Cucumber Open vs Karate
Cucumber Open
cucumber.io
Karate
karatelabs.ioSide by side
| Figure | Cucumber Open | Karate |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $8.33/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 5 |
| Spec score · BDD Testing Tools | 8.2 (#6) | 9.0 (#1) |
| Spec score · Automated Testing | 8.4 (#12) | 9.2 (#2) |
| Founded | 2008 | 2021 |
| Purpose | Cucumber runs automated acceptance tests written in plain language that can be read by anyone on a team. | Karate combines API, UI, mock, and performance testing in one framework with readable syntax. |
| Security | The 2025 year-in-review post says the project set up a security policy for reporting security issues. | Karate Labs says its products run locally or in customer infrastructure, store no customer test data, and ship with zero telemetry. |
| Support | The FAQ directs users with questions to the community and points to documentation, books, and Cucumber School for learning. | The free tier includes community support, Pro includes priority email support, and Enterprise includes commercial support with an SLA and dedicated Slack channel. |
Plans
Karate
- FreeFree
- IDE Plus$100 a year
- Xplorer Premium$200 a year
- Pro$640 a year
- Karate EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Cucumber Open
Cucumber Open runs automated acceptance tests from specifications written in plain language, helping teams check whether software behaves as described. It supports Behaviour-Driven Development by executing Gherkin specifications saved in `.feature` text files, typically alongside software in source control. Step definitions link the specification's steps to code that carries them out. Official implementations include JavaScript, Java, Ruby, Android Java, Kotlin, Scala, and C++, with semi-official and unofficial implementations also listed. Gherkin has variations for spoken languages, so teams can use keywords in their own language. Reporting options include built-in HTML, JSON, JUnit, and progress formatters, as well as custom formatters. Cucumber can run in continuous integration environments; its documentation describes JUnit output and a Jenkins reporting plugin. The project is free and open source, with local execution, parallel execution, browser testing, and API access. Published Cucumber Reports are public without authentication and deleted after 24 hours; the report service says data is stored in US data centers and encrypted at rest.
Karate
Karate is a testing framework for API, UI, mock, and performance work. Its MIT-licensed core is free for commercial projects and supports REST, GraphQL, and SOAP testing, with JSON and XML assertions and schema validation. It can automate browsers and desktop apps, and combine UI and API steps in one test. Built-in Gatling integration lets teams reuse API tests for performance testing. The Free plan costs nothing and includes community support. Paid plans include IDE Plus at $100 a year, Xplorer Premium at $200 a year, and Pro at $640 a year; Pro adds IDE plugins, debugging, enhanced autocomplete, development async protocol testing, and priority email support. The platform lists integrations including AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Maven, Gradle, Docker, IntelliJ, VS Code, and Gatling. Enterprise async protocol testing covers Kafka, gRPC, and WebSocket, but production CI/CD execution requires an Enterprise runtime license. Platforms include API, extension, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, and Windows.