Appify vs Built-in Browser PWAs

Aspect	Built-in Browser PWA	Appify	Verdict
01 — Isolation & Privacy
Profile Isolation cookies, storage, history	Shared: all PWAs + normal tabs use the same profile. Cross-site data bleeds freely.	Full: every app gets its own ~/.pwa_manager/profiles/ directory. Nothing shared.	✦ Appify True containment. A compromise in one app cannot touch another.
Telemetry Bleed cross-app data collection	High: all sites share telemetry endpoints and storage with the main profile.	None between apps. Telemetry is per-profile and contained — or eliminated entirely with Brave/Ungoogled Chromium.	✦ Appify Shared profiles hide disk/data cost inside your main profile. Appify makes it visible and contained.
02 — Disk Usage
Initial Install Size fresh app, no usage	~1–10 MB manifest, icons, shortcut config	~1–10 MB ghost profile starts near-zero; no runtime downloaded	≈ Tie Identical low starting point. Neither wastes space upfront.
Light App e.g. Gmail, no extensions	Appears small — but data mixes with all other sites in the shared profile.	~27 MB isolated. Extremely lean for a full browser profile.	✦ Appify Built-in PWA disk cost is hidden inside your main profile. Appify's is transparent and isolated.
Heavy Streaming App e.g. Twitch/Kick + 3–5 extensions	~500 MB – 2+ GB in shared pool. One site's video cache bloats all other apps.	~1.4 GB+ fully contained. Cache, WASM, extension DBs are isolated to this app only.	✦ Appify Growth is predictable and bounded per app. No unrelated app pollutes the pool.
17 Apps (Mixed) real-world fleet: YouTube, Twitch, Kick, anime, productivity	Potentially lower raw total via cache sharing — but hidden pollution contaminates the entire main profile.	~6.3–6.8 GB total across all 17 apps. No cross-app pollution. Full user control.	✦ Appify Comparable or lower effective total — and every byte is accounted for, visible, and deletable individually.
03 — RAM Usage
Light App RAM e.g. Google Docs	Low baseline, but all extensions load regardless of which tab is active.	~300–500 MB depending on add-ons. Extensions load only here, only when open.	≈ Tie On par. Appify has no overhead advantage for a single, simple app.
Heavy Streaming App RAM e.g. Twitch + 4 extensions	~800 MB – 1.5 GB but extensions shared globally — cost distributed across profile, not attributed here.	~1.3–1.5 GB — on par with a normal browser tab. Fully released on close.	≈ Tie Per-app cost is comparable. The difference emerges when multiple apps are open simultaneously.
Multiple Apps Open e.g. Twitch + YouTube + Docs simultaneously	All extensions load globally for every PWA. BTTV runs while you're in Google Docs. RAM bleed is constant.	Extensions activate only in the relevant app. BTTV exists only inside Twitch. Zero bleed.	✦ Appify Lower effective RAM for multi-app users. Extensions only cost RAM when their app is actually open.
04 — Extensions
Extension Scope where extensions run	Global: one install runs across every tab and PWA, whether relevant or not.	Per-app: BTTV only on Twitch, uBlock only on YouTube. Assigned at install time.	✦ Appify Leaner, more intentional. No extension runs somewhere it has no business being.
Runtime Duplication browser engine overhead	None — reuses the main browser binary.	None — uses your existing installed browser. No bundled Chromium, no Electron.	≈ Tie Both avoid Electron-style runtime duplication entirely.
05 — Overall
Overall Verdict	Efficient via sharing — but unpredictable growth, hidden costs, and extension bleed make real usage harder to control or audit.	Meets or beats built-in PWAs in practice. Every resource is visible, isolated, and individually controllable.	✦ Appify Better balance for streaming, multi-account, privacy-focused, and power users. No hidden cost, no shared mess.

Methodology: All numbers from real-world testing. Heavy apps tested with active streaming + popular extension stacks (7TV, BTTV, FFZ, SponsorBlock, Pie Adblock). RAM measured during active use, not idle. Disk measured after normal session usage. · Appify v2.1.1 · GPL-3.0