Needle vs Watchlight
Needle
github.comWatchlight
getwatchlight.comSide by side
| Figure | Needle | Watchlight |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $9/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Visual Regression Testing Software | 8.1 (#9) | 7.3 (#19) |
| Purpose | Needle tests CSS and other web visuals by comparing screenshots with known good screenshots. | 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
In their own words
Needle
Needle is an open-source Python testing library for checking rendered website visuals and layout. It captures selected page areas and compares them with baseline screenshots, helping identify visual changes in CSS, fonts, images, and SVGs. It also tests calculated CSS values and HTML element positions. Needle works with Selenium and nose, and documentation describes installing it with pip after Selenium. Browser-driver options include remote, PhantomJS, Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari; NeedleFirefox is the default. PIL is the default screenshot engine, with PerceptualDiff and ImageMagick available as alternatives. PerceptualDiff and ImageMagick can create a diff PNG when comparisons fail. Tests can set viewport dimensions for responsive-site checks. Screenshot cleanup after successful tests is optional and disabled by default, while failed-comparison screenshots remain available. Package metadata describes the project as operating-system independent and for developers, while the listed platform is Linux. The repository uses a BSD license. PyPI lists version 0.5.0, released April 2, 2017, as the latest release. Needle is free and has no paid plan.
Watchlight
Watchlight has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.