How to wait for a page to load in Selenium

Learn how to get Selenium Wait for a page to load using implicit wait, explicit wait, and fluent wait.

December 9, 2025 25 min read
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Home Guide How to wait for a page to load in Selenium [2026]

How to wait for a page to load in Selenium [2026]

Most testers assume Selenium waits for a page to fully load before continuing. I thought the same until a simple shopping cart test kept failing right before a major release.

My script clicked “Add to Cart”, but Selenium often couldn’t locate the updated button—even though it appeared perfectly in screenshots. I tried new selectors, added delays, switched browsers; nothing worked.

That’s when I realized the real issue: Selenium doesn’t automatically wait for dynamic content to finish loading. Without proper waits, tests move ahead of the page.

Page loads breaking your Selenium tests?

Validate waits on real browsers and devices with BrowserStack Automate for reliable results.

Understanding how Selenium waits function, and using the right one at the right time is what finally made my tests stable and predictable.

Overview

Selenium waits are mechanisms that pause script execution until a page or element is fully ready for interaction. They help prevent flakiness by ensuring Selenium doesn’t act before the UI has finished loading or updating.

Types of Waits in Selenium (with Examples)

  1. Implicit Wait: A global wait that tells Selenium to retry finding elements for a set duration.

Example

driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(10));
  1. Explicit Wait: Waits for a specific condition, like visibility or clickability, before proceeding.

Example

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10));

wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.id("checkout")));
  1. Fluent Wait: Similar to explicit waits but with custom polling intervals and exception handling.

Example

Wait<WebDriver> wait = new FluentWait<>(driver)

        .withTimeout(Duration.ofSeconds(20))

        .pollingEvery(Duration.ofSeconds(2))

        .ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class);

wait.until(driver1 -> driver1.findElement(By.id("checkout")));

Choosing the Right Wait Strategy

  • Use Implicit Wait for simple tests with consistent element availability.
  • Use Explicit Wait when waiting for specific conditions like visibility, clickability, or text presence.
  • Use Fluent Wait for dynamic, unpredictable DOM changes or slow-loading elements.
  • Avoid mixing implicit and explicit waits to prevent unpredictable delays.
  • Prefer explicit waits for modern JS-heavy applications (React, Angular, Vue).

This article explores how Selenium waits work, when to use each type, and how they help create more stable and reliable test scripts.

Importance of Page Load in Selenium

A page load is the process of a web page being fetched from the server and fully rendered in the browser. This includes HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and all related resources like images and fonts. Here is why page load is important in Selenium:

  • Page loads ensure the availability of elements before interaction, thus preventing test failures.
  • It ensures synchronization between test steps and application behavior.
  • Proper handling of page loads help spot performance issues like slow or incomplete page loads.
  • It improves test reliability while working with dynamic or Ajax-loaded content.
  • Reflects real user behavior

Testing page-load behavior becomes even more critical when applications behave differently across browsers, devices, and network conditions.

With Platforms like BrowserStack Automate, you can validate page load performance and element readiness on real browsers and real devices, ensuring your Selenium waits work reliably under true user conditions.

Page loads breaking your Selenium tests?

Validate waits on real browsers and devices with BrowserStack Automate for reliable results.

How to implement Selenium wait for page to load

Selenium wait commands tell WebDriver to pause execution until the page or specific elements are ready for interaction. This ensures that elements have enough time to load, become visible, or turn clickable before Selenium attempts any action.

Using waits is essential because without them, Selenium may fail to locate elements and throw errors like Element Not Visible or No Such Element.

Proper wait strategies help prevent these issues by allowing the script to proceed only when the expected conditions are met.

Read More: Exception Handling in Selenium WebDriver

There are three ways to implement Selenium wait for page to load:

  • Using Implicit Wait
  • Using Explicit Wait
  • Using Fluent Wait

Using Implicit Wait

The Implicit Wait tells WebDriver to wait a specific amount of time (say, 30 seconds) before proceeding with the next step. If the tester knows how much time the page and element will take to load, they should use Implicit Wait.

Let’s say a website under test takes ten seconds to load a page until a particular element shows up. In that case, set implicit wait for 10 seconds. The test will pause, and once the time passes, Webdriver will continue to run the script as planned.

WebDriver driver => new FirefoxDriver();
driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(10, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
driver.get("https://url_that_delays_loading");
WebElement myDynamicElement = driver.findElement(By.id("myDynamicElement"));

Note that the Implicit Wait function will be applicable as long as the current browser is open. That means all elements being searched for by the Selenium script will take the time laid out in the Implicit Wait.

Also Read: Selenium Commands every Developer or Tester must know

Using Explicit Wait

The Explicit Wait is more advanced in its functioning. It instructs WebDriver to pause a test until a predetermined condition is fulfilled.

Let’s say the website under test has a feature displaying a pop-up. The user has to enter some data, following which a pop-up appears. This feature needs to be tested in this exact sequence, including the time taken for the user to input data, server response time, etc.

In this case, the Explicit Wait will wait for the pop-up to appear before proceeding with the test. However, since the test cannot wait an infinite amount of time, testers also insert a duration for WebDriver to pause before carrying on.

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

driver = webdriver.Firefox()
driver.get("http://www.example.com") #This is a dummy website URL
try:
elem = WebDriverWait(driver, 30).until(
EC.presence_of_element_located((By.ID, "Element_to_be_found")) #This is a dummy element
)
finally:
driver.quit()

The code will instruct WebDriver to wait for 30 seconds. If the specified condition is met before that, the test will proceed, If not, it will wait the whole 30 seconds before moving forward.

