A mini app or a website: what your trade needs
This is not "which is better" but "which is for what". A website is found in search; an app is opened by people who already reached your bot. Here is where the line runs and why many keep both.
| What is compared | Mini app | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Where people come from | From the messenger: the bot menu button, a link in a chat, a forwarded message. | From search, from ads and from the address itself. |
| Search traffic | None by default: the app opens in Telegram and MAX. With “Works as a site” the screens get addresses, titles and a sitemap, and the open part is indexed. | The main source in many niches. |
| Signing in | The person is identified by the messenger: no registration, no password. | Registration, a password, recovery — and losses at every step. |
| Coming back | The messenger is open anyway; returning is one tap in the bot menu. | The address has to be remembered or the bookmark found. |
| What has to be maintained | Nothing: hosting, the certificate and updates are the builder’s side. | Hosting, a domain, a certificate, updates and a developer within reach. |
| Time to a first version | An evening from a template, if the text and photographs are ready. | A week and up, even on a site builder. |
Choose an app when
- The audience is in the messenger already: a channel, a chat, a client base.
- You need orders, bookings and payments rather than a company story.
- Speed matters: assemble and test an idea in an evening.
Choose a website when
- Clients arrive from search: they need to find you, not open a link.
- You need pages for queries, articles and landings for advertising.
- You need an address that opens for anyone, with no messenger involved.
Other questions
- Will the app open in a browser if I send the link?
- Not by default: in a browser a visitor sees the "opens in a messenger" screen with a way to your bot. Switch on “Works as a site” in the publish dialog and the same screens open in a browser too, each at its own address, with sign-in by a code confirmed in Telegram or MAX.
- So a mini app is not for SEO?
- An ordinary one is not: it is reached through your website, channel or bot. With “Works as a site” the open part — a catalogue, services, articles — is indexed: every screen has its own address, title and description, and there is a sitemap. That still does not make it a full SEO platform with a page for every query — for that you still want a website.
- Can I keep both?
- Yes, and many do: the site brings people in, the app serves those who already arrived in the messenger.