Web Vs. Native Vs. Hybrid - Which is Best For You?

How to choose between Web, Native, and Hybrid app formats

If you want to build an app then there are three different formats you can follow; web apps, native apps (including React native apps), and hybrid apps.

​Confused?

To those who aren’t well versed in tech talk, it can be difficult to know the difference between them all - let alone which one’s best for you. To help you out, our app development experts here at Scorchsoft thought we’d put together all the vital information you need to know.

Poll

What do you prefer?

• Web apps

• Native apps

Web Apps

A web app is pretty similar to a website, but don’t be mistaken - they’re definitely not the same thing. A web app is hosted online, accessible via a web browser, and it does use a URL. It’s typically a far more condensed version of a website and has superior functionality. It’s aimed at improving user experience and giving a mobile target audience the content they want in a format they can use.

Open Ended

Write a difference between a web app and a website

Web apps will load in all the common browsers, such as Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, and users don’t have to download any actual apps onto their phone, which can be pretty handy for both the user and the app-maker. It means that audiences that don’t want to download any new apps don’t have to, and you can still share your content with them regardless. It also means that everyone can view your app, not just an Android user, for example, as it’s not specific to any one platform. As long as they have a browser it can run in, they can view it, which covers most device types.

However, web apps do have some disadvantages too. They can be slower than native apps for some tasks, such as mobile games and can’t always take advantage of device-specific technologies, such as Bluetooth. If you’re looking for an app that users can install directly to their phone, then web apps probably wouldn’t be your first port of call, although users can make it easier for themselves by bookmarking or favouriting your URL - but, of course, that means leaving it down to them.

Open Ended

Write an advantage an a disadvantage of web apps

Native Apps

There are a fair few benefits to native apps, which shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise considering their popularity. Because they’re compiled using the native programming language of each platform, they can be a lot faster than web apps and are incredibly responsive. They have the best performance out of the three and run very smoothly on mobile devices. They’re highly intuitive and interactive, and typically provide a better overall user experience for mobile users. The fact that they’re distributed in app stores also makes them easier for users to find once installed, and by pinning an icon onto the mobile device, the user’s more likely to go back or re-discover the app after clicking out of it than they would be a web app’s URL.

On the other hand, they’re usually more expensive for app developers to create, mainly down to being more complex and using programming languages that are more difficult than those that web apps use. This means that you’d have to find a team of experienced developers to create yours if you’re not clued up on the lingo. They’re often not the best option for very simple apps either - there just isn’t the need for them in that case.

Open Ended

Write an advantage and a disadvantage of native apps?

Poll

If you had a company, what would be a better option for you?

• Web apps

• Native apps

Hybrid Apps

Just like a hybrid car is a blend of an electric and a regular car, a hybrid app is a combination of web and native apps. They’re built using multi-platform web-tech, such as CSS, Javascript, and HTML5, and are made up of two different parts - a back-end code and a native shell that can be downloaded and loads code using a web view. On the whole, you can think of it as a web app that’s disguised as a mobile app.

Open Ended

What advantages and disadvantages do you remember about hybrid apps?

So, as is to be expected, the benefits and disadvantages of hybrid apps are a mixture of the other two formats. In terms of the perks, they’re less expensive than native apps and are easier to build. They also don’t need a browser to run on unlike web apps, and they can have one app that runs across all platforms when technology such as Cordova or PhoneGap is utilised, so they’re not specific to Android or iOS. If you need to access storage and other hardware from the mobile device’s internal API’s, you can make sure you hybrid app does this, too.

Web Vs. Native Vs. Hybrid - Which is Best For You?

The decision of which app you should use comes down to what you need it for and your objectives as a business. There are a few factors you need to consider, including how fast you’re going to need the app built, the quality of user experience you need, and how complex the features of your app have to be for it to function. You need to make an app that’s going to be fit for purpose, keeps your user happy, and that fulfils the objectives you set out to achieve.