Differences Between Web System Development and App Development – An Easy-to-Understand Guide

As conducting business online has become the norm, web system development and app development matter more than ever. But what's the actual difference between them? This article breaks down the difference between web system development and app development in a simple, easy way.

1. What Is Web System Development?

Web system development is the general term for design, programming, testing, and other tasks needed to automate a business's operations.

2. What Is App Development?

Applications (hereafter, "apps") fall broadly into three types — web apps, native apps, and hybrid apps — each with the following differences.

・Web app: used via a browser on a PC or smartphone
・Native (smartphone) app: installed and used directly on the device
・Hybrid app: an app that can use device-specific features regardless of OS

App development splits into "front-end" (the parts users see and touch directly) and "back-end" (servers, databases, and other parts users don't operate). Both fall under "app development," but front-end and back-end need different knowledge, skills, and programming languages, so keep that in mind.

3. What Is the Difference Between Web System Development and App Development?

Web system development and app development fundamentally differ in their positioning and role.
For example, when you play a game on a game console, the console's system runs and reads the game software. The game software being read in this case corresponds to the app.

In other words, app development builds an app that runs using a main system, and the app itself operates through that system — that's the key difference from system development. Simply put: system development builds the large framework, and app development builds the software inside it.

3.1. Benefits of Web System Development

Web system development offers the following benefits.

1. Builds a mechanism for streamlining operations
   System development makes it possible to build efficient workflows between departments or branch offices that are physically far apart.
2. Handles large-scale frameworks and structures
   Compared to apps specialized for specific functions, systems excel at managing large volumes of data. For things like banking systems or ticket reservation systems, system development is the better fit.

3.2. Benefits of App Development

The following benefits are characteristic of app development.

1. Expands brand awareness
   TV and mass-media ads require a large budget.
   Apps, combined well with social media, spread company information to a wide audience at low cost.
   Apps also let businesses reach customers who can't visit a store, e.g. via online sales — a convenient way to deliver the right information to the right people.
2. Enables analysis of customer behavior data
   Apps capture not just attributes like age, location, and gender, but also purchase channels, purchase history, and other products of interest — data that's hard to collect in a physical store. Analyzing it can also reveal gaps between the assumed customer profile and the real one.

4. Cost Guide for Web System Development and App Development

App and system development costs vary by required specs, engineer skill level, and timeline, so there's no single figure. Still, rough benchmarks exist by genre and features.

As a benchmark, a simple customer management system starts from around ¥200,000, a web system from around ¥1.3 million, and a business system from around ¥4 million.
Meanwhile, for app development, Android apps start from around ¥1.5 million, iPhone apps from around ¥1.5 million, and social games from around ¥30 million.
The actual cost requires a quote, so treat these figures as rough guidelines only.

5. Miichisoft's Strengths in Web System Development

Miichisoft's strength lies in offshore development, providing development services tailored to customer needs at an affordable price, with fast turnaround, and high quality that meets ISO 90001/ISO 27001 standards. On top of that, we offer a one-stop service suited to each customer's business. With a total of 180 developers across Vietnam and Japan, we deliver services that our customers are always satisfied with.

6. Summary

In this article, we've introduced the differences between web system development and app development — a topic that seems easy to understand but can actually be confusing. What you need to consider, as well as the cost, will change depending on whether you want to build a web system or an app, so keep that in mind.

If you'd like to learn the basics of web system development, you can check it out here.