What is the difference between a website and a web app in Votel, and what does an app cost?

A website (including a landing page or funnel) is a front facing, static set of pages built with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It is the right choice for marketing pages you want to rank in Google and advertise. Websites use Votel's built-in forms, booking widgets, custom fields and calendars, are unlimited, and have no ongoing hosting cost.

A web app has its own custom code, its own database, its own back end and its own admin side. Anything that needs custom code in a language of your choice (React, Vue, Python and many others) and a custom database is an app, for example a business directory, contract or estimate tools, job progress tracking, or managing the products behind an online store. The AI writes the code and hosts it. Start one from the AI assistant with New web app, or tell the AI you want a React site or an app. An app can take longer to build because it creates the admin, the database and the customer facing side.

An app costs $9 a month per app, which includes hosting, the back end and the database. The database has no row limit: it stays $9 a month however large it grows. Building the app also uses AI credits once, for example around 20 credits (about $5) for a business directory app.

If you only use custom fields, forms and calendars inside the system, that is built-in functionality, not an app. Many businesses use both: a website that gets found and advertised, and a web app behind the scenes handling the heavy lifting. Votel itself works this way: the marketing site is a website and the signed-in platform is a web application.