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PWA vs AMP: what is the difference?

Short answer

AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is a restricted HTML/JS framework designed to guarantee fast-loading static content, historically used to qualify for special placement in Google’s mobile search results. A PWA is a broader architectural pattern — HTTPS, manifest, service worker — that adds installability and offline support to any site, including AMP pages. They solve different problems and are not mutually exclusive, though AMP’s search-placement benefits have diminished since Google ended the AMP requirement for the Top Stories carousel in 2021.

By InstantPWA growth research·Reviewed July 25, 2026

What AMP restricts

AMP HTML disallows most custom JavaScript and requires AMP-specific components, trading flexibility for guaranteed fast rendering.

What a PWA adds

Installability, offline caching and push notifications — none of which AMP provides on its own.

Current relevance

Since Google removed the AMP requirement from its Top Stories carousel in 2021, many publishers have scaled back AMP usage in favour of standard fast-loading pages, sometimes combined with PWA techniques.

Sources

Related
Does a PWA help or hurt SEO?
A PWA does not directly change your Google ranking. Googlebot indexes your HTML the same whether or not you have a service worker. The indirect effect is Core Web Vitals: repeat visits from installed users have near-zero TTFB and better INP, which improves your CWV score and, over time, ranking.
What are Core Web Vitals?
Core Web Vitals are three metrics Google uses to measure real-world page experience: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP, loading speed), Interaction to Next Paint (INP, responsiveness to input, which replaced First Input Delay in March 2024), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS, visual stability). They are measured from real Chrome users via the Chrome User Experience Report.
What does theme_color do in a manifest?
The manifest’s theme_color field sets the colour of the browser’s toolbar (in a regular tab) and the title bar / task-switcher header for an installed standalone PWA, giving the app a branded look instead of the browser’s default grey or white. It can be overridden per-page with <meta name="theme-color" content="#hex">, which takes precedence over the manifest value while that page is open.
What is a maskable icon?
A maskable icon is a PWA icon designed with extra padding around the logo so that when Android applies its adaptive-icon mask — a circle, squircle or rounded square, depending on the device’s launcher theme — the important part of the logo is never clipped. You declare it by adding "purpose": "maskable" to an icon entry in the manifest, ideally alongside a separate "any" purpose icon.
How do you handle safe areas in a PWA?
To avoid content being obscured by notches, camera cutouts or the home indicator on modern phones, set <meta name="viewport" content="viewport-fit=cover"> and then apply padding using the CSS environment variables env(safe-area-inset-top), -right, -bottom and -left, which report the exact inset needed on the current device in standalone or fullscreen mode.