Complete Guide to Web App Development: Process, Trends, Costs

Web applications have emerged as a significant platform for delivering interactive and flawless digital solutions effortlessly. Despite the increasing popularity of mobile applications, web applications are still a critical business element even today.

From delivering critical Software solutions to meeting dynamic enterprise goals, web applications are enabling more business opportunities. Web apps allow audiences to earn rewarding revenues and business credibility in a vast business space.

You can find web applications meeting the diverse business capabilities in multiple industry domains, such as banking, healthcare, education, travel, hospitality, SaaS, entertainment, logistics, etc.

As per a study, it was stated that 71% of businesses have a website in 2023. Hence, developing a web application is an ideal choice if you own a business. You can hire a reliable web application development company to create solution-oriented web apps that meet the customers’ varying custom and enterprise demands.

This blog post focuses on everything to know about web development, including the foundational structure, different types of web apps, development process, cost, etc.

What is a Web Application?

A web application is an application program that allows users to avail services through web browsers. They need an active internet connection to access the resources.

You can use web applications on any device or platform.

A web application can be divided into two components; front-end and back-end.

Why Do You Need a Web App in 2023?

The essence of visual experiences and simplified access to digital resources has become an indispensable need of every business. Business leaders use advanced tools and techniques to generate more revenues with result-oriented solutions.

Since web applications can be accessed through a web browser, you do not need to install the applications. Moreover, web applications are hosted on remote servers, lessening the need to install any updates.

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are also a type of web application that can be added to a user’s home screen. It can provide an experience similar to native applications. Furthermore, it blurs the line between web and native applications, making it convenient for users to access web applications.

Benefits of Web App Development

1. Easy Accessibility

Web applications can be accessed from anywhere, with the internet from any device, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The easy accessibility of the web application makes remote access or mobile access possible.

2. Cost-Effectiveness

Since web applications are accessed through a web browser, it is easier to maintain web applications. Web applications can be developed using common web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Hence, web applications are typically more cost-effective.

3. Easy to Update

Remote server hosting makes central updates possible without installing any updates separately. Hence, it is easier for users to access the latest version of the application. It also makes it easier for web application developers to roll out updates and for businesses to maintain their applications with the latest security patches and bug fixes.

4. Scalability

Businesses can easily scale web applications by increasing the capacity of the server to accommodate more users. Hence, scalability without performance issues or downtime is one of the significant benefits of web applications

5. Easily Integrated With Other Systems

Web applications can be integrated easily with other systems and services, such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Hence, businesses can streamline their operations and enhance overall efficiency.

Types of Web Applications

Depending upon the types of objectives, each web app type caters to the audience and business needs. We can categorize web applications into the below-mentioned types.

Static Web Applications

Static web applications do not indulge in any server-side generation of HTML pages. Rather, these apps run on the client side within the browser and do not interact directly with the users.

Dynamic Web Applications

This type of web app is designed to deliver a dynamic user experience by using server-side rendering of HTML pages.

eCommerce Web Applications

eCommerce web app development companies are helping businesses to create robust web apps that meet the extensive demands of the evolving eCommerce market.

To list, buy, sell, or market products, business leaders are utilizing eCommerce web applications as a premier medium to meet business objectives and earn desired revenues.

Read this comprehensive guide to learn more about eCommerce web app development.

Content Management System

CMS web applications have transformed how businesses would create and manage content. The process has become faster, simpler, and more intuitive.

If you plan to create a CMS, you can consult a web applications development company that can provide effective solutions that meet your needs.

Single-Page Applications

Single-page applications have gained immense popularity for their fast page load concept, where the browser loads all the pages all at once. It does not require reloading pages to view or access new information.

These applications tend to provide an optimal user experience to the users by making information delivery faster, simpler, and more efficient.

Multi-Page Applications

Unlike single-page applications, this type of web application includes multiple pages relating to multiple sets of information. The browser reloads the website to access different pages existing on the web application.

So, why do businesses create multipage apps that might require more process time?

The reason is to keep your web app feature-packed. You require a more vibrant and extensive architecture to pack more large-scale functionalities.

Progressive Web Applications

PWAs exhibit a native app-like experience despite being built in the web architecture. These apps are installable and provide an impeccable user experience.

You can consult a PWA development company to help you comprehend your web app ideas and turn them into an interactive app that meets cross-industry demands.

PWA allows business owners to leverage app functionalities like push notifications through these web apps.

Also Read | Comprehensive Guide For Progressive Web App Development

Understand the Web App Development Process: How to Get Started?

1. Validating Your Web Application Development Idea

It all begins with an idea and a strategic path of implementation.

When you reach a web app development company, you can expect either of these two scenarios:

• Your idea requires validation before the team of web app developers starts the web app development process.
• You are confident of your idea and seek ideal web app development services to make your vision a reality.

The service provider helps you define your idea and implement the web development plan.

2. Web Application Design

The web application design comprises user-oriented elements such as screens, branding elements, buttons, scrolls, transition windows, forms, social media icons, etc.

3. Web Application Development

Developing a web app with both the front-end and back-end requires an extensive and strong technology stack. The goal should be to develop web apps with functionalities meeting diverse enterprise goals.

4. Testing

Testing is all about scrutinizing the functionality, accessibility, usability, and overall performance of your web app. There are multiple manual and automation testing frameworks available that you can use to create dynamic test cases.

Also Read: The Ultimate Guide to Software Testing Services

5. Hosting

Once your web application has been developed, you can consider getting hosting services.

You can hire web app development services to host your web application on the server.

6. Deployment

Now that we have a well-designed, robust, and thoroughly tested web app, you can deploy the web app in a real-time environment.

Your web app is now ready-to-go and drive results.

