Website, online store or web app: which one you need

Before asking for a quote, it helps to know what kind of project you have in mind. The label matters little: what matters is what people need to do when they reach the site. If they need to get to know you and contact you, a business website is enough. If they need to buy, you need an online store. If they need to work inside the site, book or manage data, you need a web app.

Business website

It shows who you are, what you do and how to reach you. It suits professionals, studios, craftspeople, restaurants and companies that sell in person.

Typical pages are home, services, about and contact, sometimes a portfolio or a section of articles. There is one goal: getting an enquiry. That is why speed, clear copy and a visible call to contact matter most.

A landing page is a one-page business website, built for a campaign or a single service.

Online store

It sells online: catalogue, cart, payment, shipping or delivery. Besides the site you need terms of sale and a way to handle orders and returns. In the EU, people who buy online have 14 days to change their mind, under the Consumer Rights Directive.

For a shop with an ordinary catalogue, a ready-made platform is often enough. A custom store makes sense when your sales rules are unusual: prices that change by customer, products to configure, subscriptions, links to your warehouse.

Since 28 June 2025, online stores selling to consumers in the EU must be accessible to people with disabilities, under the European Accessibility Act. Microenterprises are exempt. The details are in the guide on website accessibility.

Web app

It is a program you use in the browser, with nothing to install. People sign in and work in it: they book, fill in forms, look up data, follow cases.

Internal management software, a customer portal, a booking system and a private area with documents are all web apps. They cost more than a business website because they hold more logic: users and permissions, data to store, rules to follow. In return they take repetitive manual work off your hands.

Projects in between

Many projects mix things up. A business website can have a private area for customers. An online store can have a custom panel for the warehouse. In these cases you start with what you need now and add the rest when it becomes useful.

What changes in time and upkeep

• Business website: the quickest to build and the least expensive. After launch it needs little maintenance.
• Online store: takes longer, because of the catalogue, payments and sales rules. After launch it needs daily attention: orders, products, updates.
• Web app: the most demanding project. It pays to start with a first version that has the essential features and grow it as people use it.

For prices, read how much a website costs and how much a web app costs.

Questions that help you choose

1. What should visitors do: contact you, buy or work?
2. Who uses it: new customers, existing customers or your staff?
3. Do people need personal logins, each with their own data?
4. Does the site need to exchange data with software you already use?
5. Who will update it, and how often?

If people only need to contact you and nobody needs a login, a business website is enough. If there are logins, data and software to connect, you are thinking of a web app. Before deciding whether to build it from scratch, read custom software or off-the-shelf.