What is a web app?

A web app is software that runs in the browser and carries out your business processes — not just shows content. A website presents: text, images, a contact form. A web app works: it manages data, knows users and their rights, enforces rules and reacts to input. It is a tool, not a shop window.

The simple rule of thumb

As soon as people log in and do something — order, book, edit, approve — instead of just reading, it's a web app. A website has visitors; a web app has users with accounts.

Website — content, marketing, conversion. Goal: convince visitors.
Web app — logic, data, users, rights. Goal: get work done.

Concrete examples

A reservation system with live table occupancy. An ordering terminal that sends orders straight to the kitchen. A portal where customers see their orders, invoices and documents around the clock. An internal tool that turns a few inputs into a finished quote.

The most honest proof

Our own products are exactly such web apps: Formline CRM (contacts, pipelines, tasks, automation) and Synapse CMS (content, roles, real-time editing) — both built and operated by us. If you want to know what a web app is, look at what we use ourselves every day.