How to Choose The Best Tech Stack For Web App Development

Choosing the right set of technologies and framework is crucial, along with finding a company to build custom web applications. You need to consider several elements before you finalize the tech stack for developing your web app.

Before choosing a tech stack, you can consider the answers to these questions;

• Is it trending?
• Does it meet the personalized requirements?
• Is it scalable?
• Does it have the resources to fit into the scope of work?
• Is it secure?
• Is it affordable to develop a web app using this tech stack?

Technology stacks that affirm all the above mentioned questions, your web app development company can surely give strong thought to it.

Since every web app consists of two structural components, front-end & back-end, we have divided the web application development technology stack into these two sections.

Tech Stack For Front-End Web App Development

A web application design company can use the below-mentioned scripts and programming to create the front end of your web app. You can also use some libraries to simplify the front-end development for web applications.

Front-end Programming Languages	HTML CSS JavaScript Ajax
Front-end Libraries	React.js Vue.js

Backend Technologies to Build a Web App

A web application development company can use any of the below-mentioned programming languages to create and set up the backend of your web application. Moreover, You can also utilize different frameworks based on these programming languages for web app development.

Back-end Programming Languages	PHP Python Java C#
Frameworks	Laravel CodeIgniter Django Flask Ruby on Rails
Database	Microsoft SQL Server MongoDB PostgreSQL Oracle Database

How to Select the Best Software for Web Application Development?

Top Software for Developing Apps

1. WordPress

WordPress is the most popular open-source CMS you can use to build a web app. Since it has a user-friendly interface and a large community of developers, many people use it to build web applications.

2. Drupal

Drupal is an open-source CMS that web application developers use to create websites and web applications with a seamless digital experience. Drupal 10 is the latest version of this CMS, offering many advanced features to build dynamic and scalable web applications.

3. Joomla

Joomla Content Management System (CMS) is another open-source CMS similar to WordPress and Drupal. Web app developers use this CMS to build apps online that have many benefits, such as mobile-friendliness, Multilinguality, Flexible & Fully Extensible, and more.

4. Wix

Wix is a website and app builder enabling web application development using drag-and-drop tools and pre-built templates. It is a popular choice for small businesses and individuals to build web apps without knowing how to code.

5. jQuery

jQuery is a JavaScript library that is used to simplify JavaScript programming in web development. It works on the “write less, do more” philosophy and simplifies a lot of common coding tasks.

6. Django

Django is a high-level web development framework developed to build web applications using Python. This Python web app builder comes with a lot of built-in functionalities helpful to build web apps quickly and easily.

7. Laravel

Laravel web development framework is designed to build web applications using the PHP programming language. If you want to build web application with powerful features of PHP, this web development framework is an ideal choice.

Web App Development Cost: Complete Estimation

Budget is a critical factor that needs to be considered by business owners during web application development. The complexity and personalization features of web applications drive web app development costs.

Cost estimation can help the project owners to identify the project goals better.

The Cost-Effecting Factors

Here are some of the essential factors you need to consider to get a complete estimation of web app development cost.
1. The complexity of the web app development project.
2. Technical specifications for developing web applications.
3. The geographical location of the companies that build apps.
4. The engagement models of the companies offering web app development services.
5. Require an MVP or a fully-fledged product?

Final Estimation

To know the total cost of web app development, read our Comprehensive Guide on Website Design and Development Cost.

Since the cost of developing a web app relies upon multiple real-time factors, you can get a price quote customized for your project from the web app development company. However, the average cost of web application development fall between $20k to $80k.

How Can We Help You?

We are an ISO 9001:2008 web and mobile applications solutions provider and have been delivering web app development services for more than 15 years now.

From core technologies and content management systems to frameworks, our web application developers are proficient in the latest technology for web application development.

With our primary focus on delivering customer-oriented solutions, we have served more than 500 clients from multiple industry domains by far.

To know about our pricing details, contact us.

Conclusion

The web app development market is evolving faster than ever, and it is your chance to leverage this vibrant market.

To stay competitive and attain desired results, you need to hire web app developers that can comprehend your requirements.

We hope this blog helps you make an easy choice toward finding your go-to web app development service provider.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How long does it take to build a web app?

The time taken to build web applications mostly depends on the complexity of your web applications. For instance, a simple web application with basic functionality can be developed in a matter of weeks. In contrast, more complex and feature-rich applications may take several months or even longer. Apart from that, there are other factors that influence how long it takes to build an application, such as features scope, development team size, expertise level, and more.

Q2. Is web app development easier than mobile app development?

Web and mobile app development are two separate practices with different characteristics, parameters, technologies, and challenges. Therefore, you need to do the proper research for your project requirements and target audience on the web app vs. mobile app, to know which one is suitable for you.

Q3. What are the advantages of web apps over mobile apps?

Web and mobile app development has its own set of pros and cons. So while having the web app vs mobile app discussion, you need to understand that your platform choice is highly dependent on your project requirements.

However, to give you an idea and help you make your final decision, here are the advantages of web apps over mobile apps:

1. Web apps can run on any device or platform, regardless of the operating system (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, etc.), as it runs on a web browser.

2. Web apps can be easily updated and deployed on the server-side.

3. It can be more cost-effective to build a single web app for multiple platforms than to develop native mobile apps for each platform separately.

4. Web apps have lower maintenance costs as updates can be implemented centrally.

5. Web apps are easy to access through web browsers, making them convenient for users.

6. Developers can deploy updates or new features immediately in web apps since app store approval is not required.

Q4. What are the Top 6 Examples of Web Applications?

There are many popular web application examples available that you can use for inspiration when developing your own. Some of these web application examples are Gmail, Google Docs, Google Analytics, Microsoft Office 365, Amazon, Canva, Facebook, etc.