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Nightwatchjs vs Selenium: What are the differences?

Introduction

Nightwatch.js and Selenium are both popular frameworks for web automation testing. While they serve the same purpose, there are some key differences between them that developers need to consider before choosing either one. In this article, we will explore the major differences between Nightwatch.js and Selenium.

  1. Simplicity: Nightwatch.js is known for its simplicity and user-friendly syntax. It offers a simple and easy-to-understand API that allows developers to write tests quickly. On the other hand, Selenium requires more complex setups and has a steeper learning curve, making it better suited for experienced testers.

  2. Built-in Test Runner: Nightwatch.js comes with a built-in test runner that helps in executing test cases without any additional setup. This eliminates the need for external libraries or tools. Selenium does not have a built-in test runner, and developers need to use third-party tools such as TestNG, JUnit, or TestRunner to execute their test cases.

  3. Cross-Browser Testing: Nightwatch.js provides built-in support for cross-browser testing. It allows developers to easily test their applications across multiple browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. Selenium also offers cross-browser testing capabilities but requires additional configurations and dependencies.

  4. Parallel Execution: Nightwatch.js enables parallel test execution, allowing multiple test cases to run simultaneously. This significantly reduces the overall execution time, especially for large test suites. Selenium does support parallel execution but requires additional setup and configuration.

  5. Reporting: Nightwatch.js provides detailed and visually appealing HTML reports by default. These reports help in analyzing test results and identifying any issues or failures. Selenium does not provide built-in reporting capabilities and requires the use of external libraries or custom implementations for generating reports.

  6. Support and Community: Nightwatch.js has an active community and a supportive user base. It offers comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and forums, making it easy to find assistance and solutions to common problems. Selenium, being a more established framework, has a much larger community and a wealth of resources available for support.

In Summary, Nightwatch.js offers a simpler syntax, built-in test runner, cross-browser testing, parallel execution, built-in reporting, and a supportive community, making it a suitable choice for developers looking for ease of use and productivity in web automation testing.

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we are having one web application developed in Reacts.js. in the application, we have only 4 to 5 pages that we need to test. I am having experience in selenium with java. Please suggets which tool I should use. and why ............................ ............................ .............................

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Prashanth Marappa
Senior Software Engineer at Mphasis · | 1 upvotes · 212.3K views
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with the help of selenium we can automate react js for functional testing

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Pros of Nightwatchjs
Pros of Selenium
  • 3
    Open source
  • 2
    Testing
  • 2
    Automates browsers
  • 1
    Better cross browser (use selenium)
  • 1
    Cross-Browser Testing
  • 1
    Multiple Browser Support
  • 1
    Parallel Test Running
  • 175
    Automates browsers
  • 154
    Testing
  • 101
    Essential tool for running test automation
  • 24
    Record-Playback
  • 24
    Remote Control
  • 8
    Data crawling
  • 7
    Supports end to end testing
  • 6
    Easy set up
  • 6
    Functional testing
  • 4
    The Most flexible monitoring system
  • 3
    End to End Testing
  • 3
    Easy to integrate with build tools
  • 2
    Comparing the performance selenium is faster than jasm
  • 2
    Record and playback
  • 2
    Compatible with Python
  • 2
    Easy to scale
  • 2
    Integration Tests
  • 0
    Integrated into Selenium-Jupiter framework

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Cons of Nightwatchjs
Cons of Selenium
  • 2
    No automatic wait
  • 1
    Less flexibility
  • 1
    Limited native mobile app support
  • 1
    Limited browser support
  • 1
    Configuration complexity
  • 8
    Flaky tests
  • 4
    Slow as needs to make browser (even with no gui)
  • 1
    Update browser drivers

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What is Nightwatchjs?

Nightwatch.js is an easy to use Node.js based End-to-End (E2E) testing solution for browser based apps and websites. It uses the powerful Selenium WebDriver API to perform commands and assertions on DOM elements.

What is 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.

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What companies use Nightwatchjs?
What companies use Selenium?
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What tools integrate with Selenium?

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What are some alternatives to Nightwatchjs and Selenium?
WebdriverIO
WebdriverIO lets you control a browser or a mobile application with just a few lines of code. Your test code will look simple, concise and easy to read.
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.
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.
Karma
Karma is not a testing framework, nor an assertion library. Karma just launches a HTTP server, and generates the test runner HTML file you probably already know from your favourite testing framework. So for testing purposes you can use pretty much anything you like.
BrowserStack
BrowserStack is the leading test platform built for developers & QAs to expand test coverage, scale & optimize testing with cross-browser, real device cloud, accessibility, visual testing, test management, and test observability.
See all alternatives