HACKER Q&A
📣 pingeroo

Are Electron apps stickier than Web apps?


My startup is building an investment research platform and we're debating if we should package our web app as an Electron application.

The thinking is that Electron might be stickier since it'll live on the user's computer so they'll encounter it more often — whether it be on their desktop, mac launchpad, or windows start menu.

Is this thinking flawed? If you have any other thoughts about Electron vs. Web Apps, I would love to hear them as well!

  👤 throw03172019 Accepted Answer ✓
This is my theory as well. But do remember there is more friction with getting them to install the app. Depending on your target audience, there could be issues with them installing software without getting it approved by security teams, etc.
👤 greenyoda
If you concentrate on making the app useful to your customers, they'll use it more often. Time that you spend repackaging it as an Electron app could be used to improve the app's functionality.

Also, many apps these days are web-based, so I'm not sure why having a shortcut in your start menu would be any "stickier" than having a bookmark in your browser's bookmark bar. A web app would be accessible from all the user's devices, not just the one it's installed on, making it more likely to be used.

And if you unnecessarily make something a desktop app when it could be a web app, you'll annoy your users by using up their disk space and RAM and wasting their time waiting for installations every time there's an update.