In order to declare an explicit wait, one has to use “ExpectedConditions”. The following Expected Conditions in Selenium can be used in Explicit Wait:

  • alertIsPresent()
  • elementSelectionStateToBe()
  • elementToBeClickable()
  • elementToBeSelected()
  • frameToBeAvaliableAndSwitchToIt()
  • invisibilityOfTheElementLocated()
  • invisibilityOfElementWithText()
  • presenceOfAllElementsLocatedBy()
  • presenceOfElementLocated()
  • textToBePresentInElement()
  • textToBePresentInElementLocated()
  • textToBePresentInElementValue()
  • titleIs()
  • titleContains()
  • visibilityOf()
  • visibilityOfAllElements()
  • visibilityOfAllElementsLocatedBy()
  • visibilityOfElementLocated()

Using Fluent Wait

The Fluent Wait is an advancement on the Explicit Wait. Using it, testers can define a specific condition and the frequency for which WebDriver should check for the condition to appear in a particular length of time.

Let’s say the website under test includes some elements that load dynamically. The tester knows it takes a total of 5 seconds to load, not more. But it can become visible anytime between zero to five seconds.

In this case, Fluent Wait comes to the rescue. The tester can use it to instruct Selenium WebDriver to keep checking on the element at regular intervals.

//Declare and initialise a fluent wait
FluentWait wait = new FluentWait(driver);
//Specify the timout of the wait
wait.withTimeout(5000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
//Specify polling time
wait.pollingEvery(250, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
//Specify what exceptions to ignore
wait.ignoring(NoSuchElementException.class)

//This is how we specify the condition to wait on.
wait.until(ExpectedConditions.alertIsPresent());

Fluent Wait operates with two main parameters: timeout value and polling frequency. The code defines timeout value as 5 seconds and polling frequency as 0.25 seconds. That means WebDriver will wait no more than 5 seconds to verify the specified condition. If the condition occurs (the element populates) during 5 seconds, it will move on to the next step in the test script. If not, it will return “ElementNotVisibleException”.

Read More: How to start with Selenium Debugging

Handling Asynchronous Page Loads

Web applications can load content asynchronously using JavaScript or Ajax. This implies that parts of the page may proceed to load or update after the initial DOM load is done. Selenium WebDriver does not automatically wait for these asynchronous events, that could lead tests to fail if elements don’t fully load or  are visible.

You can manage such cases by:

  • Using Explicit Waits to wait for specific conditions (e.g., element visibility, clickability).
  • Waiting for Ajax calls to be done by checking for indicators such as loading spinners or particular DOM changes.
  • Avoiding the use of fixed delays (Thread.sleep()) as they are unreliable and can slow down tests.

QA teams should strategically leverage Wait commands to ensure the scripts interact with the page only when it’s actually ready.

Read More: Understanding DOM (Document Object Model) in Selenium?

Common Challenges with Page Load and Selenium

Here are the challenges of page load and Selenium and the corresponding solutions:

1. Interacting with elements before they load

Solution: Use Explicit Waits like visibilityOfElementLocated

2. Handling dynamic/Ajax content

Solution: Wait for specific conditions or DOM changes

3. Test failures because of inconsistent load times

Solution: Execute Fluent Waits with timeout and polling frequency

4. Overuse of Thread.sleep() resulting in slow, flaky tests

Solution: Replace with smart waits (Implicit or Explicit)

These challenges often become even harder to diagnose when tests behave differently across browsers, devices, or environments. To ensure your waits work consistently under real-user conditions, running tests on real browsers is essential.

This is where BrowserStack Automate helps you validate page load behavior reliably and at scale.

Enhance Your Selenium Testing Workflow with BrowserStack

Even with the right wait strategies in place, Selenium tests can behave differently across browsers, devices, and operating systems.

Variations in page load speed, rendering, JavaScript execution, or network conditions often surface issues that local testing can’t replicate. To ensure your waits and page-load logic work reliably under real-user conditions, you need to validate your tests across the environments your users rely on.

BrowserStack Automate helps you do exactly that by running your Selenium tests on a cloud of 3500+ real browsers and device combinations, eliminating the need for local setups or in-house device labs. With Automate, you can:

  • Test on real browsers and devices to catch page-load issues caused by actual rendering and real network behavior.
  • Run tests in parallel across multiple browser–OS combinations to speed up execution and increase coverage.
  • Debug faster using video recordings, screenshots, console logs, and network logs that reveal where waits or conditions failed.
  • Integrate seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines like Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab, Azure DevOps, CircleCI, and more.
  • Ensure consistent test behavior by running in standardized and reliable real-device environments.

By combining Selenium’s wait mechanisms with BrowserStack’s real-browser testing, you can eliminate flakiness, improve stability, and confidently validate how your application loads across every user environment.

Talk to an Expert

Conclusion

Using Selenium Wait for page to load is quite necessary for automated Selenium testing since it is a common occurrence in everyday internet users’ browsing journey. Selenium Wait commands are exceptionally effective in doing so, and implementing them is fairly uncomplicated, making Browser Automation seamless, as the examples above have demonstrated.

Selenium Waits help detect and debug issues that may occur due to variations in time lag. However, for the results of these commands to be 100% accurate all the time, they must be run on real browsers and devices.

BrowserStack’s cloud Selenium grid offers 3500+ real devices and browsers for automated testing. That means users can run tests on multiple real devices and browsers by simply signing up, logging in, and selecting the required combinations.

Try BrowserStack Now

Useful Resources for Selenium

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

Tags
Selenium Selenium Webdriver

FAQs

You can use Explicit wait to wait for 30 seconds in Selenium:

WebDriverWait wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(30));

wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(By.id("elementId")));

You can adjust the implicit wait to change the default timeout in Selenium

Global timeout for all element searches with implicit wait:

driver.manage().timeouts().implicitlyWait(Duration.ofSeconds(30));

Here, you can customize the waiting time according to your test requirements.

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