PWA vs native app: which should a UK SME build?
Easy Insight Team ·
Build a progressive web app (PWA) when users mainly need to look things up, fill things in and get notified, on any phone. Build a native app when you depend on deep device features, need to be found in the app stores, or sell digital content inside the app. For most SMEs, a PWA is the right first step.
What is a PWA, and what is a native app?
A progressive web app is a website built to behave like an app. MDN, the reference documentation for web developers, defines it as an app built with web platform technologies that "provides a user experience like that of a platform-specific app". In practice that means it can be installed to the home screen, opens in its own window without the browser bar, works offline for the parts you design to work offline, and can send notifications.
A native app is built specifically for iOS or Android, or for both from one cross-platform codebase such as React Native. It is downloaded from the App Store or Google Play and has full access to the operating system.
The difference that matters for a business is not the technology. It is distribution: a PWA is reached through a link, a native app through a store.
How do they compare side by side?
| Progressive web app | Native (store) app | |
|---|---|---|
| How users get it | A link; optional install to the home screen | Download from the App Store or Google Play |
| Codebases | One, for every device and desktop | One per platform, or one cross-platform codebase |
| Updates | Live as soon as you deploy | Through store review; users update on their own schedule |
| Store fees | None | Apple: 99 USD per membership year. Google Play: US$25 one-time (both as of October 2026) |
| Push notifications | Android; iPhone once added to the Home Screen (iOS 16.4+) | Full support |
| Offline working | Yes, for what you design to cache | Yes |
| Device access | Camera, location, sharing and more; less in the background | Everything the operating system allows |
| Found in app stores | No | Yes |
| Typical starting price (our own, as of October 2026) | From £6,000 | From £10,000 |
The fee figures come from Apple's enrolment page and Google's Play Console help. The prices are our own, from our mobile and progressive web apps page; other suppliers will quote differently.
What can a PWA do on an iPhone?
This used to be the deciding question, and the answer has changed.
Apple added web push notifications for Home Screen web apps in iOS and iPadOS 16.4, announced on the WebKit blog in February 2023. The same release lets a Home Screen web app set a badge count on its icon. Two conditions apply. The user has to add the app to their Home Screen first; a PWA open in a Safari tab cannot ask for push permission. And the permission request has to follow a direct action by the user, such as tapping a "turn on notifications" button.
That first condition is the real cost. On Android, browsers can prompt users to install a PWA. On iPhone, users have to find "Add to Home Screen" in the share menu themselves, so you need a short, clear instruction screen in the app. Plan for it in the design rather than treating it as a footnote.
What a PWA still cannot do well on iPhone is sustained background work: tracking location while the app is closed, for example. If your product depends on that, you need a native app.
What does each option really cost to run?
The build price is the number everyone compares, but the running cost is where the gap opens up.
A native app comes with fixed overheads before you write a line of code. Apple's Developer Program is 99 USD per membership year, and organisations need a D-U-N-S number to enrol, which Apple uses to verify the business. Google Play charges a US$25 one-time registration fee. Google also requires personal developer accounts created after 13 November 2023 to run a closed test with at least 12 testers, opted in continuously for 14 days, before they can publish (Google Play Console help). Register as an organisation rather than an individual if this is a business app.
Then there is store review on every release, two platforms' worth of operating system updates to keep up with, and users running old versions you still have to support.
A PWA has none of that. You deploy, and everyone has the new version on their next visit. There is one product to test and one to maintain.
For a fuller view of build budgets, including maintenance, see what app development really costs in the UK, which covers the store-app end of the market in detail.
When is a native app the right answer?
Our view is that a native app earns its cost when at least one of these is true:
- The app depends on deep or background device features. Continuous background location, Bluetooth hardware integration, or heavy on-device processing.
- Customers expect to find you in the store. If people search the App Store for your category, being absent costs you.
- You sell digital content inside the app. In-app purchases and subscriptions are a store feature, with the store's commission rules attached; check Apple's and Google's current terms before you build a business model on them.
- Usage is frequent and habitual. An icon people tap every day earns its place; a portal they visit once a quarter does not.
If none of those apply, the store is a toll you pay for nothing.
When should an SME choose a PWA?
Choose a PWA when the job is mostly forms, lookups, dashboards, bookings, checklists or account management, and when you want one product that works on phones, tablets and desktops without asking anyone to visit a store.
It is also the better first step when you are not yet sure people will use the product. A PWA gets something real into users' hands faster, and if you later need a store app, the back end, the data model and the design all carry over. Only the front end is rebuilt.
This is not theory for us. Quarterly, our own accounting product for sole traders, ships as an installable, offline-capable PWA because the job did not need a store, and we would rather spend the budget on the product than on two app review queues.
If you are still deciding whether you need an app at all rather than a website, start with website vs web app: which do you need?, and if the question is whether to buy an existing product instead, read build vs buy.
Will UK regulation change the picture?
Possibly, but not yet. On 22 October 2025 the Competition and Markets Authority designated Apple with strategic market status for its mobile platform, a scope that explicitly includes Safari and its WebKit browser engine (GOV.UK case page). As of October 2026 the case page lists commitments on app review and interoperability, and work on NFC access, but no measures specific to web apps.
Our opinion: treat any future improvement to web apps on iPhone as a bonus, not a reason to wait. Decide on what the platforms do today.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a PWA and a native app?
A progressive web app is built with web technology and runs in the browser, but can be installed to the home screen and work offline. A native app is built for iOS or Android specifically and is distributed through the App Store or Google Play. One codebase and no store review versus deeper device access and store presence.
Do PWAs work on iPhones?
Yes. iPhone users can add a web app to their Home Screen from Safari, and since iOS and iPadOS 16.4 (2023) a Home Screen web app can send push notifications and set an icon badge. Push only works once the app has been added to the Home Screen, and the permission request must follow a tap from the user.
Is a PWA cheaper than a native app?
Usually, because there is one codebase, no store submission and no developer accounts to run. As of October 2026 our own PWA builds start from £6,000 and store apps from £10,000. Most of the long-run saving comes from maintaining one product rather than two.
Can we start with a PWA and build a native app later?
Yes, and it is often the sensible order. A PWA tests whether people use the product before you pay for store builds. If you later need deeper device access or store presence, the back end, the data and the design carry over; only the front end is rebuilt.
When does a small business genuinely need a native app?
When the app depends on device features the web cannot reach reliably, such as continuous background location or tight hardware integration, when customers expect to find you in the app stores, or when you plan to sell digital content through in-app purchases.
Weighing up an app? See how we approach apps and mobile and progressive web apps, or tell us what it needs to do.
Easy Insight is a UK consultancy for AI, web, apps and data — senior specialists only, no juniors.
Next step
Have an app or a product in mind?
We build mobile apps and SaaS products end to end, and run two of our own, Manifold and Quarterly, so the advice comes from production, not a pitch. Apps from £6,000, SaaS and MVP builds from £12,000, fixed price in writing.