PWA vs AMP: Which one to choose
77 percent of users leave a mobile application in 72 hours after they download it. If you strive to be fast and impressive, you should optimize your app.
This is where AMP and PWA come in. Both are two of the best scripting languages that increase page loading time. They are actively supported by Google – there is a PWA page on Google Developers and an AMP page on Google Developers as well. With them, Google launched a mobile-friendliness update which has one of the reasons to rank particular websites on mobile search engines.
Before we compare them, let’s first dive into the fundamentals of PWA & AMP.
What is PWA?
PWA stands for Progressive Web App. It unites the advantages of web and mobile apps. In a nutshell, PWA is an optimized web page that provides app-like functionalities. Twitter, Pinterest, and Alibaba use PWAs.
What is AMP?
AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Page. In recent times, AMP has been widely used for creating web pages that can load almost instantly. AMP’s idea is to reduce functionality to display the content immediately. Musement, RCS MediaGroup, CNBC, The Washington Post – these are the companies that implement AMP.
PWAs vs AMPs
The biggest barrier to mobile revenue is a slow and frustrating experience. Every millisecond counts. It takes just 3 seconds to lose half your traffic. Fortunately, PWA and AMP can unleash the potential of the mobile web. Let’s understand the strengths and weaknesses of these two technologies.
|
Parameter |
PWA |
AMP |
| Benefits | – App-like features.
– Fast, reliable, and engaging. – No need to design apps for different OS. – Offline site accessibility. |
– Faster loading web pages.
– Good for mobile SEO. – Improved ad views. – Higher click-through rate. |
| Code | Written from scratch or with some parts of the existing code. | The code is stripped of unnecessary CSS and JS. |
| Appearance | PWAs look and feel like mobile app. | It looks like a web page. |
| SEO | PWAs do not have a direct advantage for SEO. | From an SEO standpoint, AMP wins the competition. |
| Performance | PWAs load longer when you first access them. However, they load fast when you return. | Webpages load really fast each time you visit them. |
| Interactivity | PWAs have unbeatable interaction capabilities, including push notifications and a home screen icon. | AMPs don’t offer extensive interactivity options. |
| Recommended use cases | Progressive web apps are highly adopted by ecommerce websites, social media, and learning platforms. | Media companies, blog sites, businesses where online ads are an important source of revenue. |
PWA & AMP are two different approaches in the same field. It all depends on what you are looking for, and what you expect out of it.
Which one to choose?
There is no clear winner – both PWA and AMP can enhance the experience of users. Depending upon the industry, business type, and other factors, you’ll have to choose the right one. If you need speed and a native app-like experience from your website, then PWA is for you. But if you want a website that has great search engine discoverability and loads almost instantly, then AMP should be your choice.
And one more exciting concept is that you can use the combination of AMP and PWA to get the desirables of both. If you are unsure about which one to choose and adopt, an experienced website design company in Dubai will be able to set them up together. In fact, they complement each other in one way or another.
