The Franconian
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PWAs Don’t Always Need Your Own Servers

PWAs Don’t Always Need Your Own Servers

PWAs are often seen as requiring dedicated servers, but they can run entirely on static files or cloud services. I explore how PWAs can be as lightweight and cost-effective as native apps.

If I build a PWA I need my own servers. I mean, this is a web application. And a web application is delivered from a server. A native app is much easier. Put in the App Store. That’s it.

Now it is of course true that a PWA - like any other web application - must first be delivered from a server. Thanks to the offline capabilities, you don’t necessarily need this server to actually use the application. It’s almost like my own personal app store that I completely control myself.

However, just like a native application, a PWA can now be built so that it runs completely locally. Or, for example, only addresses services like Firebase. Or other cloud services that you don’t run yourself anyway. In this case, our PWA is nothing more than static HTML, JavaScript, CSS, image files.

Such static files effectively require no resources. You could run it for free via GitHub Pages. But even paid solutions are probably cheaper than the fees to upload your app to an app store.

#pwa#progressive web apps#static hosting#cloud services#firebase#github pages#web development