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BackstopJS vs Watchlight

BackstopJS

github.com

Watchlight

getwatchlight.com

Side by side

FigureBackstopJSWatchlight
Price fromFree$9/mo
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Open source——
Windows—Yes
macOSYes—
LinuxYes—
Self-hostedYes—
Plans published12
Spec score · Visual Regression Testing Software8.0 (#11)7.3 (#19)
PurposeBackstopJS automates visual regression testing of web apps by comparing screenshots over time.Watchlight is a visual regression testing tool for desktop apps and games that launches an executable, captures screenshots, and compares visual changes over time.

Plans

BackstopJS

  • BackstopJSFree

BackstopJS pricing →

Watchlight

  • FreeFree
  • Pro$9 a month

Watchlight pricing →

In their own words

BackstopJS

BackstopJS is a free, MIT-licensed tool for visual regression testing of web applications. It captures screenshots and compares them with reference images over time. An in-browser report shows reference, test and visual-difference views, with additional CLI and JUnit reports. BackstopJS supports Puppeteer and Playwright; Playwright can use Chromium, Firefox or WebKit. Scenarios can script clicks, scrolling, hovering, key presses and cookie state. Captures can cover a full document, viewport or selected DOM elements at configured viewport sizes. The documented workflow uses `backstop init`, `backstop test` and `backstop approve` to configure tests, compare captures and update references. Installation works globally or locally through npm, as a standalone CLI or from a Node.js app. CI reporting and integrations include Jenkins, Travis and gulp. Docker can reduce rendering differences, though Chrome Headless in Docker needs substantial memory.

Visit github.com

Watchlight

Watchlight has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.

Visit getwatchlight.com