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Home Guide Appium vs Selenium: Choosing the Right Automation Tool

Appium vs Selenium: Choosing the Right Automation Tool

By Jash Unadkat, Community Contributor - October 30, 2024

As technologies continue to evolve rapidly, organizations must leverage all the possible ways to increase efficiency, enhance productivity, and minimize costs. More organizations have started adopting an agile approach to software development for this purpose. As a result, automating test cycles has become mandatory for testing teams.

Automation testing helps organizations release new features for apps and web apps faster. Test automation frameworks like Selenium and Appium have become buzzwords in the test community for this very reason.

This article will highlight the key differences between Selenium vs Appium.

Table of Contents

What is Selenium?

In layman’s terms, Selenium is an open-source test automation framework that enables QAs to automate web-application testing. Selenium has a tool suite, consisting of four main components:

  • Selenium IDE is a Chrome and Firefox plugin that records user interactions, such as clicks and selections in the browser, and plays them back as automated tests.
  • Selenium RC was built to automate web application testing by simulating user interactions across different browsers and platforms.
  • Selenium WebDriver can communicate directly with browsers with the browser-specific native methods and eliminates the need of Selenium RC.
  • Selenium Grid is a smart proxy server that allows QAs to run tests in parallel on multiple machines.

This tool suite enables QAs to verify their web-applications for cross browser compatibility on both desktops and mobiles in an automated fashion. Let’s understand this with an example.

Use Cases of Selenium

Imagine you are a QA, and you need to verify a functional test scenario of your e-commerce website, which involves the following process:

  1. Click on the search bar
  2. Search for a specific product
  3. Add the product to the cart
  4. Click on Proceed to checkout

In such a case, manually testing the above user scenario on multiple browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari will be time-consuming and inefficient. Instead, teams can use Selenium Grid 4, a tool from the Selenium tool suite, to run concurrent cross browser tests on multiple machines (desktops, mobiles) and operating systems.

Read More: Selenium Commands every Developer or Tester must know

Key Advantages of Selenium

Below are some key advantages of using Selenium:

  • Open-source and user-friendly
  • Compatible with multiple operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS)
  • Supports scripting in various programming languages (Java, Ruby, Python, etc.)
  • Works with major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge
  • Enables parallel testing for efficiency
  • Provides comprehensive documentation

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What is Appium?

Appium is the most popular open-source framework for mobile app automation testing. It allows QAs to automate tests for popular mobile platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows. Appium uses the mobile JSON wire protocol (an extension of Selenium JSON wire protocol) to drive native, mobile web and hybrid applications. The Appium server is scripted in Node.js and is compatible with leading client libraries like Java, Python, Ruby, PHP, and a few others. Refer to the complete list of supported client libraries listed on the Appium official site.

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Use Cases of Appium

Let’s assume that an app developer has developed a basic mobile application. The developer installs the app on the available Android or iOS device and runs a quick manual test. Everything is fine. Now the developer starts developing the next big feature for the app. Once a new feature is developed, it needs to be tested parallelly to ensure everything works well.

With every new feature, thorough testing is a must. However, manually testing the mobile app on both iOS and Android devices is extremely inefficient. In such a case, teams can use Appium to automate tests for mobile apps on both iOS and Android platforms. The Appium server differentiates the tests based on the platform defined in the DesiredCapabilities, a set of key-value pairs used to define the desired test environment in both Appium and Selenium.

Also Read: How to Run Your First Appium Test Script

Key Advantages of Appium

Below are some key advantages of using Appium:

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Appium vs Selenium: Key Differences

Below is a comparison table that showcases the core differences between Appium vs Selenium:

ParameterAppiumSelenium
Primary PurposeAutomates testing for native, hybrid (.ipa and .apk), and mobile web applications.Automates testing for web applications, controlling browser actions through WebDriver.
Platform CoverageSupports mobile (Android, iOS) and some desktop app automation.Limited to web application testing across different browsers; cannot automate desktop apps.
Founded In20112004
Supported LanguagesSupports multiple languages, including Java, Python, Ruby, NodeJS, JavaScript, C#, and PHP.Primarily in Java but offers bindings for several other languages, such as Python and Ruby.
Programming SkillsRequires intermediate to advanced coding skills for effective test scripting.Also requires intermediate to advanced programming skills for scripting and customization.
CostFree and open-source.Free and open-source.
Ideal Use CasesIdeal for mobile app testing (Android, iOS), cross-platform automation for mobile and desktop.Ideal for web application testing across different browsers and OS environments.

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Which one to choose – Appium vs Selenium

The choice between Appium and Selenium ultimately depends on the specific needs of your project and testing requirements.

Appium is a mobile application automation tool that is specifically designed for testing mobile apps. It supports many programming languages and frameworks and provides the ability to automate tests.

Selenium, on the other hand, is a widely used tool for automating web applications.

If you’re looking to automate testing of native and hybrid mobile applications, Appium is a better choice. If your testing needs are focused primarily on web applications, then Selenium might be the right choice. It is also possible to use both tools in a complementary manner, depending on the requirements of your project.

No matter what you choose – Appium vs Selenium – you need to ensure that you test on real devices. BrowserStack is the ultimate platform for efficient and reliable cross-browser and mobile app testing. With BrowserStack, you can test your website or web application on 20,000+ real device units such as browsers, operating systems, and devices, without the need for any setup or configuration.

With BrowserStack, you can speed up your development process, eliminate compatibility issues, and ensure that your users have a seamless experience across all devices and browsers. Whether you’re a developer, tester, or product manager, BrowserStack helps you deliver quality software faster.

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Selenium Useful Resources

Methods, Classes, and Commands

Configuration

XPath

Locators and Selectors

Waits in Selenium

Frameworks in Selenium

Miscellaneous

Best Practices, Tips and Tricks

Design Patterns in Selenium: Page Object Model and Page Factory

Action Class

TestNG and Selenium

JUnit and Selenium

Use Cases

Types of Testing with Selenium

Appium Useful Resources

Tutorials

Best Practices, Tips, and Tricks

Getting Started with

Differences and Comparisons

Tags
Appium Automation Testing Selenium

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