Such web solutions are cheaper because the software market is really sick. There is almost no point in competing on quality and performance for consumer softwar

Such web solutions are cheaper because the software market is really sick. There is almost no point in competing on quality and performance for consumer software, because some start-up with hundreds of millions of VC funding or some SW megacorp will enter the market and give their mediocre product away for free while paying engineers N times more than what you can offer. Bonus points if the software is at least partly open source or integrates with some standard (which will get nixed once they have enough market share). And those VCs and that CEO won't be particularly concerned with technical excellence, they'll focus on their metrics regarding user acquisitions, market share, etc. Since technical excellence is of at best secondary importance, it makes sense to commoditise the technology and make it as easy as possible to build such applications. Build some framework, give it away for free, ideally open source. Brag about how you're enriching the world through your open source contributions. Optionally snicker at the fact that you're in fact controlling how things get built on the so-called open web. Relax on your yacht while drinking a good champagne. Don't explain to the poor sods still worrying their brains about technology why "the economics" prevent building quality software, because you don't give a fuck anyway. One of your employees or the employee of some other web company will surely set aside some time to clarify this, like the good little employee that they are.