15 web app ideas for starting your business
Mariam Ispiryan • Updated on Oct 18, 2021 • 7 min read
Creating a unique and creative web application that can be useful for users is not the simplest task to do. However, coming up with an actual web app idea will certainly make the task more achievable. Therefore, we’ve researched the market to find the best web app ideas in 2023 that’ll give you a great start for your online business.
First, let’s find out what a web app is and why you should start thinking about creating one.
Table of Contents
- Web app for family interactions.
- Recipe suggestion web app.
- Healthy food alternatives for your favorite snacks.
- Book review web app.
- Tinder but for books.
- Quick advising services.
- A web app idea for exchanging things with other people
- Web app idea for language exchange.
- Employee orientation and training web app.
- Web Application for Hobbyists
- Product review web application
- Professional Services Web Application
- Recruitment Software
- E-learning web application
- Freelance web application
What is a Web Application?
A web application is a computer-based program that uses online technologies to operate a different range of tasks. It can be accessed through any browser with an Internet connection and can be used for various different purposes – from shopping carts to booking holidays.
But not every web page is a web application. There are also websites that are vastly different from web applications in their functionalities and purposes, but people often take them as the same. Web apps contain certain content and allow users to interact with it. Once you have a web page with content that is not interactive, you have a website. It’s highly important to differentiate these categories for you to be able to choose the best one to build your platform on. If you want to learn more, check out our article on the differences between web apps and websites.
If you’re here you probably want to build a web app. But how? You might have heard building web apps is complex and costly. But in recent years, no-code platforms have managed to turn this argument into a myth. Nowadays, no-code tools allow users to achieve results that were previously reserved for developers and build web apps much faster, with less effort. You can learn more about building web apps with no-code tools in our article on web app development. But first let's try to identify what you're going to build.
Now that you know the bases of web app building, you need to come up with an out-of-the-box and cool web app idea which can be a tricky task. That's why we have generated 15 web app ideas for inspiration to assist you in this process of finding an idea for your own project.
1. Web app for family interactions
Web application example: Together
Family is an essential part of our lives but organizing things with each other can be a real headache sometimes. That’s why creating a tool to connect families can be a really cool web app idea. Imagine a web application that contains a shared gallery, a family calendar, to-do lists for every individual member, an event planner, and even separate chat boxes for everyone. Sounds good, right?
It’s a really good web app idea and can become highly successful if you take your time and think through the feature set and available tools.
2. Recipe suggestion web app based on the availability of your ingredients
Web application example: Recipe Guru
Many of us became our own cooks with the pandemic hitting all our favorite restaurants and cafés. However, coming up with fresh food ideas for every day can be tiring sometimes. That’s why our next web project idea can become a real game-changer for many people.
It works like many cooking apps – by suggesting you an easy and fast recipe that you can cook at home. But here’s the twist: before suggesting a recipe, it asks the users what products they have at hand and only afterward offers them the best recipe options.
Related Post: 10 Inspiring No-Code Web Apps Built with Softr
3. Healthy food alternatives for your favorite snacks
Image Source: What Women Want Magazine
We all have our guilty pleasures – our favorite snacks, right? And though we know how unhealthy and harmful they can sometimes be, excluding them from our diet is a tough task. That’s why we all could use some help from professionals. Of course, people still can consult a specialist or try to find healthy alternatives for their diet. But having a tool that would quickly suggest options could be really handy.
The users just have to type the snack that they are craving and the web app will come up with healthy options. There can be recipes that everyone can make at home or products with better ingredients they can find online.
4. Book review web application
Web application example: Goodreads
There are too many good books in the world. Almost as many as there are bad ones. That’s why every book lover tries to find out if the book is worth the time they are willing to spend. To help them out, you can turn this web app idea into reality.
Many of us turn to Goodreads for the solution, but often the service is more focused on selling the books and less on giving honest opinions about them. That’s why creating a platform with a better review system both from ordinary readers and critics can become a successful startup idea. Besides, it’s a really easy and time-saving web application idea for beginners if you’re still not sure where to start from.
5. Tinder but for books
Web application example: Litsy
Similar to the previous web app idea, this one will also be extremely popular with book lovers. It’s a fun and easy-to-use web app for users to find new books to their taste. All they need to do is to fill in some information about their favorite books, authors, or genre, and the app will come up with multiple new suggestions. From then on, they can swipe left and right on books, and it will match them with other books similar to their favorite ones.
You can also add some more features to stand out in the market. For example, you can suggest online platforms from where users can buy the books that they’ve chosen.
6. Quick advising services
Web application example: University of Oregon, Academic Advising
This can be on the list of the more challenging ideas for web applications if you’re new, but it’s worth a try. Imagine having a platform where people can turn in for advice and get answers only from the professionals of the field. It can be like a paid version of Quora where all the advice is right and working.
The challenging part of this web application idea is that you have to create your base by choosing all your specialists one by one. Also, make sure people are paying for quality answers from licensed professionals.
7. A web app idea for exchanging things with other people
Web application example: Gumtree
Many folks now know the value of recycling and reusing. Even if you can’t call yourself a real eco-enthusiast, you certainly have many things that sit around your house and don’t get used to even once in a year. That’s why our next web project idea can be useful for virtually anyone.
