What is the difference between HTML5, Native and a Hybrid app? Which is better?

Today most of the developers are facing 1 problem i.e. they are unable to decide whether to develop a native app or a hybrid app? This is an old debate and there is no answer to it. Before we answer this question let us first understand out what native and hybrid apps means.

Native app

This refers to app built for a specific operating system and can be accessed only from the dedicated app store.  Like Android application can only be accessed by Android users and is developed using Java, Windows, C++ etc. whereas app meant for iOS  application using XCode/Objective-C etc. This is a very expensive and very time consuming as complete development process happens for a specific app store at a time.

Hybrid app

These are the latest HTML5 apps. The biggest advantage of developing hybrid app is consistent, cross platform UI that is compatible with most devices. This is less expensive app development method but cannot be used for every type of app.

Both have their advantages and disadvantages so we would list how to select if the app has to be native app or a hybrid app?

Development Cost and Time

Hybrid apps take least amount of time to develop and are developed at a fairly cheaper price as compared to native app. Building a hybrid app means maintaining just one code whereas with native code you need an app developer for each platform. But this does not mean that native apps are bad because they have their own advantages.

User Experience

Native apps provide the best user experience because they are specifically designed for a single app store with which one can get the best compatible apps. The screen size is taken care off and so are the hardware capabilities. whereas with Hybrid apps it is impossible to provide a good experience with just 1 app for all platforms.

Paid or Free app

Since native apps have the best UI hence paid apps are usually advised to be developed as native apps whereas free apps can be developed as hybrid apps.

There are five approaches to cross platform mobile application development and many tools are available under each category. Here are 5 hybrid tools.