Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

BrowserStack VS Google Lighthouse

Compare BrowserStack VS Google Lighthouse and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

BrowserStack logo BrowserStack

BrowserStack is a software testing platform for developers to comprehensively test websites and mobile applications for quality.

Google Lighthouse logo Google Lighthouse

Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of web pages.
  • BrowserStack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2025-05-06

BrowserStack is a leading software testing platform powering over two million tests every day across 15 global data centers. With BrowserStack, developers can comprehensively test their websites and mobile applications across 2,000+ real mobile devices and browsers in a single cloud platform—and at scale. BrowserStack helps Tesco, Shell, NVIDIA, Discovery, Wells Fargo, and over 50,000 customers deliver quality software at speed.

  • Google Lighthouse Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-02

BrowserStack

$ Details
freemium $29.0 / Monthly (Starts at single user plans and billed annually)
Platforms
Mac OSX Android Windows Browser Web iOS Google Chrome Firefox Safari REST API Internet Explorer
Release Date
2012 September
Startup details
Country
Ireland
State
Dublin
City
Dublin
Founder(s)
Nakul Aggarwal
Employees
500 - 999

Google Lighthouse

Pricing URL
-
$ Details
-
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

BrowserStack features and specs

  • Cloud-based
  • Browser Extensions
  • SaaS

Google Lighthouse features and specs

  • Comprehensive Audits
    Lighthouse performs a wide range of audits including performance, accessibility, SEO, and best practices, providing a holistic view of a website's overall health.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source tool, Google Lighthouse allows for transparency and flexibility, letting developers contribute to its improvement or customize it for their own use cases.
  • Automated
    Lighthouse can run automated audits on a site, saving time and effort compared to manual testing methods, and ensuring consistency in audit results.
  • Actionable Recommendations
    Lighthouse provides actionable recommendations and specific guidance on how to fix identified issues, helping developers and site owners make meaningful improvements.
  • Integration Friendly
    Lighthouse can be integrated into various development workflows and CI/CD processes through its CLI, Node module, or browser extension, enhancing its usability in diverse environments.

Possible disadvantages of Google Lighthouse

  • Performance Fluctuations
    Lighthouse performance scores can vary depending on different factors like network speed, hardware, and server response times, making it challenging to get consistent results.
  • Limited Context
    While Lighthouse provides specific issues, it may not fully account for the context of the website, potentially leading to recommendations that are not always the best fit for every scenario.
  • Not Real-User Data
    Lighthouse audits are based on synthetic testing, which might not always reflect real-user experiences accurately, limiting insights into how actual users interact with the site.
  • Learning Curve
    Less experienced developers may face a learning curve in understanding and implementing the recommendations provided by Lighthouse, particularly for more complex issues.
  • Dependency on Chrome
    As Lighthouse is built to work with Chrome, it may not fully capture site performance or issues when accessed through other browsers, potentially missing cross-browser compatibility problems.

BrowserStack videos

BrowserStack Overview

More videos:

  • Tutorial - SpeedLab by BrowserStack
  • Review - SharePoint Team Finds BrowserStack Invaluable

Google Lighthouse videos

How to Use Google Lighthouse for SEO Audits

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to BrowserStack and Google Lighthouse)
Website Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Website Monitoring
0 0%
100% 100
Browser Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Performance Monitoring
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare BrowserStack and Google Lighthouse

BrowserStack Reviews

Top Selenium Alternatives
BrowserStack is another leading cloud-based testing platform that offers access to a vast array of browsers and real mobile devices. It's designed to simplify the testing process by allowing tests to run in parallel across different environments, significantly reducing the time needed for comprehensive testing. BrowserStack features include live, interactive testing,...
Source: bugbug.io
Why choose HeadSpin over BrowserStack?
Companies like HeadSpin and BrowserStack play a significant role in fulfilling the demand for testing on real devices and cross-browser devices. Their ability to test on real devices online and monitor digital experiences adds to the value proposition of organizations implementing testing solutions. However, every company has different requirements and here are a few reasons...
Source: www.headspin.io

Google Lighthouse Reviews

We have no reviews of Google Lighthouse yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Google Lighthouse seems to be a lot more popular than BrowserStack. While we know about 95 links to Google Lighthouse, we've tracked only 7 mentions of BrowserStack. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

BrowserStack mentions (7)

View more

Google Lighthouse mentions (95)

  • How to Optimize CSS for Faster Page Load Speed
    This keeps the important stuff loading first, and the rest comes in quietly later. --- ### 7. Audit With Lighthouse + DevTools You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Use: - Chrome DevTools → **Coverage tab** to see unused CSS - [Google Lighthouse](https://developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse/) → Performance Score - [PageSpeed Insights](https://pagespeed.web.dev/) → Mobile + Desktop audit --- ###... - Source: dev.to / 19 days ago
  • Building Accessible Angular Applications (WCAG, ARIA)
    Use high-contrast colors and visible focus indicators. Tools like axe or Lighthouse can help audit contrast ratios. - Source: dev.to / 26 days ago
  • React SEO: How to Build Search-Friendly Pages in React
    By all means, every advantage listed on the previous topics can be achieved with vanilla JavaScript and other tools. However, SSGs like Gatsby and Next.js will abstract the hassle from you to the point that the standard Gatsby application is born with a 100 SEO score on Lighthouse, Google’s performance analyzer. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • The Best 100 Free UI/UX Resources for Every Designer & Developer
    Lighthouse Developers.google.com/web/tools/lighthouse Audit site performance, accessibility, and SEO. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • 🚀 Stop Slowing Down Your Website! Find & Remove Unused JavaScript Now
    Lighthouse: Google’s performance tool that flags unused JavaScript (Run Lighthouse). - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing BrowserStack and Google Lighthouse, you can also consider the following products

LambdaTest - Perform Web Testing on 2000+ Browsers & OS

PageSpeed Insights - PageSpeed is addon for ...

Sauce Labs - Test mobile or web apps instantly across 700+ browser/OS/device platform combinations - without infrastructure setup.

GTmetrix - GTmetrix is a free tool that analyzes your page's speed performance. Using PageSpeed and YSlow, GTmetrix generates scores for your pages and offers actionable recommendations on how to fix them.

Selenium - Selenium automates browsers. That's it! What you do with that power is entirely up to you. Primarily, it is for automating web applications for testing purposes, but is certainly not limited to just that.

WebPagetest - Run a free website speed test from multiple locations around the globe using real browsers...