Stand Alone Applications

The application which are installed on end user system and only one user is allowed to use the application are known as stand alone applications.
For eg: MS Office, Media Player, Antivirus etc.

Advantages of Stand Alone Application:

1.Faster in access.
2.Secured, as data is not possible and also virus can not effect as there is no use of Internet for these applications.

Disadvantages of Stand Alone Application:

1.Only one user is allowed to use the application at a time.
2.Data sharing is not possible.
3.Installation is required.
4.End user systems memory is utilized.
5.Maintenance is tough.

Client-Server Applications

In Client-Server Application two parts of the softwares are involved, one part is installed at the clients machine and the other part of the software is installed at the server side.
The client and server talk to each other for communication.
For eg: Skype, Yahoo messenger, g talk etc.

Advantages of Client-Server Application:

1.Faster in access, but depends upon bandwidth or speed.
2.Multiple users can access the application at a time.
3.Data sharing is possible.
4.Maintainance is easy.

Disadvantages of Client-Server Application:

1.Installation is required.
2.End user system memory is utilized but less as compared to Stand Alone Application.
3.If server is down/crashed, all the user will lose the connection.

Stand Alone Application and Client-Server Application are also known as Windows based application.

Web Applications

In Web Application the entire software is installed at the server side and user access the application with the help of URL.

Advantages of Web Application:

1.Faster in access, but depends upon bandwidth or speed.
2.Multiple users can access the application at a time.
3.Data sharing is possible.

Disadvantages of Web Application:

1.If server is down/crashed, all the user will lose the connection.

Difference between Client-Server and Web Application:

The main difference between Client-Server and Web Application are:

1.In Client-Server application the UI(User Interface) is installed at the client machine while in Web Application the UI(User Interface) is installed at the server.

2.In Web Application the end user uses the application with the help of URL while the URL is not available in Client-Server application.