PWA Development: Features, Benefits, Tools, and Cost
Progressive web apps are gaining the attention of a vast number of startups and businesses worldwide. It was initially launched in 2015 by Google, and within two years, some of the most well-known brands worldwide launched PWA.
According to Google trends, the popularity of progressive web apps is growing continuously since 2017. Here is the graphical representation of the same.
The main reason why companies start building PWA is that it allows them to take their business online instantly compared to native apps.
To know more about the PWA and native apps, then read this blog on PWA vs Native Apps.
Moreover, due to numerous apps on leading app stores, various startups, SMEs, and enterprises found it challenging to reach the target audience. Hence, they started launching PWA for their business.
If you want to know in detail about PWA, then you have reached the right place.
Here, we will explain various things related to progressive web apps. It includes features, benefits, future, and cost of developing progressive web apps.
So, let’s discuss all of these things in detail:
What is PWA?
A progressive web app resembles a website that looks and performs like a mobile app. It utilizes web browser APIs and native mobile device features to provide a native-app-like experience across multiple devices.
Key Features of PWA
Here are some of the features of progressive web applications.
Responsive: It can adjust on any device like desktop, smartphone, tablet, etc.
Connectivity Independent: Progressive web apps can work offline as well as online.
Browser Compatibility: Any user can access a progressive web app on any web browser available on the internet.
App-Like Interface: They have an interface like the native apps.
Safety: PWAs are served over HTTPS; hence they offer better security to the users.
Discoverability: Users can easily search PWA on the search engines.
Installable: Users get an option to add the PWA to the home screen.
Now you must have understood the basic definition of progressive web app and its key features.
The next and the most essential thing that you should know is, what is the future of PWA development?
So, here we go:
PWA Trends: Why PWA is the Future?
Various people are not surprised by the apps available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Moreover, they don’t even consider downloading an app by looking at its size and reviews.
As of now, there are numerous apps on these leading platforms. Also, the competition is increasing every year.
Hence, many businesses & startups find it challenging to develop a unique mobile app that offers a better user experience and gets their attention.
Secondly, developing a mobile app is time-consuming and a costly affair for various businesses worldwide.
If you are also overwhelmed with these things and thinking, is there any way other than mobile app development to reach a wider audience and achieve business goals?
Yes, there is one of the most trending and innovative ways to take your business online through progressive web apps.
Moreover, one of the primary advantages of PWA over a traditional website or mobile app is that they are cheaper & quicker to develop and launch.
Besides this, PWA development offers various benefits to businesses, which we will discuss in detail later. Due to this, we can say PWA development is the future.
Apart from this, you might have another question, will PWA replace native apps?
“Considering the popularity and the adoption rate of PWA among businesses and startups, there is a strong possibility that PWA might replace native apps.”
Benefits of Progressive Web Apps
Here are some of the PWA benefits you can get for your business:
- One of the main advantages of PWA over native apps is that you don’t have to rely on leading app stores for distribution.
- Any business can quickly develop and deploy PWA on the internet through the URL.
- PWA is a cost-effective option as compared to native apps.
- You can rank PWA well in search results by following the mobile-first approach.
- Every business can utilize service workers in PWA to ensure that their PWAs work offline and offline.
- You can use various device capabilities like push notifications and more to increase engagement.
- Maintenance of PWA is easy. Whenever you want to update anything in PWA, it is quick. You can update all features & functionalities, and it will get instantly reflected in the PWA. You don’t have to wait to get approval from any app stores.
Popular Examples of PWA
Here we will walk you through some of the best PWA examples available in the market.
Twitter Lite PWA
Twitter is a well-known microblogging & social networking service, which discovered that 80% of its users were mobile.
Moreover, various users were unable to access Twitter in low network conditions. Hence, they decided to create a lightweight app for these users.
They launched PWA in 2017 and started getting tremendous results, such as a 65% increase in pages per session, 75% in Tweets sent, and a 20% decrease in bounce rate.
Forbes PWA
Forbes is a well-known magazine that provides users with articles on a variety of topics. They discovered better traffic on the website back in 2017.
Hence, they decided to launch a PWA to provide a tailor-made experience and increase user engagement.
After launching the PWA, Forbes got a 43% increase in sessions, 20x more impressions, and 100% more engagement.
To know more progressive web app examples, you can check out this exclusive list of PWA Examples.
Drawbacks of Progressive Web Apps
Here are some of the main drawbacks of progressive web applications:
- All the PWAs have various compatibility issues with iOS. Apple doesn’t enable PWA to access essential features like FaceID, Touch ID, Bluetooth, etc.
- Progressive web apps don’t support older devices with outdated web browsers.
