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BrowserStack vs Selenium: What are the differences?

Introduction

BrowserStack and Selenium are both popular tools used for testing web applications. While they have some similarities, there are key differences between them. In this article, we will explore and highlight these differences.

  1. Deployment: BrowserStack is a cloud-based tool that allows users to perform cross-browser testing on various devices and browsers without the need for maintaining a complex infrastructure. Selenium, on the other hand, is an open-source framework that requires setting up and configuring test environments manually. This makes BrowserStack a more convenient option for teams who want to perform testing on different browser and device combinations quickly and efficiently.

  2. Browser and Device Support: BrowserStack provides an extensive range of browsers and devices for testing, including both desktop and mobile platforms. It allows testing on different versions of popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc. Selenium, being a framework, relies on browser drivers for testing. While it does support multiple browsers, the availability of drivers might be limited or may require additional effort to set up. BrowserStack offers a more comprehensive and hassle-free solution for testing across various platforms.

  3. Parallel Testing: BrowserStack allows for parallel testing, which means running tests on multiple devices and browsers simultaneously. This can significantly reduce the time required for test execution, especially when testing on a large number of browser versions and platforms. Selenium, on the other hand, does not provide built-in support for parallel testing. Although it is possible to implement parallel testing with Selenium using additional tools or frameworks, it requires more effort and expertise.

  4. Real Device Testing: BrowserStack provides the option to test applications on real devices. This is particularly important for testing mobile applications that require access to device-specific features like camera, GPS, or accelerometer. Selenium, being primarily a web automation tool, does not offer native support for testing on real devices. While it is possible to use Selenium with third-party tools or frameworks to test on real devices, it requires additional setup and configuration.

  5. Pricing Model: BrowserStack operates on a subscription-based pricing model. Users pay a fixed fee based on the number of parallel test sessions and the duration of the subscription. The cost increases with the number of parallel sessions and the desired access to the real device cloud. Selenium, being an open-source framework, does not have any direct costs associated with it. However, there may be additional expenses for infrastructure setup, maintenance, and integration with other tools or frameworks.

  6. Community Support: Selenium has a large and active community of developers and testers. This means that there is a wealth of online resources, forums, and community-driven support available for troubleshooting and sharing knowledge. BrowserStack, while it also has a support team and documentation available, may have a more limited community support compared to Selenium.

In summary, BrowserStack offers a cloud-based solution for cross-browser and real device testing with extensive browser and device support, parallel testing capabilities, and a subscription-based pricing model. Selenium, being an open-source framework, requires manual setup, provides support for multiple browsers but may require additional effort for different platforms, and relies on community-driven support.

Advice on BrowserStack and Selenium

I am looking to purchase one of these tools for Mobile testing for my team. It should support Native, hybrid, and responsive app testing. It should also feature debugging, parallel execution, automation testing/easy integration with automation testing tools like Selenium, and the capability to provide availability of devices specifically for us to use at any time with good speed of performing all these activities.

I have already used Perfecto mobile, and Sauce Labs in my other projects before. I want to know how different or better is AWS Device farm in usage and how advantageous it would be for us to use it over other mentioned tools

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Replies (3)
Aaron Evans
Testing Strategist at One Shore · | 3 upvotes · 6.6K views

A SaaS offering like Sauce Labs (or BrowserStack or LambdaTest, etc) will provide a remote Selenium/Appium Grid including the ability to run test automation in parallel (up to the amount based your subscription level) an a wide array of browsers and mobile devices.

These tools can be expensive, but if you can afford them, the expertise and effort of maintaining the grid, browser updates, etc. is worth it.

AWS Device Farm can be significantly cheaper, but is much more work to setup and run. It will not give you as many devices, or the reporting and screen/video capture you get with the the services. And there is no support for AWS Device Farm, and very poor documentation. I have used it, but do not recommend it. Running your own grid and physical device lab is better, but I'd stick with a service like Sauce Labs or Perfecto which will save you time and give you better services despite the higher price tag.

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Recommends
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Stability - Just works. Availability - More than 15 datacenters. Enterprise features like SSO, local testing and SOC2/GDPR compliant.

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Jaymie Falconi
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BitBar's Dedicated Devices would be a great option for you. It allows you to dedicate (reserve) devices for your use only which also having access to all of the devices in the shared cloud. BitBar has the features and integrations that you are looking for as well.

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Needs advice
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in

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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Replies (1)
Prashanth Marappa
Senior Software Engineer at Mphasis · | 1 upvotes · 214.4K views
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with the help of selenium we can automate react js for functional testing

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Pros of BrowserStack
Pros of Selenium
  • 134
    Multiple browsers
  • 75
    Ease of use
  • 63
    Real browsers
  • 43
    Ability to use it locally
  • 26
    Good price
  • 20
    Great web interface
  • 18
    IE support
  • 16
    Official mobile emulators
  • 14
    Instant access
  • 14
    Cloud-based access
  • 11
    Real mobile devices
  • 7
    Selenium compatible
  • 7
    Screenshots
  • 7
    Multiple Desktop OS
  • 6
    Can be used for Testing and E2E
  • 5
    Pre-installed developer tools
  • 4
    Video of test runs
  • 3
    Webdriver compatible
  • 3
    Many browsers
  • 3
    Supports Manual, Functional and Visual Diff Testing
  • 3
    Favourites
  • 2
    Cypress Compatible
  • 2
    Test automation dashboard
  • 2
    Unify and track test cases
  • 2
    Free for Open Source
  • 2
    Test Management
  • 2
    Cross-browser testing
  • 2
    Bi-directional Jira Sync
  • 1
    Speed is fast
  • 1
    Real devices
  • 0
    Web accessibility
  • 0
    Test WCAG Compliance
  • 0
    Visual testing and review
  • 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 BrowserStack
Cons of Selenium
  • 2
    Very limited choice of minor versions
  • 8
    Flaky tests
  • 4
    Slow as needs to make browser (even with no gui)
  • 1
    Update browser drivers

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- No public GitHub repository available -

What is 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.

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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Blog Posts

What are some alternatives to BrowserStack and Selenium?
Browserling
We run the browsers on our servers. Fully interactive sessions, not static screenshots. No flash, no applets, nothing to install. Powered entirely by <canvas> and javascript.
LambdaTest
LambdaTest platform provides secure, scalable and insightful test orchestration for website, and mobile app testing. Customers at different points in their DevOps lifecycle can leverage Automation and/or Manual testing on LambdaTest.
Ghost Inspector
It lets you create and manage UI tests that check specific functionality in your website or application. We execute these automated browser tests continuously from the cloud and alert you if anything breaks.
AWS Device Farm
Run tests across a large selection of physical devices in parallel from various manufacturers with varying hardware, OS versions and form factors.
Appium
Appium is an open source test automation framework for use with native, hybrid, and mobile web apps. It drives iOS and Android apps using the WebDriver protocol. Appium is sponsored by Sauce Labs and a thriving community of open source developers.
See all alternatives