BrowserStack Live vs Web Platform Tests
BrowserStack Live
browserstack.comWeb Platform Tests
web-platform-tests.orgSide by side
| Figure | BrowserStack Live | Web Platform Tests |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $12.50/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 6 | 1 |
| Spec score · Cross-Browser Testing Software | 8.4 (#9) | 7.5 (#22) |
| Integrations | BrowserStack lists integrations including Jenkins, Cypress, Selenium, and Jira for its testing products. | GitHub is used for issue tracking and test submissions, and pull requests receive automatic labels and reviewer notifications based on directory metadata. |
| Security | BrowserStack states that it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and is regularly audited for data security and privacy. | The project documentation says SSL certificates for HTTPS-enabled domains are obtained through Let’s Encrypt. |
| Support | The pricing page lists 24/7 active email support for the Desktop plan. | The project directs users to its Matrix chat room and public low-traffic mailing list for questions. |
Plans
BrowserStack Live
- Freelancer$12.50 a month
- Desktop$29 a month
- Desktop & Mobile$39 a month
- Team$150 a month
- Team Pro$249 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
BrowserStack Live
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.
Web Platform Tests
Web Platform Tests is an open-source suite for checking web platform compatibility across browser implementations. Anyone can run tests through the public wpt.live deployment in an internet-enabled browser, or clone the suite for local use on Linux, macOS, or Windows. The suite includes JavaScript API, rendering, crash, WebDriver, and manual tests. Its command-line `wpt` tool runs tests in a selected browser and can produce machine-readable JSON reports and screenshots. It can also save and load expected results for continuous integration and regression tracking. Regularly collected results from a range of browsers are archived at wpt.fyi. Local setup requires Python 3.9 or later and configuration of test domains in the system hosts file. Running tests in multiple browser processes may make results less deterministic and add noise compared with the default single-process mode. The project is free and open source, and documents Windows, macOS, and Linux setup.