Search "PWA vs native app" right now and you'll find hundreds of technical articles packed with jargon: service workers, manifest files, web APIs. Useful if you're a developer. Completely useless if you just want to know: which is better for me as a user?
This article answers that question. Without taking sides, and without unnecessary technical fluff.
A native app is downloaded from the Play Store (Android) or App Store (iPhone) and installed directly on your phone's operating system. WhatsApp, Instagram, and Gojek are all native apps. They're built specifically for one platform, like Android using Kotlin/Java or iOS using Swift.
Their main advantage is full access to all phone hardware features like camera, GPS, fingerprint sensor, and NFC. Performance is also usually more optimized since it's built for a single platform.
A PWA (Progressive Web App) is a website built with modern web technology that can behave like a native app. It can be installed to your home screen, work partially offline, and receive notifications. Built once, runs on all platforms.
Examples of PWAs you might already use without realizing it: Twitter lite, Pinterest, Starbucks ordering. All of them PWAs used by millions of people daily.
< 1 MB
Average PWA size
50-150 MB
Typical native finance app size
0
App Store fees passed to users
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Wealio
Budget, investments, and net worth in one place.
Installation & storage
PWA wins. Installing a PWA: open browser, tap one button, done. No App Store account needed, no fast WiFi to download hundreds of MB. Wealio is under 1 MB. Compare that to native finance apps that average 50-150 MB and keep growing with every update.
Performance & speed
Comparable for most use cases. The myth that PWAs are always slower than native apps is no longer true in 2025. For apps that don't require heavy graphics or complex processing, like a finance app, the speed difference is imperceptible. What users do notice: PWA updates automatically in the background, no "please update your app" delays when you're trying to use it.
Access to phone features
Native wins. This is the one area where native apps have a real advantage. Native apps have deeper hardware access than PWA for things like camera receipt scanning, biometric login, and NFC payments. PWA is catching up (many features once exclusive to native are now available in PWA), but the gap remains.
Updates & maintenance
PWA wins, clearly. Native app updates must pass App Store review (1-7 days for iOS). PWA updates reach all users within minutes. For users: no annoying "please update" notifications. For developers: critical bugs fixed today, not next week.
Security & privacy
Comparable. Both can be secure or insecure depending on how the developer builds the app. A well-built PWA uses end-to-end HTTPS with server-side encryption. The myth that native apps are automatically more secure than PWAs is unfounded. Many native apps have serious vulnerabilities.
Cost to users
PWA wins. Apple's App Store takes 30% of every in-app purchase. This cost is almost always passed to users, which is why app subscription prices on iPhone are often higher than Android, and both are higher than the web version. PWA has no middleman, no cut. If Wealio ever has paid features, the price won't be inflated 30% to cover App Store fees.
For everyday finance? Logging expenses, tracking budget, viewing net worth, analyzing reports. None of those use cases require native advantages. PWA is more than sufficient, and you get all the benefits listed above.
Simply put, most Wealio users don't lose anything with PWA but gain quite a lot. No 30 MB download, no forced updates, no App Store cut inflating prices.
And most importantly: Wealio works from both your phone and laptop under one account. That's something a native app can't do without building two separate applications.