With this web application, users can upload their items, write what they are willing to exchange them with, and wait for an offer from other users. Or they can explore items posted by other users and send offers themselves. Further on, users can exchange, add more items to the list, or even bargain with each other.
If you are thinking of giving this web app idea a try, make sure to create a secure web application with verified users and safe chat boxes.
8. Web application Idea for language exchange
Web application example: Speaky
Learning a new language is difficult. You can try to learn it all by yourself or even consult with a specialist. But still, there are some nuances that you’ll get only after talking with natives.
Yes, many cool web apps help you learn languages but very often they offer only languages that are most popular internationally. But in this case, you give your users unlimited freedom to find people who speak the language they want to learn and vice versa. The language exchange web app helps your users feed two birds with one scone: they can learn their desired language for free while also helping others.
9. Employee orientation and training web application
Web application example: Lessonly
Employee orientation is a hard but important process for new employees to start a long and successful career in the company. In fact, according to recent studies, 69% of employees tend to stay with the company for at least three years following a great onboarding experience. That’s why many companies now realize how easy and conventional online employee orientation and training processes can be.
With the help of employee orientation, the employees can get all the essential information and rules of the company. They get to know the company culture better and get all the team details without asking for help from anyone. HR specialists, for their part, can store orientation documentation online. Also, provide step-by-step lessons about all the essentials a new employee has to know and provide them with training materials needed for the onboarding process.
10. Web application for hobbyists
Web application example: Far or Near
Networking is a big part of our lives. We are stuck in the everlasting process of finding and connecting with people with shared hobbies and ideas. That's mainly why we believe creating a web application out of networking is a brilliant idea.
Building your networking service with no-code would be the right choice for you. No-code platforms will enable creating a platform where like-minded people with similar hobbies can find each other. In the web app, users should be able to sign-up, create profiles, select and build groups and communities for hobbies, activities, connect with other people and even organize events.
11. Product review web application
Web application example: Trustpilot
Product review web apps are becoming increasingly powerful as marketing tools for companies. Customers can find reviews of products and services they are considering on web apps. They enable transparency and customers are welcome to leave their comments for potential users at the stage of decision making and businesses to understand what necessary measures to take next.
If you choose to build a product review application, make sure to offer features such as enabling customers to write reviews and comments in simple and intuitive forms. These forms need to be tailored to collect relevant information. The web app should permit rating moderation, have filtering, sorting, and editing options, and an easy UI with responsive design.
12. Professional Services Web Application
Web application example: UW
Multi-service web apps have always been popular. The busier we get, the more we need to get things done faster and with no effort wasted. So why not build a business out of it? You can team up with various local service providers to offer diverse services for clients nearby.
You can offer cleaning, pest control, wellness services, all under one roof. This kind of web app makes the connection between users and different types of businesses smooth and efficient. Bussines could offer anything from a taxi booking service, food delivery, grocery delivery, in-home tutoring, and much more. Building such a platform won't be a hustle if you choose no-code tools like Softr, Bubble, Pory, or Glide.
13. Recruitment Software
Web application example: Jobsoid
Recruitment processes are aimed at finding the right match between the demands of the companies and the skill set of the candidates. Finding the ideal applicant and turning them into company assets is a difficult challenge for HRs.
That's why many companies reach out to recruitment softwares for a smooth hiring process. Recruitment management systems (RMS) should include applicant tracking systems for managing job postings, job boards, and applications, and customer relationship management functions to keep candidates engaged. Users should also be able to schedule phone calls and in-person interviews on the platform.
14. E-learning web application
Web application example: 100DaysofNoCode
E-learning platforms have been around for quite some time. However, with Covid-19 being a part of our daily lives, there was an urge to shift a part of our outdoor life indoors. As a result, e-learning web apps began gaining popularity, with more users enrolling in online courses and joining their communities.
Building a learning platform is pretty easy and won't take much time if you work wisely. To do so, we highly recommend going for no-code web app platforms. One of our favorite e-learning platforms, 100DaysOfNoCode, was built with Softr. The no-code tool allowed the web app to have essential features such as memberships, gated content, video courses, an integrated payment gateway, a blog, and much more.
15. Freelance web application
Web application example: Fiverr
Freelancing platforms are one of the most in-demand and popular web apps these days. The freelance marketplaces connect freelancers and companies/individuals who want to hire them.
There are a few "default" functions and features one should take into consideration when building similar marketplaces. The platform should enable freelancers to sign up and create profiles to showcase their work and expertise. Clients should be able to post projects, have a built-in messaging portal for safe and fast communication, and secure payment processing. One last important aspect is a save paying gateway which should be built-in or at least integrated.
About Softr
Softr is an easy-to-use no-code platform that turns Airtable bases into powerful web apps, member-only websites, and client portals. Softr offers a way for you to authenticate your end-users, control access to your content and data based on conditional rules like roles, logged-in status, subscription plans etc. If you're using Airtable as a product catalog you can use a Softr template to build your e-commerce website. Or maybe you'd like to build a custom website for your travel journal, there's a template for that too!
