
Show HN: App vs. Website: Should you build an app or a website? - mikaelcho
http://appvswebsite.com/
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mikaelcho
Hey everyone,

I'm Mikael, founder of Crew ([http://crew.co](http://crew.co)) and Unsplash
([http://unsplash.com](http://unsplash.com)). Before starting these sites, I
was an independent designer and I'd often get the question from potential
clients, "Should I make an app, website, or both?"

While mobile might seem like the obvious choice because of how it's changing
the world, building an app might not be best decision for every particular
situation. Granted, down the line a mobile app may make sense. I don’t
discount where technology is headed. But a mobile app might not be where you
need to start.

The decisions depends on a variety of factors like your long-term goals for
your idea, your features, and your budget, etc. Thinking through all these
variables can make the decision harder.

To help make it easier to consider the tradeoffs between building an app or
website, I took all the questions I used to ask potential clients and made
this tool called (perhaps, unsurprisingly) App vs Website.

It walks you through a few 'yes' or 'no' questions and in a minute or so, you
have an answer.

I hope this helps give potential clients a better idea if they should start by
building an app or a website based on their specific situation.

If you have any thoughts, I'll be around to hop in on any comments.

Thanks for taking a look.

Mikael

If you're curious, here's how we made it:
[http://backstage.crew.co/announcing-app-vs-
website/](http://backstage.crew.co/announcing-app-vs-website/)

------
camillomiller
Well, if I say that my budget is below 10k USD I just get redirected to a
website. I understand the rationale, but there's plenty of apps that you could
build with, say 9k$ :D

~~~
mikaelcho
Fair point. We added an explanation on the result page for that use case that
says:

"Most successful mobile apps cost upwards of 10K USD to build due to features,
level of expected design, connection to a website, and if you’re building
across multiple platforms (iOS, Android, etc.). If your budget is less than
10k, it’s more likely a website would be a better route to go. You can however
test a mobile app idea out with a website. Here’s how ([https://crew.co/how-
to-build-an-online-business/build-websit...](https://crew.co/how-to-build-an-
online-business/build-website-or-mobile-app/))."

The purpose was to try and make it clear that most (not all) successful mobile
apps cost upwards of 10k USD.

~~~
shreyashirday
I'd argue that services like Parse.com make the cost go way, way down. Even
lower if you are a mobile app developer yourself.

