API
An API is how two systems talk to each other. Why that decides whether your packages will ever work together.
Read more →What is a web app?
The difference between a website that informs and a web app people work in — and why that difference sets the budget.
What it is
A website shows information. A web app is software you use in a browser: you log in, enter data, and the system does something with it. A planner, a quote calculator, a customer portal, a stock system — those are web apps.
Technically the line is blurrier than it sounds, but for a client it is practical: with a website the question is what should be on it, with a web app the question is what should happen.
Why it might matter to you
- The cost difference is an order of magnitude, not a percentage. A web app has users, roles, data that has to stay correct and errors that cost money.
- A web app works on any phone and computer without installation, which makes it more practical than a real app for most businesses.
- It is maintenance, not a handover. Software people use daily changes along with their work.
- The biggest mistake is building before the process is clear — software sets a process in concrete rather than tidying it.
How we handle it
Most web apps we build replace a spreadsheet too much depends on. So it does not start with design but with reading that spreadsheet: the formulas in it are years of accumulated knowledge about how the business calculates, written down nowhere else.
Related terms
Integration
An integration lets two systems exchange data without retyping. What it saves and what breaks when one side changes.
Read more →Static website
A static site is built in advance instead of assembled per visitor. That makes it faster, safer and cheaper to host.
Read more →Not sure which way to go?
Send a short brief with what you have now and what needs to be better. You get an honest answer, including if that answer is that you do not need us for it.