Selenium is one of the most popular frameworks for Automation Testing, but like any other software tool, Selenium also has some known alternatives.
You may encounter many bottlenecks while using Selenium alone; these alternatives promise to fill this testing gap in different ways. These Selenium alternatives will make automated testing more accessible and efficient or capable of handling demands that Selenium does not offer.
Selenium is a popular pick for web testing due to its lightweight and portable software design and fits for applications or software functioning on the web. It’s the same reason why Selenium is known as browser automation API (Application Program Interface).
The best thing with Selenium is that it’s completely free and an open-source tool accessible on several browsers and platforms. However, being the best doesn’t mean being perfect for all types of testing; we have some advantages and some drawbacks with Selenium that we will list in this blog.
Why Look for Selenium Alternatives?
Selenium, the best Automation Testing tool, majorly focuses on web application testing framework and performs different testing like functional and regression testing to these applications.
Some say the other major reason Selenium is getting popular is the vast number of programming languages it offers to write the test scripts like Java, Ruby, Perl, PHP, and Python.
The specific working area of Selenium brings a thought to check for its best alternative to fulfill all business requirements and testings. Going through its advantages and disadvantages will bring transparency.
Advantages Of Selenium
Selenium is one of the best automation testing frameworks with several advantages. Some of the most known benefits that one considers while choosing Selenium are:
- There are no license fees that a user has to pay for using Selenium as an open-source testing tool.
- Selenium works with different browsers because of its cross-platform testing, too—Selenium on many different browsers, including Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, Mozilla, and Opera.
- It supports popular operating systems like Android, Windows, Mac, iOS, and Linux. This allows users to run Selenium on any operating system.
- Selenium allows connection with frameworks like JUnit, TestNG, and NUnit to create reports and manage test cases per the requirement set.
Disadvantages of Selenium
It’s hard to believe that the most popular Automation Testing tool also has some drawbacks. The list of disadvantages you can come across with Selenium are:
- Selenium only supports web app testing. This is why Selenium is not the appropriate choice for testing mobile, desktop, or standalone apps.
- No constant nominal or technical support from any team because Selenium is an open-source platform.
- If any new or updated versions of Selenium libraries are published to address a specific problem, the previous test might also get rendered or disrupted because Selenium tests are unstable.
- Due to low-level API, Selenium’s test maintenance is quite complex compared to other automation testing platforms. Also, it does not support developers with any type of page screenshot, error capture, or element locators.
- Selenium testing requires additional expertise even though it allows users to conduct parallel tests on different machines. Additional expertise will help reduce the time taken for the tests to execute.
- It’s impossible to perform testing on pictures using the Selenium automation testing tool.
Top 3 Selenium Testing Framework Alternatives
Selenium alone can perform major testings with web applications but not all. You can overcome these drawbacks and fill the gap with a suitable alternative for Selenium.
Cypress
After Selenium, it’s Cypress, the second most popular automation testing tool. It’s an open-source automation system that is a popular alternative to Selenium, with comprehensive capabilities that complement existing development tools. The best part about Cypress is that it does not require any setup for installation.
Cypress offers a list of functionalities to heed among popular developer-focused frameworks. These functionalities include-
- Quick scalability
- Solid documentation
- Growing community
- Simple execution environment
Although Cypress is well known as a Selenium substitute, the two frameworks are not exclusive overall. You can use Cypress to enhance your Selenium scripts and increase overall test stability and coverage. However, Cypress offers a few connectors compared to Selenium.
LambdaTest can integrate with Cypress Test Automation Framework by Creating a Test Run in Cypress and sending Cypress Test Results to LambdaTest Test Management Tool, seamlessly integrating with CI/CD DevOps workflow.
Robot Framework
The second-best alternative for Selenium is Robot Framework, a free, open-source test automation framework. It’s one of the best automation testing tools for acceptance testing and acceptance test-driven development (ATDD).
Robot Framework is a standard testing platform that employs behavior-driven and keyword-driven testing strategies. You can go with Robot Framework if you are looking for an automation testing framework for online and mobile test automation. It helps developers and testers who use the keyword-driven approach.
There are many different reasons why you should consider Robot Framework an excellent alternative to Selenium:
- It’s easy to use Robot Framework compared to the Selenium, and this is because the Robot Framework allows writing test scripts in English rather than code.
- Robot Framework is an automation framework that utilizes different libraries as per the need, whereas Selenium is a library itself.
- Originally, Robot Framework was built in Python, but its latest version utilizes Java for writing test scripts.
- Robot Framework can also be referred to as a collection of third-party integration tools, libraries, and solid functionality.
- Robot Framework is not bound to any application, technology, platform, or operating system.
- There are a list of things that makes Robot Framework a dominating automation testing system, like-
- Generic test libraries
- High-level design
- Separate test data editor
- Clear reports
- Extensive logs
Katalon Studio
The third most popular alternative for Selenium is Katalon Studio; it’s a complete cross-platform test automation system to perform regression testing for Web, API, Mobile, and Desktop apps.
Katalon Studio is an advanced testing system built on the Appium and Selenium frameworks. Moreover, removing all possible technical difficulties, it revolutionizes the use of open-source test automation frameworks. This technique helps Katalon Studio allow developers and testers to rapidly set up, design, execute, report, and manage all required automated tests.
Apart from this, many advantages make Kobiton’s Katalon Studio a good alternative for Selenium. These advantages include-
- Katalon Studio is Easy to Operate:It is an excellent choice for testers who recently stepped into automation testing. Katalon Studio has a very short learning curve and is appropriate for testers with no coding experience. There are a lot of add-ons you get on Katalon Studio, like-
- A pre-built framework
- A built-in recorder
- Specified test methods
These add-ons help to start the automation testing journey quickly.
- Katalon Studio offers a Quick Setup:Katalon Studio is the best choice for beginners and provides a quick setup. Using this test automation framework, you experience a user-friendly interface that helps quickly wrap up the test environment. Moreover, the pre-built templates and test scripts that Katalon Studio offers make it simple for testers to use.
- Katalon Studio offers Flexible Modes: Flexible modes like recording and keyword capabilities are helpful for testers with a non-technical background when they need to create new test cases per the set requirement.
It also helps the experienced testers by providing a productive IDE. This IDE helps to develop tests with scripting techniques for complex business demands.
- Katalon Studio provides Cross-platform Testing:With cross-platform testing, it gets easy to perform testing on different browsers and practically on all operating systems. In addition, Katalon Studio can function on several online and mobile platforms.
- Seamless CI/CD Integration:The growing testing demand has started inclining toward CI/CD Integration, so the best testing platform should perform this integration seamlessly. Katalon Studio enables native plugins for various integrations, including the most popular: SDLC, CI/CD management, and team collaboration.
Why LambdaTest?
To have seamless automation testing with Selenium, it’s crucial to know its best alternatives to complete any mobile, desktop, or web testing. Knowing its advantages and drawbacks does half of the work while selecting an alternative. With LambdaTest, automation testing gets more accessible and more seamless using the vast number of functionalities offered on the website apart from the testing tools.
LambdaTest is a comprehensive cloud-based cross-browser platform that supports modern Automated Testing frameworks like Selenium and Cypress. LambdaTest provides automated, manual, and live-interactive testing on an online browser farm of 3000+ real browsers and operating systems online and has gained the trust of over 600,000+ users in 130+ countries.
Make your automation testing journey effortless and booming with LambdaTest.
