Custom Web apps & web portals
Software that works the way your business works. A customer portal, booking system or internal dashboard: on any device, with no app store, connected to the tools you already use.
Short answer
Forwarddd builds custom web applications: customer portals, booking systems, internal tools and dashboards. A web app runs in the browser on any phone, tablet or computer, with no app store, and connects to your CRM, accounting or inventory. A basic portal starts at €1,450 one-off, plus from €95 a month for hosting, maintenance and support.
- From
- €1,450 one-off
- Per month
- from €95
- Works on
- Any device
- Connects to
- CRM, accounting, payments
Explore a working customer portal
A bakery’s portal, fully interactive. Compare today’s sales with last week, get a heads-up before the butter runs out, ask questions of your own numbers, and book an invoice into the accounting from a single photo.
Bakkerij De MaasOverview
Good morning, Daan
Here's today so far.
What is a web application?
A website shows information. A web application gets things done.
A web application is software that runs in the browser. Customers or employees log in and get something done: book, order, approve, plan, report. There’s nothing to install, and every update is instantly available to everyone. A modern web app can also be added to your phone like an app, work offline and send notifications. Google calls that a progressive web app1web.dev, 2026Learn PWAOpen the source.
| Website | Web application | App store app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it’s for | Information and inquiries | Logging in and getting things done | Daily use on your phone |
| Installing | Not needed | Not needed, but it can go on the home screen | Through the App Store and Google Play |
| Updates | Instant | Instant, for everyone | Through the store, per device |
| Platforms | Anything with a browser | Anything with a browser | Often built separately for iOS and Android |
| Found in Google | Yes | The public pages | No, only in the store |
That can pay off in a big way. When Twitter launched a progressive web app, pages viewed per session rose by 65%2web.dev, 2017Twitter Lite PWA Significantly Increases Engagement and Reduces Data UsageOpen the source. Lancôme saw 17% more conversions3web.dev, 2017Lancôme rebuilds their mobile website as a PWA, increases conversions 17%Open the source. Those are older cases, but the argument has only gotten stronger: in the Netherlands, 65% of web traffic now comes from mobile phones4Statcounter Global Stats, 2026Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet Market Share NetherlandsOpen the source.
A customer portal: less email, happier customers
Customers want to sort things out themselves, whenever it suits them.
In Zendesk’s CX Trends research, 74% of customers say it annoys them to repeat information, and 74% expect service to be available around the clock5Zendesk, 2025Contextual intelligence becomes the new standard for exceptional customer experience in 2026Open the source. Gartner expects self-service and live chat to matter more than phone and email in 20276Gartner, 2025Gartner Survey Finds Self-Service and Live Chat Will Surpass Traditional Channels as Top Customer Service Technologies by 2027Open the source.
- Approve quotes online, with one click and on record.
- View and pay invoices with iDEAL or credit card.
- Manage subscriptions and details, without you having to answer an email.
- Share files in one secure place instead of across ten emails.
- See the status of a project or order, so customers don’t have to ask how things are going.
- Book appointments in your calendar, with automatic confirmation.
Less manual work, more time
Business owners spend far too much time on admin.
41%
of Dutch business owners spend at least half their workweek on administrative tasks (Visma and Kantar, 2025)8Visma & Kantar (via Accountant.nl), 2025Veel ondernemers besteden de helft van hun tijd aan administratieve takenOpen the source.
A good web app takes that work off your hands. Orders from your online store go straight into your accounting, inquiries land directly in your CRM, and reports put themselves together. We use AI ourselves to automatically fill in new client records with details from their website. You’ll find more examples under automations.
How we build
Modern technology, built to last for years.
- React and TypeScript, so bugs get caught during the build, not by your customers.
- Hosted on Cloudflare’s global network, with servers in more than 330 cities9Cloudflare, 2026500 Tbps of capacity: 16 years of scaling our global network; Cloudflare Global NetworkOpen the source.
- Secure from the ground up: logins, permissions per user and encrypted connections. Customer data is never publicly accessible.
- Integrations with your accounting software (Moneybird or Exact), your CRM, bol.com, your warehouse or your ERP.
- AI where it helps, for example an assistant that reads documents, answers questions or gets work ready for you.
Why we build this way, and what has changed in web technology, is explained in Is PHP outdated?
What a web application costs
Custom work, with a clear price up front.
A web application from Forwarddd starts at €1,450 one-off for a basic portal, such as a client area where customers log in, approve quotes and view invoices. A regular website starts at €950; the difference is the logins, the database and the permissions per user.
On top of that you pay from €95 a month for hosting, maintenance and support. The exact amount depends on three things: how big your database gets, which tools we connect and how much built-in AI you use (AI credits). You get a fixed price up front, not an open-ended bill.
Getting bigger, with many user types, screens or integrations? Then we build in stages: the core first, the task that saves the most time, and we expand from there. You still know what each stage costs before we start. How a website or app budget breaks down is explained in what a website costs.
From idea to working app
Intro and sketches
What should the app do, and for whom? We map out the tasks and the screens.
Clickable design
You click through the main screens before anything gets built, so we know for sure it’s right.
Feedback and fine-tuning
We build in parts and you test each part yourself. Your feedback goes straight in, so the app works exactly the way your business works.
Live for real
Your app goes live for your customers or your team, on your own domain. After that, we keep everything up to date and keep building on what your users need.
Further reading
Frequently asked questions
A web application from Forwarddd starts at €1,450 one-off for a basic portal, plus from €95 a month. The monthly amount depends on the size of your database, the tools we connect and the built-in AI (credits). An app for the App Store and Google Play often costs more, because it usually means building for two platforms. For many businesses, a web app does the same job for less money.
A web app runs in the browser and works on any device, with nothing to install. An app store app is installed on each device and is often built separately for iOS and Android. A modern web app can also sit on your home screen and work offline1web.dev, 2026Learn PWAOpen the source.
Yes. You can add a progressive web app to your home screen. It then opens in its own window, and it can work offline and send notifications1web.dev, 2026Learn PWAOpen the source.
A secure environment where your customers log in to handle things themselves: approve quotes, pay invoices, share files, book appointments or check the status of their project. That saves you emails and phone calls, and your customer never has to wait on you.
We build with logins, per-user permissions and encrypted connections, and take care of backups. Customer data is never publicly accessible.
Usually, yes. We integrate with accounting software like Moneybird and Exact, CRM systems, bol.com, warehouse software and ERP systems. If your system has an API, we can talk to it.
Sources
- 1web.dev, 2026Learn PWA
- 2web.dev, 2017Twitter Lite PWA Significantly Increases Engagement and Reduces Data Usage
- 3web.dev, 2017Lancôme rebuilds their mobile website as a PWA, increases conversions 17%
- 4Statcounter Global Stats, 2026Desktop vs Mobile vs Tablet Market Share Netherlands
- 5Zendesk, 2025Contextual intelligence becomes the new standard for exceptional customer experience in 2026
- 6Gartner, 2025Gartner Survey Finds Self-Service and Live Chat Will Surpass Traditional Channels as Top Customer Service Technologies by 2027
- 7Gartner (via destinationCRM), 2024Only 14% of Customer Service Issues Are Fully Resolved in Self-Service
- 8Visma & Kantar (via Accountant.nl), 2025Veel ondernemers besteden de helft van hun tijd aan administratieve taken
- 9Cloudflare, 2026500 Tbps of capacity: 16 years of scaling our global network; Cloudflare Global Network