Website vs Mobile App: Key Functional Differences You Need to Know

Businesses often ask whether a responsive mobile website is enough; or if investing in a native mobile app will yield better results. 

The answer depends on multiple factors – performance, user engagement, conversion rates, costs, and discoverability – all backed by real data. 

Below we break down each aspect with evidence and examples to help decision-makers weigh up whether to launch a website or a mobile app, or for those already with a website, whether to convert your website into a mobile app.

Functional Differences and Business Impact of Websites vs Native Apps

Websites and native mobile apps have overlapping functionality in some cases, while serving distinct business purposes in others. 

Websites typically provide broader accessibility, while apps come with slightly more friction at first, but provide a better user experience (and stronger retention) once downloaded.

Let’s look deeper into the key functional differences between websites and mobile apps.

Performance and Functionality Differences

Native mobile apps generally offer faster, smoother performance than mobile websites.

Apps store data locally and can preload content, so interactions are quicker with less reliance on network calls​.

In contrast, mobile websites must fetch most data from the server on each use, which can introduce lag, especially on slower connections. 

However, many mobile apps (such as ecommerce mobile apps) rely on live communication with a server (in this example, to store and access product and order information), making this difference somewhat negligible.

Mobile apps can also leverage native device features and sensors more easily than websites, and perform certain functions more reliably – most notably, push notifications.

While it is possible to send push notifications from a website, the reach is limited and certain workarounds are required for mobile devices.

Mobile apps, however, can send push notifications directly to users’ devices, without the intermediary of a web browser.

Key Takeaway: Mobile apps are typically faster, with higher performance (although modern mobile websites have closed the performance gap significantly). Mobile apps also unlock a wider range of functionality, including native push notifications.

User Engagement and Retention

One of the standout areas for mobile apps is the boost in user engagement and retention.

Apps are much stickier than websites – the home screen icon provides much less friction for return visitors than websites, which require the user to enter the URL again each time. 

This is shown by the following metrics:

• Time Spent & Frequency: Mobile app users tend to spend significantly more time shopping or interacting compared to mobile website users. Recent data shows that 90% of mobile usage time is spent in apps versus just 10% on the web; while ecommerce app users spend on average 201.8 minutes per month shopping vs only 10.9 minutes/month for mobile website users​.
• Depth of Engagement: Shopping apps drive more browsing and interaction. Customers view 4.2× more products per session in mobile apps compared to mobile websites​.
• Bounce Rates and Loyalty: Mobile websites often struggle to keep visitors past the first few seconds of their session. Roughly 60% of mobile web visitors leave within mere seconds, while apps encourage extended usage.
• Push Notifications & Re-Engagement: Unlike a website, an app can actively reach out to users. Push notification campaigns have an average open rate around 60% (with ~15% click-through), far outperforming traditional email (about 15% open, 5% click-through)​.

Read more mobile web & mobile app statistics here:

App vs Mobile Web Statistics | Push Notification Statistics | Mobile App Statistics

However, it’s worth noting that launching an app is not a magic bullet – you must continue to provide value, or users may abandon it. 

Industry averages show that only about 15–20% of users are still active 30 days after installing an app​.

Key Takeaway: Mobile apps excel at engaging and retaining customers: they occupy more of the user’s time, encourage deeper product exploration, and enable proactive re-engagement (push alerts, icon presence). This often leads to higher customer lifetime value – but only with an ongoing engagement strategy.

Conversion Rates and Revenue Impact

Ultimately, many business owners want to know: Will a mobile app drive more sales or revenue compared to my mobile site? 

Data from across the retail industry suggests yes – mobile apps tend to convert better and can increase revenue per customer:

• Higher Conversion Rates: Multiple studies have found mobile app conversion rates about 3× higher than mobile web​.
• Cart abandonment rates on mobile websites are around 85% – the highest of any device or medium. Apps reduce this, with higher conversion rates and better cart recovery rates (some brands achieve as much as 22% conversion rates on abandoned cart push notifications).
• Greater Average Order Value (AOV): Not only do apps convert more often, the size of each purchase is often larger. Mobile apps typically boost average order value by about 10%–30% compared to mobile websites​.
• Repeat Purchase Frequency & Lifetime Value: AppsFlyer and Adobe have reported that metrics like average revenue per user (ARPU) and customer lifetime value (LTV) can be up to 3× higher for app users versus web-only users, especially in retail segments.

