Websites · Compared
PWA vs native app
A PWA is your website made installable from the browser, cheap to run and updated with every publish, but absent from app stores. A native app is built for iOS and Android, installed from the stores, with full device access and store visibility, but it costs developer accounts, review and release work. Most small businesses should start with a PWA.
The question is not which technology is better but whether your customers need something an installable website cannot give them, such as a store listing or deep device features.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
3 min read · Published
| Factor | PWA | Native app |
|---|---|---|
| Install | From the browser, no store | From the App Store or Google Play |
| Cost to publish | None beyond the website | Apple 99 USD a year, Google 25 USD once |
| Review | None | Store review on every release |
| Updates | Instant with each website publish | A new build and store release |
| Device features | Limited, varies by browser | Full access through native APIs |
| Discovery | Your website and links | Store search and listings |
What each one is
A PWA is a website with a manifest and a service worker, installed from the browser and opened from a home screen icon. A native app is software built for each platform, written in Swift, Kotlin or a cross platform toolkit such as React Native, signed, reviewed and distributed through the app stores.
Cost and effort
A PWA costs little beyond the website you already have. A native app needs developer accounts, an Apple fee every year and a Google fee once, store listings with screenshots and privacy details, review on each release, and someone to build and submit updates. The first release alone often takes days.
What customers notice
For ordering from a menu, checking a timetable or buying again, a PWA feels close to an app: an icon, a full screen window, fast opens. A native app wins when customers search the store for you, when the app needs device features the browser does not offer, or when it should feel fully at home on the phone.
Common mistakes
Building a native app that only repeats the website, which Apple rejects under its minimum functionality guideline. Underestimating the ongoing work of store releases. And skipping the PWA step, which would have shown whether customers wanted an app icon at all.
Where it shows up in OneCraft
Any published site can be installable as a PWA, on by default for stores and menus. For store presence there are two routes: a Capacitor app project of a store or menu site for 2 credits on paid plans, and in Code mode an Expo app with React Native screens. Either way you build and submit it under your own developer accounts.
Questions people ask
Is a PWA cheaper than a native app?
Much cheaper to run. It reuses your website, needs no developer accounts or store fees, and every publish updates installed copies. A native app adds Apple yearly and Google one time fees, store review and the time to build, test and submit each release.
Will Apple accept my website as an app?
Not if the app only repeats the website. Apple guideline 4.2 requires apps to offer more than a repackaged site, and apps made with builders must be submitted by the business itself. A store or menu with ordering and order updates has a stronger case than a brochure site.
Can a PWA send push notifications?
Browsers support web push for sites, including installed ones, with differences between platforms: on iPhone the site must be added to the home screen first. Whether you can use it depends on your platform offering push to visitors, which many small business builders do not.
Which is better for a restaurant?
For most restaurants a PWA is enough: the menu and pickup ordering open from a home screen icon, and updates are instant. A native app makes sense for a group with loyalty programmes and many regulars who expect to find it in the app store.
Can I start with a PWA and add a native app later?
Yes, and it is a sensible order. Make the site installable, watch how many regulars install and reorder, then decide. If you build an app later, it can use the same products and data, so the website work is not wasted.
Make one with websites
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Create a website with OneCraftRelated questions
- What is a PWA?What is a PWA? A website that can be installed to a phone home screen and opened full screen like an app, with an icon and an offline page. How it works.
- What is Expo for React Native?What is Expo? An open source framework and set of services for building iPhone, Android and web apps with React Native from one codebase. How it fits together.
- App Store guideline 4.2: minimum functionalityApp Store guideline 4.2 explained: why Apple rejects apps that only repackage a website, what 4.2.6 says about builder made apps, and how to give an app a job.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .