A Progressive Web App is a website that behaves like an app — installable to the home screen, working offline, sending push notifications — built once and running everywhere for $10,000–30,000, versus $30,000–60,000 for a cross-platform app. PWAs win on reach and economics; native wins on hardware depth and store presence. This is the honest guide to which side your product falls on.
What makes a PWA
- Service worker: the programmable proxy that caches assets and enables offline behaviour — the technical heart
- Web app manifest: the JSON file that makes the browser offer installation with an icon, name and standalone window
- HTTPS everywhere: the security floor the entire stack requires
- Responsive, app-grade UX: interactions that feel native — bottom navigation, transitions, no page-load feel
Modern PWAs install on iOS and Android, run offline for cached content, send push (Android fully; iOS since 2023 with limits), and load in under a second on return visits.
What PWAs cost
- PWA wrapping an existing site: $5,000–15,000 — manifest, service worker, offline pages, install flows
- Full PWA build (app-grade experience): $10,000–30,000 — the web app built properly plus the PWA layer
- Complex PWAs (commerce, accounts, offline sync): $30,000–80,000 — the website versus app cost guide covers the comparison shopping
Against a cross-platform Flutter or React Native build at $30,000–60,000, the PWA delivers most consumer experiences for roughly half — the economics driving adoption where stores are optional.
PWA versus native: the honest table
- Installation and discovery: PWAs install from the browser with zero store friction but lack store listings and their search traffic; native apps live where users shop for apps — the comparison covers the full trade
- Hardware access: camera, GPS, Bluetooth — increasingly available to PWAs but deeper on native
- Offline: both can do it; PWAs cache-first, native runs local by design
- Updates: PWAs update like websites — instantly, everyone; native waits on store review
- Monetisation: app-store in-app purchases belong to native; PWAs take direct payments without the 15–30% cut
Where PWAs quietly win
- Content and commerce for price-sensitive markets: e-commerce at scale (the pattern Flipkart and Alibaba popularised), news, catalogues — reach without install friction
- Internal tools and B2B: distribution without MDM headaches; one URL, every device
- Emerging markets: low-end devices and storage constraints — a 1MB PWA versus a 60MB app is not a subtle difference
- Campaign and seasonal experiences: launch without store timelines
Where native still wins
Games and heavy graphics, deep hardware integration, apps whose distribution IS the stores, brand contexts where the home-screen icon must sit beside competitors, and anything needing iOS push without its quirks.
Deciding quickly
Is the product content-and-transactions shaped, distributing beyond stores, and speed-to-market sensitive? PWA. Is it hardware-deep, game-like or store-native? Native — and our mobile team builds both honestly. For the web-app foundation itself, the website cost guide covers the base build. Book a scoping call — the PWA question resolves in one conversation about distribution.
Frequently asked questions.
What is a progressive web app?
A website engineered to behave like a native app: installable to the home screen, working offline via service workers, sending push notifications, and running in a standalone window — built once on web technologies and running on every platform.
How much does a PWA cost to build?
Wrapping an existing site runs $5,000–15,000; full app-grade PWA builds $10,000–30,000; complex commerce or offline-sync PWAs $30,000–80,000. Against $30,000–60,000 cross-platform native builds, PWAs deliver most consumer experiences for roughly half.
Can a PWA replace a native app?
For content and commerce experiences, largely yes — install, offline, push (Android fully; iOS with limits) and instant updates. For games, deep hardware integration, store-dependent distribution and in-app-purchase monetisation, native remains the answer.
Do PWAs work on iOS?
Yes — installable from Safari, running in standalone windows, with offline support. Push notifications work since 2023 with some limitations versus Android. iOS treats PWAs as capable but second-class citizens; test your specific features on iOS before committing.
What are the biggest PWA successes?
Flipkart and Alibaba's commerce PWAs popularised the pattern for emerging markets; Twitter Lite and Starbucks demonstrated engagement parity with native at a fraction of the size. The common thread: content-and-transactions products distributing beyond app stores.
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