BrowserStack Live vs IE NetRenderer

BrowserStack Live is a cloud-based manual testing platform for interactively testing and debugging websites and web apps on real devices and browsers. It supports new and older versions of Edge, Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox, with access to real Windows, macOS, Android and iOS devices. Teams can test internal development or staging sites, including sites behind firewalls, without setup or configuration.

Live lists real-time debugging with pre-installed developer tools and multi-device testing on up to four real devices. A session can use two real mobile devices simultaneously, or users can run two sessions in separate browser tabs. BrowserStack says physical devices and desktop virtual machines are wiped after each session. It lists integrations including Jenkins, Cypress, Selenium and Jira for its testing products, and states it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and encrypts communications with HTTPS/TLS. The free trial is limited to 30 minutes and has limited browser access. Annual paid plans include Freelancer at $12.50 a month, Desktop at $29 a month and Desktop & Mobile at $39 a month.

IE NetRenderer is a free web service and extension for checking how pages render in Internet Explorer 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5.5. It runs capture jobs in parallel and in real time, using a separate virtual Windows environment for each browser version. Mixed Overlay and Difference Mode compare screenshots between versions. Screenshots remain at their original size, with a ruler showing usable widths for 800x600 and 1024x768 displays. You can set a vertical pixel offset to capture a lower page section and optionally allow extra loading time for scripts and page objects. Java and ActiveX are blocked, while JavaScript is enabled. The Firefox extension sends the current page from browser menus or toolbar icons. The maker says images and URLs are private, images are deleted after viewing, and visited sites do not receive identifying browser details. The rendering server is in Germany.