “web server.”
The website’s pages connect to each other with hyperlinks and hypertext, sharing a consistent look and user interface. It may also contain additional files like photos, videos, or other digital assets.
Since the Internet is used across many fields, websites serve diverse purposes. Thus, a website can be seen as a digital environment providing information and solutions, helping people, places, and organizations connect and achieve their goals.
What Is A Web App?
A web application is an app accessible via a web browser. When viewed on mobile devices, web apps look and behave like mobile apps, though they are not the same.
Web applications use server-side scripts written in languages like PHP and ASP to retrieve and store information. This data is then displayed on the user interface using JavaScript and HTML5 scripts running on the client side. Examples include online shopping carts, content management systems, and online form generators.
Because web apps serve many functions, users can do diverse things like inquire about products, create wishlists, or place orders. Apps also facilitate employee collaboration through document sharing and editing, which is crucial in today’s remote working environment.
Is It Misleading To Have This “Website vs Web Application” Distinction?
The typical understanding is that websites are collections of static HTML files, allowing only reading and navigation, whereas web applications enable interaction such as drafting emails, uploading files, or exporting documents.
However, this understanding is problematic because website and web app development don’t operate in binary terms. In fact, web applications are also websites, existing on a spectrum from document to application.
For example, Gmail is a web app and a blog post is a static document, but Wikipedia is a collection of documents that you can also edit. Twitter, too, blurs the line between document and publishing tool.
If interactivity defines this distinction, then even web pages with minimal JavaScript offer dynamic elements. We no longer rely on static documents with simple hyperlinks. So, isn’t every dynamic web page also a web app?
Another distinction uses SPA (Single Page Application) to separate the two, saying web applications don’t require full page reloads for updates. Yet most modern websites use HTML5 and AJAX to enable such dynamic behaviors.
Still, People Talk About “Web Apps”. Why?
Although “web app” is often just a buzzword, it remains popular among business people and marketers, likely because it sounds fresher than the overused term “website.”
Nonetheless, some experts argue that distinguishing websites from web apps does more harm than good, potentially causing people to overlook new JavaScript tools, methods, and approaches due to the buzzword.
1. Should we mess around with the website vs web application dichotomy?
Regarding the confusion from new jargon, designer Frances Berriman, who coined the term “progressive web apps (PWAs),” wrote this on her blog together with her husband Alex Russell:
“I keep seeing folks (developers) getting all smart-ass saying they should have been PW ‘Sites’ not ‘Apps,’ but I just want to put on the record that it doesn’t matter. The name isn’t for you and worrying about it is a distraction from just building things that work better for everyone. The name is for your boss, your investor, your marketer. (…) It’s marketing, just like HTML5 had very little to do with actual HTML.”
Frances Berriman
Frances isn’t the only one who thinks accuracy is secondary to marketing. The proof is in the countless misleading results when searching “web apps” on Google.
But she’s partly right. To web developers, elaborating on the website vs web application difference is often unnecessary. Dividing the web into strict categories serves little purpose. What really matters is improving the web and offering users a satisfying experience.
2. And the future of web apps
Ultimately, the birth of the “web application” concept reflects the desire to bridge the gap between websites and desktop or mobile applications. People want web pages that work like apps—able to run offline, work in the background, appear on smartphone home screens, and require less storage than native apps.
Many advances over the past decade, such as Progressive Web Apps, WebAssembly, and Houdini, are steps toward this future. Perhaps one day websites will evolve to fully match applications—and that’s a future we should be ready to embrace.
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