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

Cucumber

956
910
+ 1
36
Detox

118
94
+ 1
9
Add tool

Cucumber vs Detox: What are the differences?

Introduction

Cucumber and Detox are both popular testing frameworks used for testing the behavior of software applications. While they serve a similar purpose, there are key differences between the two.

  1. Test Language: One of the main differences between Cucumber and Detox is the test language they use. Cucumber is primarily used for behavior-driven development (BDD) and supports writing tests in a natural language format called Gherkin. Gherkin allows for easy collaboration between technical and non-technical team members. On the other hand, Detox is mainly used for end-to-end testing and supports writing tests in JavaScript or TypeScript.

  2. Test Automation: Cucumber focuses on testing the behavior of an application by using a set of predefined step definitions that can be customized as per the requirements. It allows for the creation of reusable steps that can be combined to create test scenarios. Detox, on the other hand, provides a set of out-of-the-box testing functionalities specifically designed for mobile applications. It has built-in mechanisms for interacting with native mobile elements and supports gestures like tapping, swiping, and scrolling.

  3. Platform Support: Cucumber is a cross-platform testing framework and can be used for testing applications on various platforms like web, mobile, and desktop. It supports multiple programming languages and has integrations with different testing tools and frameworks. Detox, on the other hand, is primarily focused on testing mobile applications and provides extensive support for both iOS and Android platforms. It integrates well with popular JavaScript testing frameworks and tools like Jest and Mocha.

  4. Accessibility Testing: Detox offers built-in support for accessibility testing, which allows for evaluating the accessibility of mobile applications. It provides APIs and utilities to simulate accessibility features like voiceover, accessibility font scaling, and inverted colors. Cucumber, on the other hand, does not have built-in support for accessibility testing and would require additional tools or libraries for performing such tests.

  5. Parallel Execution: Detox provides functionality for parallel execution of tests, allowing for faster test execution and reduced testing time. It supports running tests in parallel on multiple devices or simulators simultaneously. Cucumber, on the other hand, does not have built-in support for parallel execution but can be integrated with other tools or frameworks to achieve parallel test execution.

  6. Integration with Continuous Integration (CI) Tools: Both Cucumber and Detox can be integrated with popular CI tools like Jenkins, Travis CI, and CircleCI for running automated tests as part of a continuous integration and delivery pipeline. However, Cucumber has been around for a longer time and has established integrations with a wider range of CI tools compared to Detox.

In summary, Cucumber is a behavior-driven testing framework that supports natural language testing, works across multiple platforms, and provides extensive integrations. Detox, on the other hand, is a mobile-focused testing framework that offers out-of-the-box support for mobile gestures, accessibility testing, parallel execution, and seamless integration with JavaScript testing frameworks.

Get Advice from developers at your company using StackShare Enterprise. Sign up for StackShare Enterprise.
Learn More
Pros of Cucumber
Pros of Detox
  • 20
    Simple Syntax
  • 8
    Simple usage
  • 5
    Huge community
  • 3
    Nice report
  • 6
    Grey box testing
  • 3
    Automated testing

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

- No public GitHub repository available -

What is Cucumber?

Cucumber is a tool that supports Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD) - a software development process that aims to enhance software quality and reduce maintenance costs.

What is Detox?

High velocity native mobile development requires us to adopt continuous integration workflows, which means our reliance on manual QA has to drop significantly. It tests your mobile app while it's running in a real device/simulator, interacting with it just like a real user.

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

What companies use Cucumber?
What companies use Detox?
See which teams inside your own company are using Cucumber or Detox.
Sign up for StackShare EnterpriseLearn More

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

What tools integrate with Cucumber?
What tools integrate with Detox?

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

What are some alternatives to Cucumber and Detox?
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.
RSpec
Behaviour Driven Development for Ruby. Making TDD Productive and Fun.
TestNG
It is a testing framework designed to simplify a broad range of testing needs, it covers all categories of tests: unit, functional, end-to-end, integration, etc.Run your tests in arbitrarily big thread pools with various policies available (all methods in their own thread, one thread per test class, etc.
JUnit
JUnit is a simple framework to write repeatable tests. It is an instance of the xUnit architecture for unit testing frameworks.
Celery
Celery is an asynchronous task queue/job queue based on distributed message passing. It is focused on real-time operation, but supports scheduling as well.
See all alternatives