CasperJS vs PhantomJS vs Puppeteer

Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

CasperJS

63
120
+ 1
0
PhantomJS

1.2K
430
+ 1
18
Puppeteer

641
577
+ 1
26

CasperJS vs PhantomJS vs Puppeteer: What are the differences?

  1. Browser Automation Support: CasperJS runs on top of PhantomJS, which means it uses PhantomJS as its headless browser. On the other hand, Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium over the DevTools Protocol. This allows Puppeteer to offer better support for the most recent features and updates in the Chrome browser.

  2. Programming Language: CasperJS uses JavaScript and PhantomJS is based on JavaScript as well. Meanwhile, Puppeteer uses Node.js which allows for easier integration with other Node projects and greater flexibility in terms of programming.

  3. Async/Await Support: One major difference between CasperJS and Puppeteer is the support for async/await in Puppeteer. Puppeteer fully supports this modern JavaScript feature, making it easier to write asynchronous code. CasperJS doesn't have this level of support for async/await, which can make coding more challenging.

  4. Speed and Performance: Puppeteer tends to be faster and more efficient compared to CasperJS and PhantomJS. Due to its direct interaction with Chromium/Chrome, Puppeteer can complete tasks more quickly and provide better performance overall.

  5. Community and Support: With Google backing Puppeteer, it has a strong community and active support for bug fixes and updates. CasperJS and PhantomJS, on the other hand, have seen a decline in support and updates, making them less reliable options for long-term projects.

  6. Testing Capabilities: Puppeteer is more focused on testing and browser automation tasks, providing extensive APIs for tasks like taking screenshots, generating PDFs, and emulating different devices and network conditions. CasperJS and PhantomJS, while still capable of these tasks, may not have the same level of functionality or ease of use as Puppeteer.

In Summary, the choice between CasperJS, PhantomJS, and Puppeteer depends on factors such as programming language preference, browser automation support, speed, performance, community, and testing capabilities.

Advice on CasperJS, PhantomJS, and Puppeteer
Ankur Loriya
Needs advice
on
PhantomJSPhantomJS
and
PuppeteerPuppeteer

I am using Node 12 for server scripting and have a function to generate PDF and send it to a browser. Currently, we are using PhantomJS to generate a PDF. Some web post shows that we can achieve PDF generation using Puppeteer. I was a bit confused. Should we move to puppeteerJS? Which one is better with NodeJS for generating PDF?

See more
Replies (2)
Recommends
on
PuppeteerPuppeteer

You better go with puppeteer. It is basically chrome automation tool, written in nodejs. So what you get is PDF, generated by chrome itself. I guess there is hardly better PDF generation tool for the web. Phantomjs is already more or less outdated as technology. It uses some old webkit port that's quite behind in terms of standards and features. It can be replaced with puppeteer for every single task.

See more
Recommends
on
PuppeteerPuppeteer

I suggest puppeteer to go for. It is simple and easy to set up. Only limitaiton is it can be used only for chrome browser and currently they are looking into expanding into FF. The next thing is Playwright which is just a scale up of Puppeteer. It supports cross browsers.

See more
Manage your open source components, licenses, and vulnerabilities
Learn More
Pros of CasperJS
Pros of PhantomJS
Pros of Puppeteer
    Be the first to leave a pro
    • 13
      Scriptable web browser
    • 3
      Depends on QT
    • 2
      No ECMAScript 6
    • 10
      Very well documented
    • 10
      Scriptable web browser
    • 6
      Promise based

    Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

    Cons of CasperJS
    Cons of PhantomJS
    Cons of Puppeteer
      Be the first to leave a con
        Be the first to leave a con
        • 10
          Chrome only

        Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

        - No public GitHub repository available -

        What is CasperJS?

        CasperJS is a browser navigation scripting & testing utility written in Javascript for PhantomJS or SlimerJS.

        What is PhantomJS?

        PhantomJS is a headless WebKit scriptable with JavaScript. It is used by hundreds of developers and dozens of organizations for web-related development workflow.

        What is Puppeteer?

        Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome over the DevTools Protocol. It can also be configured to use full (non-headless) Chrome.

        Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

        Jobs that mention CasperJS, PhantomJS, and Puppeteer as a desired skillset
        What companies use CasperJS?
        What companies use PhantomJS?
        What companies use Puppeteer?

        Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

        What tools integrate with CasperJS?
        What tools integrate with PhantomJS?
        What tools integrate with Puppeteer?

        Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

        Blog Posts

        What are some alternatives to CasperJS, PhantomJS, and Puppeteer?
        Selenium
        Selenium automates browsers. That's it! What you do with that power is entirely up to you. Primarily, it is for automating web applications for testing purposes, but is certainly not limited to just that. Boring web-based administration tasks can (and should!) also be automated as well.
        Cypress
        Cypress is a front end automated testing application created for the modern web. Cypress is built on a new architecture and runs in the same run-loop as the application being tested. As a result Cypress provides better, faster, and more reliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Cypress works on any front-end framework or website.
        SlimerJS
        It allows you to manipulate a web page with an external Javascript script: opening a webpage, clicking on links, modifying the content... It is useful to do functional tests, page automation, network monitoring, screen capture etc.
        Protractor
        Protractor is an end-to-end test framework for Angular and AngularJS applications. Protractor runs tests against your application running in a real browser, interacting with it as a user would.
        JavaScript
        JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.
        See all alternatives