Key Takeaway: If your goal is to increase conversion rates and revenue per customer, a mobile app is a compelling tool. The data shows apps convert significantly better than responsive sites, and they tend to encourage larger, more frequent purchases. Of course, results vary by how well the app is executed and adopted (you only get the uplift if users actually use the app), but on average, businesses see substantial revenue gains once a critical mass of customers shops via the app.

Development and Maintenance Costs

While the benefits of apps sound great, the costs and practical effort involved are a major deciding factor for startups and small businesses. 

Here we compare the development and upkeep of a mobile app versus a mobile website:

Initial Development Cost

Building a high-quality mobile app is typically more expensive than creating or maintaining a responsive website. Estimates vary widely based on complexity, but developing a native app can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 per platform​. By contrast, a basic mobile-friendly website can be built for a few thousand dollars or less (even just the cost of a domain, hosting, and template could be just a few hundred dollars for a simple site)​. Even a more custom web application is often cheaper because you develop one codebase to serve all devices, and web development expertise is in larger supply.

Time to Build

Custom mobile apps take 6+ months to build and launch​ (though web to app services cut this time significantly). A responsive website or web app can be launched much faster, and with site builder platforms and existing themes or templates, it’s easy to spin up a good-looking website within a day.

Maintenance and Updates

Apps require constant updates for OS changes (each year iOS and Android release new versions that may require app updates), to fix bugs, and possibly add new features.

Launching on web, iOS and Android can come with 3x the work, just to ship the same features or publish the same content. 

Developer salaries or contractor fees for ongoing support add a significant ongoing expense to keep your apps working well.

A website, on the other hand, might be maintained by one web developer or even managed through a user-friendly CMS if it’s mostly content updates.

Key Takeaway: Building a mobile app is a substantial investment in both time and money. A responsive website is cheaper and easier to maintain for most small players, so it’s often wise to perfect your mobile web presence first. However, cost-effective alternatives to custom native development (like MobiLoud) cuts this investment a lot, making apps much more accessible to small businesses.

Discoverability

A responsive website can be indexed by search engines like Google, meaning your content and products show up in search results. This is huge for acquiring new customers. 

Organic search is the largest driver of traffic for most ecommerce sites – around 40% of all visits come from search engines on average.

Apps are typically harder to find, as potential users must be actively searching for a brand’s app, or actively directed towards the app by the brand’s website or communication channels.

Key Takeaway: New users are much more likely to come across a brand’s website than their app (and typically you won’t download an app without a prior relationship with the brand). This makes websites better for new customer acquisition and awareness.

Website vs Mobile App: The Case for Each

Different business scenarios favor either websites or native apps as the primary digital platform:

The Case for Websites:

• Broader reach across all connected devices
• Lower development and maintenance costs
• Faster time-to-market
• Easier content updates and management
• Superior SEO capabilities and organic discoverability
• No app store approval processes or revenue sharing
• Simpler analytics implementation

In essence, websites are more discoverable, easier (and cheaper) to build and maintain. Any online business reliant on a steady flow of new customers needs a website as a low-friction entry point.

The Case for Native Apps:

• Superior user experience and performance
• Higher engagement and retention rates
• Push notification capabilities
• Device feature integration (camera, GPS, etc.)
• Offline functionality
• Brand presence on device home screens
• Higher conversion rates and average order values

Mobile apps have improved business and revenue metrics, higher engagement, wider functionality, and stronger retention – and typically make for a better option for power users.

Conclusion: Should You Build a Website or a Mobile App?

So, should your business create a mobile app, or a responsive website?

Answer: treating it as one or the other is actually approaching it the wrong way.

You shouldn’t look at a website and mobile app as competitors. Instead, treat them as different arms of your digital engagement strategy.

Websites are great for new users – they’re easier to find, easier for new visitors to interact with your brand.

Apps are for power users – when someone wants to interact with you over and over again, an app offers a smoother user experience, and creates a deeper connection to the customer.

With solutions like MobiLoud, it’s easy to maintain both a website and a native app.

All you need to do is create a fast, mobile-optimized website, and MobiLoud will help you turn your website into native iOS and Android apps, with none of the cost and time investment typical of custom app development.

You’ll get to enjoy all the benefits of both mobile apps and mobile websites, with none of the downsides.

Interested? Get a free preview of your app now, and see how easy it is to expand your business and launch your own mobile app.