A website, a mobile app, or both: what your business needs and in which order

The question is not technical. A website and an app differ in two things: how people reach them, and how often they are used. A website opens from a link, appears in Google results, in ads and in a WhatsApp message, and asks nothing of the visitor before showing what you offer. An app needs the customer to know you first, then look for you in the store, then download, then sign up. That is four steps, and some people stop at each one.

In return, whoever has downloaded the app is one tap from you every day, and you can reach them with a notification. That makes an app a tool for keeping customers, not for winning them, and a website a tool for winning them. Hence the rule: if your problem is that people do not know you, an app will not solve it. If it is that your customers know you, order from you often and find it a chore every time, an app solves that.

In most business activity. If the customer deals with you once or a few times a year, they will not keep your app on their phone. Contracting and consulting firms, factories, law and real-estate offices, education and training providers need a website that explains what they offer, appears when the buyer searches, and turns the visit into a call or an enquiry.

And a modern website is not static pages. It can take bookings and payments, show a customer account, send confirmations by WhatsApp and email, and work on a phone as it does on a computer. Much of what is requested as an app can be delivered as a responsive website at a fraction of the cost, while its pages stay visible in search. A custom-designed company website costs SAR 5,000 to 25,000 in the market, and a website with integrations SAR 20,000 to 50,000.

When at least one of these holds, and the more of them that hold together, the clearer the decision:

The order that suits most businesses: website first, then measure, then the app. A website launches sooner, and within a few months shows you who your customers are, what they ask for and how often they come back. Those numbers decide whether you need an app and what it must do. An app built on real usage data is smaller and more precise than one built on expectation.

The order reverses in two cases. The first is when the product itself only works as an app, such as a driver app or a service that depends on live location. The second is when you have existing customers ordering by phone or WhatsApp at high frequency, so an app serves them from day one. Even then you need a web page that introduces the app and points to the store, because nobody will find your app from Google without it.

Whatever the order, ask for the backend to be built with an API from the start. Then the website and the app share one database and one admin panel, and you add the second later without rebuilding the first.

Between a website and a native app sit two steps. The first is a web app: a website built to behave like an app, which opens fast and can be added to the phone’s home screen with no store. It suits internal portals, customer dashboards and tools your staff use. Its support for device features and notifications is weaker than a native app’s and varies between systems.

The second is a Web View app: a shell published in the store that shows your website inside it. It costs SAR 4,500 to 25,000 in the market and gives you a store presence at a low price, but it is limited in performance and features, and the stores may reject an app that offers no more than a website in a wrapper. Treat it as a temporary answer if your aim is simply to be in the store, and do not expect a real app experience from it.

The gap between the two widens after launch. A small website needs maintenance of SAR 1,000 to 5,000 a year on top of the domain and hosting. An app needs maintenance of 15% to 20% of its build cost a year, because both operating systems change yearly, plus the two developer accounts and usage-billed services such as maps and messages.

Then there is the cost of acquiring users. A website visit comes straight from search and advertising; an app download is an extra step you pay for in advertising. An app with no marketing budget sits in the store with no downloads however good it is. So if your budget covers only one, the website gives a faster return in most cases.

Answer them honestly before you ask for any proposal. At Fortune Code we build both websites and apps, so we have no interest in steering you to either, and if a website is enough for you we will say so. We send a written quote within 24 hours, with a written delivery date, code and accounts in your name, and fast technical support after launch.