Web design · Web apps
Web applications vs. basic websites.
Know when you need a marketing site—and when your workflow demands a full web app with authentication and integrations.
Choose a marketing website when:
- You need pages for services, team, pricing, and contact forms.
- Primary goal is calls, bookings, or lead capture.
- Minimal integrations (analytics, CRM, chat, calendars).
- Fast launch on a managed stack (Bootstrap + PHP).
Choose a web application when:
- Users log in with roles/permissions.
- You need workflows: onboarding, approvals, scheduling, or dashboards.
- API integrations: payments, CRMs, ERPs, or inventory.
- Audit trails, backups, and staging environments.
What changes when you go “web app.”
Applications need structure beyond pages: auth, data models, releases, and observability.
- Authentication and authorization: roles, permissioning, MFA, and secure session handling.
- Data modeling and storage: schemas, migrations, backups, and privacy requirements.
- Release process: staging environments, QA, feature flags, and rollback plans.
- Observability: logging, metrics, alerts, and uptime monitoring.
Delivery checklist
Web apps
- Staging + production parity with backups and restores tested.
- API security: rate limits, keys/secrets management, and audit trails.
- User experience at speed: performance budgets and Core Web Vitals.
- Accessibility: keyboard flows, focus management, and ARIA for interactive components.
Cost, timeline, and maintenance expectations.
Websites launch faster and cost less; web apps require ongoing budget for support and improvements.
- Websites: weeks, not months—small ongoing updates, seasonal content, and SEO tuning.
- Web apps: roadmap-driven—feature sprints, bugfix windows, and support SLAs.
- Hosting/ops: marketing sites on managed hosting; apps need monitoring, backups, and incident response.
- Compliance: privacy, data retention, and accessibility are stricter for authenticated experiences.
Scoping tips
Budget smart
- Start with the smallest version that delivers value; defer “nice-to-haves.”
- Document integrations early (payments, CRMs, ERPs) to avoid surprises.
- Plan for support: who owns updates, uptime, and user questions?
- Measure outcomes: adoption, conversion, and time saved per workflow.