- PWAs can’t access various device features and functionalities like native apps.
What Does a PWA Development Company Do?
A company offers various crucial PWA development services to businesses as given below:
Custom PWA
With the help of a Custom PWA service, you can provide a highly intuitive UI, instant animations, and native app-like feeling to users.
PWA Ecommerce
Get a high-performing PWA for your eCommerce store as per the latest industry standards and provide an ultimate experience to the target audience.
Migration to PWA
By opting for this service, you can migrate your existing website into a PWA. Also, you can provide top-notch usability, security, and an unmatchable experience to the users.
Responsive Web App Design
Get a responsive design for your progressive web application across multiple browsers and devices.
Quality Assurance Testing
Obtain a comprehensive testing of your progressive web application to make it completely error-free.
Which Tools are Used in PWA Development?
Here is the list of PWA development tools used by developers:
Ionic
Ionic is basically an app development platform for developers. It is very popular with developer communities across the globe.
It consists of a PWA Toolkit, which possesses all the things developers need to build a web application without relying on the front-end frameworks.
On the ground level, Ionic utilizes Stencil.js for assembling and developing an app. It also uses Workbox to implement the most suitable practices and ensures utilizing the same things repetitively while working with service workers and cache strategies.
On the core level, Ionic offers various attractive components for developing web apps.
Angular
Angular is one of the leading JavaScript-enabled frameworks. It offers many tools and dependencies that are useful for building reliable and scalable progressive web apps.
Moreover, it utilizes web workers and server-side rendering to provide optimum performance on progressive web apps.
Angular also offers templates and components for integrating a vast number of features in the PWA effectively. Apart from PWA, it is also useful for developing native apps.
Vue.js
Vue.js is a progressive javascript framework suitable for developing single-page apps & web interfaces. Along with this, it is effective for mobile and desktop app development.
Moreover, Vue.js offers detailed documentation for developers to understand all things properly. It also consists of a Vue CLI that enables developers to create, manage, and develop applications instantly using the terminal.
React PWA Library
React PWA is one of the most popular libraries that is useful for building SEO-friendly progressive web applications. Moreover, it is fast and developer-friendly. React offers handy tools to speed up the development process.
Along with that, ReactJs provides comprehensive documentation, a massive community of developers, etc., for building PWAs.
Lighthouse
Lighthouse is an excellent open-source tool built by Google which audits various PWA features. It offers several essential factors to improve PWA’s quality and make sure PWA offers a complete app-like experience to the audience.
Moreover, it helps developers to test apps in poor or offline network conditions.
ScandiPWA
ScandiPWA offers the most efficient way to utilize the ready-to-use PWA for any Magento store. It is basically an open-source PWA theme instead of a set of tools.
ScandiPWA offers detailed documentation to developers to look out for any answers and resolve their queries. It also possesses a great community of members from where developers can get any support.
Magento PWA Studio
Magento PWA is a well-known toolkit meant for developing a PWA storefront on the top of Magento Commerce. The Magento toolkit claims to enhance user engagement, increase conversion rates, and broaden revenue streams.
Magento PWA offers various tools and libraries that developers can utilize to handle the eCommerce store efficiently.
Apart from these tools, there are various web application frameworks which professionals utilize to develop top-notch progressive web apps.
After looking at the tools & frameworks used for developing PWA, the next most important thing is to know the PWA development cost.
So, here we go:
How Much Does a Progressive Web App Cost?
The PWA development cost depends primarily on the complexity. Apart from this, it also depends on the technology used and the location of the developer.
In general, the average cost of the PWA lies between $1,500 to $10,000. Further, it varies based on the complexity of the PWA.
Here we are providing you the estimated cost to develop different types of PWA along with their development timeline.
| Type of PWA | Estimated Hours | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | 100-300 hours | $1,500 to $5,000 |
| Medium | 300-700 hours | $5,000 to $10,000 |
| Complex | Above 700 hours | Above $10,000 |
Apart from the complexity, there are various things that affect the PWA development cost. To know more in detail, read this quick guide on web application development cost.
Bottom Line: Want to build a PWA?
We hope you have understood all the things related to PWA development, such as features, benefits, drawbacks, examples, tools, services, and cost.
PWA development is the best choice for your business if you have a tight budget and want to reach a wider audience. Moreover, the demand for progressive web apps is increasing, and in the coming years, we will observe more and more businesses opting for PWA.
If you want to develop a new PWA or upgrade your existing website into PWA, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Guru TechnoLabs provides progressive web app development services to startups and businesses worldwide. Hence, we can understand the requirements of your project and provide you with the most suitable solution.
