A mini app or a chat bot: which to choose
A bot and a mini app live in the same messenger and often solve the same task — taking an order or a booking. The difference is how someone gets there: a bot asks one question at a time, an app shows the whole screen.
| What is compared | Mini app | Button-driven bot |
|---|---|---|
| What a catalogue looks like | A screen with a grid, photographs, search and filters — like an ordinary app. | A list in messages: seeing the tenth product means scrolling past nine. |
| Choosing from many | Filters and search over a table; hundreds of items scroll without effort. | Buttons in a message: more than a dozen options turn into a menu tree. |
| Building an order | A cart with quantities and a total, visible whole before sending. | A step-by-step dialogue; going back to fix a choice is harder. |
| Payment | By card inside the app through your own merchant account, with the order on screen. | Possible too, but confirming the contents stays as text in a conversation. |
| Messaging people | Does not broadcast: the bot writes to the owner, not to app visitors. | Its strong side: a bot can write to anyone subscribed to it. |
| What it takes to start | A bot token and assembled screens; the menu button sets itself on publish. | A dialogue script — and the more options, the longer it gets. |
Choose an app when
- There is a lot to show: a catalogue, a timetable, listings, services with prices.
- People choose and compare rather than answer two questions.
- You need a cart, a payment or a form with a file.
- It matters that it looks like an app rather than a conversation.
Choose a bot when
- The task is two or three questions: book, remind, answer.
- You need to write to people yourself — a bot can, an app cannot.
- The whole exchange is textual anyway: support, advice, notifications.
Other questions
- Can both be used together?
- That is the usual arrangement: the bot answers and writes, and a button in its menu opens the app where things are shown and sold. A mini app does not replace a bot, it lives inside one.
- Can the app write to my clients?
- No. The bot writes to the owner — a form submission, for instance. Broadcasting to app visitors does not exist in the product yet.
- Do I need a bot if I am building an app?
- Yes, your own bot is needed: its menu carries the button, submissions arrive through it, and its signature identifies a visitor so carts and history are kept.