Overview

Website and Web Application are two different keywords we often use as synonyms.

On a daily basis, we access several websites and web applications like Google, Wikipedia, Youtube, Facebook, Stack Overflow, and so on.

Do we know why we call some Websites and others Web Applications?

In this article, let's understand the difference between a Website and a Web Application so that we are confident in using these keywords correctly.

What is a website?

The website is Informational only, which means it shows or displays the same content for all users.

• All users see the same content on the website.
• No need for user authentication, as the content it returns, is not going to change with the user.
• It can be easily built using static pages made up of HTML, CSS, and some simple Javascript.

The content of a website can be a picture, video, news article, or blog post, which are static in nature.

Moreover, websites are the ones that don't have scope for user interactions.

Examples of websites are Wikipedia, Google, News Websites, etc.,

What is a Web Application?

Web Application is Informational and Interactive, which means dynamic in nature based on user interactions.

• Allow users to provide input, process, and return responses dynamically.
• Each user sees different content based on their interactions with the web application.
• Most web applications require user authentication.
• Built using dynamic pages made up of HTML, CSS, Javascript, and backend business logic written in any of the programming languages like Java, PHP, Python, etc.,

It allows users to provide input, it processes the input and generates output accordingly, which tends to change based on the input.

Also, there is a need for user authentication, as it is very much needed to determine the application behavior for user interactions.

The user authentication can happen through login/registration forms, comments or feedback sections, add or update functionalities, search and buying options, and so on.

Examples of websites are Gmail, Facebook, Google Docs, Amazon, Netflix, etc.,

Overall

The key difference between a Website and a Web Application is based on the type of content they display and their behavior for user interactions.