What is an application?

Native, web and hybrid

• Native. Built for a specific platform, with full access to device capability and the best performance. Requires separate development per platform.
• Web. Runs in a browser. No install, instantly updatable, universally reachable, with less device access.
• Hybrid. Web technology packaged as an installable app. One codebase, some native capability, compromises on both.
• Progressive web app. A web application that can be installed and works offline, with capability that varies by platform.

What distribution costs

The choice is less about technology than about who stands between you and the user.

A native app is distributed through a store that takes a commission on in-app purchases, reviews every release, sets policy unilaterally, and owns the discovery surface. A web application has none of that, and also none of the store's distribution.

This is the same trade-off that appears throughout the industry: better distribution in exchange for an intermediary with control — see walled garden. The right answer depends on how much the store's discovery is actually worth to you, which most businesses do not measure.

The AI-native application

A category that barely existed a few years ago: applications built around a foundation model rather than around a database. Writing tools, research assistants, tutors, coding helpers, shopping agents.

They behave differently from conventional software in two ways that matter commercially. Usage has real marginal cost, because inference is paid per query — so a free tier is genuinely expensive rather than nearly free. And they are publishers: users bring real problems to them, which creates advertising inventory that is small, highly intentional, and frequently more valuable per query than a general assistant's.