Web, Desktop, and Cloud Apps: What Are the Differences?

At one point in time, everyone understood what apps were. The software was installed, stored, and ran on desktop computers in the past. However, as technology evolved, applications began to branch out to client/server models, which were utilized and stored on remote servers instead. They were typical for programs that required database use.

Next, the mobile variants came, where the apps were on smartphones and tablets and generally needed servers to function as intended. They gave way to the rise of the web and cloud-based applications. Although identifying and understanding their differences might seem simple, it isn’t as easy as some might think. It can be a bit confusing because certain web apps can be considered a subset of cloud applications.

More often than not, you’ll need to secure the expertise of different developers to deliver all of them. However, there are net development services that cover the entire range of applications. This article will go into the differences between these types.

Methods of access

Perhaps the most significant difference between web, desktop, and cloud applications is the way they’re accessed. As the name suggests, web applications are usually used via a browser, whereas cloud applications can be used from anywhere, whether on a browser, computer, mobile, or edge/IoT devices. Lastly, desktop applications are used primarily from the computer itself.

A shared aspect

An aspect that web and cloud apps have in common is their multi-tenancy, a type of system architecture where a software’s single instance’s stack serves a lot more than a single consumer, referred to as a tenant. As a result, they can customize different areas of an application, from the interface and access to policies. However, they are unable to modify the base service’s code.

Some multi-tenancy examples are Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon AWS. Both application types are capable of being served up through multi-tenant architecture. So, for instance, if your business designs web-specific apps, it’s still possible to host them on a cloud-based, multi-tenant host.

Cloud applications

Cloud apps or SaaS are often used for accessing information that’s stored in hybrid, public, or private clouds. They can either function offline or online because the syncing services are possible. Wherever apps hosted on the cloud go offline, their data is automatically stored locally. On the other hand, the data is synced with its cloud account when it goes online.

Web applications

Accessed only through browsers, web applications are typically created with a good combination of client and server-side scripting, with the clients depending on the chosen server to interact with the infrastructure that provides the necessary functionality. Thus, they can’t function if there’s no active internet connection. They also lack a sync option for storing the desired data locally.

Conclusion

With the information in this article, you should have an understanding of what web, desktop, and cloud apps are, and hopefully, it’ll enable you to choose the application type that will suit your business needs. If you cannot decide between them, you can always get all of them.