# Web application

A web application is a program that runs in the browser, such as a customer portal, a booking system or an internal tool with a login.

Source: https://ibenta.no/en/glossary/web-application
Publisher: Ibenta (https://ibenta.no)
Updated: 2026-09-27

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A website presents and sells. A web application does something. You log in, fill in, save and pull things up again. Your online bank, the ad you edit on Finn.no and the booking page at the hairdresser are web applications. Everything happens in the browser, on computer and phone, with nothing to install.

## How it differs from an app in the App Store

An app from the App Store or Google Play has to be downloaded and installed on every phone. A web application opens from a link. One solution covers every device, and everyone gets the new version as soon as you update it. Behind the screen there is usually a [database](/en/glossary/database) that remembers everything entered.

## When it pays off

When someone in the business spends hours every week moving information between spreadsheets, email and paper. A tool built for exactly that job can take over, and talk to the systems you already have through an [API](/en/glossary/api).

## Count the hours first

Write down one fixed task that repeats every week, and how long it takes. If it takes two hours a week and you count 45 working weeks a year, that is 2 × 45 = 90 hours a year. That number is the basis for judging whether a tool pays for itself. If you want to see what such tools can do, we have written about [web applications](/en/services/web-application).