Selenium vs TestCafe
Selenium
selenium.dev
TestCafe
testcafe.ioSide by side
| Figure | Selenium | TestCafe |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $20/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 4 |
| Spec score · Browser Automation Tools | 8.5 (#14) | 8.8 (#6) |
| Spec score · Functional Testing Software | 8.5 (#11) | 8.8 (#5) |
| Spec score · Regression Testing Software | 8.5 (#11) | 8.8 (#8) |
| Spec score · Automated Testing | 8.4 (#14) | 8.8 (#8) |
| Spec score · End-to-End Testing Software | 8.4 (#12) | 8.8 (#4) |
| Spec score · Cross-Browser Testing Software | 8.4 (#12) | 8.8 (#2) |
| Spec score · Browser Testing Software | 8.4 (#17) | 8.7 (#9) |
| CI integrations | The Grid guide names GitHub Actions and Jenkins as examples of CI/CD tools where Grid can be set up. | Official guides cover AppVeyor, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket Pipelines, CircleCI, GitHub Actions, GitLab, Jenkins, TeamCity, Travis and cloud-testing combinations. |
| Documentation depth | The documentation includes getting started guides, driver sessions, browser support, waits, elements, interactions, BiDi, Grid and troubleshooting. | The documentation includes guides, API reference, recipes, CI tutorials, best practices, examples, FAQ and troubleshooting support channels. |
| Founded | 2004 | 1998 |
| Languages | The main project supports client bindings for .NET/C#, Ruby, Java, Python, and JavaScript. | Tests can be written in JavaScript or TypeScript and can use third-party Node.js modules. |
| License | Selenium code and documentation are released under the Apache License 2.0 with Software Freedom Conservancy as copyright holder. | The TestCafe framework is distributed for free under the MIT license. |
| Purpose | Selenium is a suite of tools for automating web browsers, primarily for testing web applications. | TestCafe is a user-friendly end-to-end testing framework and free, open-source test runner for web testing. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.4 out of 5 from 16 reviews | 4.5 out of 5 from 2 reviews |
| Rating on TrustRadius | 8.3 out of 10 from 311 reviews and ratings | 6 out of 10 from 1 review |
| What it does | Selenium is a collection of tools and libraries for controlling web browsers and automating web applications. | TestCafe is a Node.js framework for automated end-to-end testing of web applications. |
Plans
TestCafe
- TestCafe frameworkFree
- Personal$20 a month
- Team$50 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Selenium
Selenium is a free suite of tools for automating web browsers, primarily to test web applications. WebDriver provides language bindings for controlling browsers locally or remotely, and is a W3C Recommendation. The main project supports.NET/C#, Ruby, Java, Python, and JavaScript. Selenium IDE is a browser add-on for recording and replaying interactions in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. For distributed tests, Selenium Grid spreads work across machines and combinations of browsers and operating systems. Grid offers Standalone, Hub and Node, and Distributed configurations; Docker and Kubernetes deployment resources are also linked. Selenium Manager can discover, download, and cache browser releases and drivers. Documentation covers browser-specific functionality for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari, and names GitHub Actions and Jenkins as CI/CD examples. Selenium began in 2004 at ThoughtWorks in Chicago. Grid has no authentication by default, and the project advises restricting external access and placing it behind a secure network. The latest Opera driver functionality is not supported, and that driver is officially unsupported. Selenium costs nothing.
TestCafe
TestCafe is a free, open-source test runner and end-to-end framework for web testing. Tests can be written in JavaScript or TypeScript, or recorded in a browser with TestCafe Studio. The runner works in modern browsers locally or remotely and supports concurrent runs across browsers. It can also switch between iframes and multiple browser windows to cover interactions across those contexts.
The framework includes server-side API testing tools for standalone API tests or functional tests. Other capabilities include automated waiting, authentication roles, hooks, request mocking, and debugging mode. Its CI guide lists services including GitHub Actions, GitLab, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, and CircleCI, plus BrowserStack, LambdaTest, and Sauce Labs. Installation is available through npm, with a Docker image for CI/CD pipelines. After each run, TestCafe says it deletes browser cookies, clears storage, and reloads the page; parallel runs use separate sandboxed environments. The framework is MIT-licensed. Paid Dashboard plans have test-run quotas, but those do not limit the open-source runner.