Web App vs Mobile App: What Should You Build First?

Almost every founder we meet in Gurugram and Delhi NCR opens the conversation the same way: "We need an app." When we ask what the app must do, the honest answer is usually "let users sign up, browse, transact, and come back." That set of jobs can be done well by a web app, a mobile app, or both - and the order you build them in has a large effect on cost and speed to market. This post lays out how we help clients decide, with realistic INR numbers attached.

First, get precise about what "app" means

People use the word "app" loosely. There are three distinct things you might build. A responsive web app runs in the browser and works on every phone and laptop without any install. A native mobile app is downloaded from the Play Store or App Store and can use the camera, push notifications, GPS, and offline storage deeply. A Progressive Web App (PWA) is a web app that can be "added to home screen," send web push on Android, and work offline - a middle ground that costs far less than going native.

Before spending a rupee, write one sentence describing the single most important action a user takes. If that action is "book a service," "read content," "fill a form," or "check a dashboard," a web app or PWA will almost certainly serve you. If it is "scan products in a warehouse," "track a delivery rider in real time," or "send daily reminders that survive the phone being locked," native moves up the priority list.

Why we usually recommend web first

For most early-stage businesses, a responsive web app is the right first build for four practical reasons. There is no install friction - a prospect clicks a WhatsApp link and is using your product in two seconds, which matters enormously when your traffic comes from ads or referrals. There is one codebase instead of separate iOS and Android builds, so you pay once. Updates ship instantly without waiting for app-store review, which is gold during the rapid-iteration phase of a new product. And SEO and shareability come for free - every page has a URL Google can index and a user can paste into a chat.

The trade-off is that a pure web app cannot match native for deep device features and cannot live on the home screen with the same permanence. A PWA closes much of that gap on Android, though Apple still limits PWA push and background behaviour on iOS.

When native genuinely earns its cost

Native is the right call when reliable push notifications drive your core loop (think a fitness or habit app), when you need heavy offline use, when performance-critical features like real-time maps or AR are central, or when being in the app store itself is a credibility or distribution channel for your audience. We also see a real pattern in consumer India: for a chunk of users, "is it on the Play Store?" is a trust signal. If your buyers expect that, factor it in.

The cross-platform shortcut

You rarely have to choose iOS versus Android. Cross-platform frameworks - React Native and Flutter - let one team ship both from a shared codebase, typically saving 30-40% versus building each natively. React Native pairs neatly with a React or Next.js web app because the team and much of the logic overlap, so you can reach web, Android, and iOS with one core skill set. Flutter gives beautiful, consistent UI and strong performance but a smaller web-reuse story. For a first product, cross-platform is the sensible default; reserve fully native (Swift / Kotlin) for when a specific feature demands it.

Realistic budget bands in INR

These are honest ranges we see in Delhi NCR for solid, production-grade work - not the lowest quote you can find. A responsive web app MVP (auth, a few core screens, one payment flow, an admin panel) typically lands at ₹2.5-6 lakh. Adding PWA behaviour - installable, offline-capable, web push - usually adds ₹50,000-1.5 lakh on top, which is excellent value if home-screen presence matters.

A cross-platform mobile MVP (React Native or Flutter, Android + iOS, sharing a backend with the web app) generally runs ₹6-15 lakh depending on screen count and integrations. Fully native iOS + Android for the same scope tends to be ₹12-25 lakh+ because you are effectively funding two builds. Remember the recurring costs nobody mentions upfront: the Apple Developer account is roughly ₹8,000-9,000 per year, Google Play is a one-time ~₹2,000, and you should budget 15-20% of the build cost annually for maintenance, OS updates, and small improvements.

A sequencing playbook that works

For most NCR businesses we advise this order. Ship a responsive web app first to validate the core flow and start generating revenue. Layer PWA features once you have repeat users who would benefit from home-screen access and push. Build the cross-platform mobile app only when you have evidence - engagement data, user requests, a native-only feature on the roadmap - that justifies the spend. This staged approach means your second build is funded by real traction rather than hope.

The mistake we most often unwind is a founder who spent ₹15 lakh on native apps before proving anyone wanted the product. Build the cheapest thing that can prove demand, then invest in the channel where your users actually are. If you would like a scoped estimate for your specific feature list, we are happy to map it against these bands.