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jsdom VS Selenium

Compare jsdom VS Selenium and see what are their differences

jsdom logo jsdom

A JavaScript implementation of various web standards, for use with Node.js - jsdom/jsdom

Selenium logo 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.
  • jsdom Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-29
  • Selenium Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-08-22

jsdom features and specs

  • Browser-like Environment
    jsdom provides a virtual representation of the browser's DOM environment, which allows developers to run scripts that usually require a browser.
  • Node.js Integration
    Being a Node.js library, jsdom can be easily integrated into server-side applications, enabling server-side DOM manipulation.
  • Testing Facilitation
    jsdom is commonly used in testing frameworks to simulate browser environments, allowing for headless testing of front-end code.
  • Standard-compliant
    jsdom strives to be compliant with web standards, which ensures consistent behavior with real browser environments.
  • Rich API
    It provides a rich set of APIs that mimic the browser DOM, making it comprehensive for developers needing browser-like functionality.

Possible disadvantages of jsdom

  • Performance Overhead
    jsdom can be slower than real browser environments because it runs in Node.js and not in a optimized browser engine.
  • Limited Browser Features
    While jsdom supports many DOM features, it might not support all the modern APIs and features available in the latest browsers.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running multiple jsdom instances can be resource-intensive, which may not be ideal for applications with large-scale DOM manipulation.
  • JavaScript Only
    Being specific to JavaScript and Node.js, jsdom is not suitable for developers working primarily in other programming environments.
  • Complexity in Setup
    Setting up and configuring jsdom for specific use cases can be more complex compared to some alternatives, requiring more effort from the developer.

Selenium features and specs

  • Open Source
    Selenium is an open-source tool, which means it is freely available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. This makes it a cost-effective choice for companies of all sizes.
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility
    Selenium supports multiple browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. This allows testers to ensure that web applications work seamlessly across different browsers.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Selenium can run on various operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux. This provides flexibility to test on multiple platforms to ensure consistent user experience.
  • Supports Multiple Programming Languages
    Selenium supports multiple programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, and JavaScript. This allows testers to write their scripts in the language they are most comfortable with.
  • Rich Community and Documentation
    Being a widely-used tool, Selenium has extensive community support and a wealth of documentation and tutorials available. This makes it easier for new users to get started and find solutions to problems.
  • Integration with Other Tools
    Selenium integrates well with various testing frameworks and tools like TestNG, JUnit, and Maven, as well as CI/CD tools like Jenkins and Docker. This makes it a versatile and comprehensive automation solution.

Possible disadvantages of Selenium

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Selenium requires knowledge of programming to create and maintain test scripts. For those new to automation or coding, the learning curve can be quite steep.
  • No Built-in Reporting
    Selenium does not come with built-in reporting features. Testers must rely on third-party tools or build custom reporting solutions to generate test reports.
  • Limited Support for Desktop Applications
    Selenium is designed primarily for web application testing and offers limited support for desktop applications. This limits its use in scenarios where desktop application testing is needed.
  • Manual Effort for Maintenance
    Test scripts require regular maintenance to accommodate changes in the web application, such as updates to the UI or changes in element identifiers. This can lead to significant manual effort.
  • Performance Issues
    Selenium can be slower compared to other automation tools, especially when running extensive test suites. This can affect the speed of the overall testing process.
  • Browser Compatibility Issues
    Although Selenium supports multiple browsers, each browser's implementation of WebDriver may have unique quirks and bugs. This occasionally leads to test script compatibility issues across different browsers.

jsdom videos

JSDom & Enzyme: Different Test Styles for React Apps - Dan La Feir @ ReactNYC

More videos:

  • Review - Frontend Pairing - Discovering missing JSDOM APIs that didn’t allow to test Toast UI in jest

Selenium videos

What is Selenium | Selenium Explained in 2-minutes | Introduction to Selenium | Intellipaat

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to jsdom and Selenium)
Automated Testing
8 8%
92% 92
Browser Testing
8 8%
92% 92
Development
100 100%
0% 0
Website Testing
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 jsdom and Selenium

jsdom Reviews

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Selenium Reviews

Top Selenium Alternatives
Nightwatch.js simplifies the setup and use of Selenium WebDriver, providing an abstraction layer that is easier to work with for JavaScript developers. While it offers the broad compatibility and standardization of Selenium WebDriver, it aims to improve the development experience with its simplified syntax and support for the Page Object pattern, making it a middle ground...
Source: bugbug.io
Top 5 Selenium Alternatives for Less Maintenance
And that’s why code-free test automation is important. Implementing codeless Selenium alternatives can address the challenges posed by traditional Selenium testing. They help testers with various skill sets to contribute to the testing process, enhancing collaboration and accelerating the testing lifecycle. For an in-depth discussion on the significance of codeless Selenium,...
Best Automation Testing Tools (Free and Paid) | July 2022
Automation testing is the process of testing the software using an automation tool to find the defects. In this process, executing the test scripts and generating the results are performed automatically by automation tools. Some most popular tools to do automation testing are HP QTP/UFT, Selenium WebDriver, etc.,
20 BEST Selenium Alternatives in 2021
Selenium is an open-source automated testing tool. It can perform functional, regression, load testing on web applications across different browsers and platforms. Selenium is one of the finest tools, but it does have some drawbacks.
Source: www.guru99.com
Top 10 Best Selenium Alternatives You Should Try
Selenium is a convenient and portable software testing tool specifically used for testing web applications. It acts as an API (Application Program Interface) for browser automation. Selenium is the widely used free and open-source tool used for automation testing of web applications through various browsers and platforms.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, jsdom should be more popular than Selenium. It has been mentiond 32 times since March 2021. 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.

jsdom mentions (32)

  • Proton: Pluggable SSR + DOM | Or How I implemented better SSR from scratch
    Nah, I took a third path - looking for alternatives to JSDOM... And I found it - happy-dom. - Source: dev.to / 21 days ago
  • The Future of Htmx
    We do have pseudo-browsers written in pure js that you can theoretically use: https://github.com/jsdom/jsdom but they're about as reliable as you can expect: it's difficult to keep up the pace with the big three (or two) on standards compliance, and they usually don't even try. So the only reliable solution is a headless Chromium, Firefox, and/or WebKit-based noname browser like the sibling says.... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Go-DOM - A headless browser written in Go.
    Internally the test starts an HTTP server. Because the this runs in the test process, mocking and stubbing of business logic is possible. The test use jsdom to communicate with the HTTP server; which both parse the HTML response into a DOM, but also executes client-side script in a sandbox which has been initialised, e.g. With window as the global scope.3. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Excluding Dependencies: Bundling for Node and the Browser
    For example, I needed to parse an HTML string into a DOM Document. The browser already supports the DOMParser class, which is, unfortunately, not available in Node.js. Here, I have to fall back on JSDOM, which also exposes this class. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Migrating from Jest to Vitest for your React Application
    If you happen to be using React Testing Library in your project, you'll need to keep the jsdom dev dependency installed. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

Selenium mentions (8)

  • How to write tests in Django for JavaScript fetch
    You won't be able to test the javascript function itself from within python, but you can exercise the front-end code using something like cypress (https://cypress.io) or the older but still respectable selenium (https://selenium.dev). Source: about 2 years ago
  • Having Issues with selenium
    In addition, .find_element_by_class_name is deprecated since selenium 4.3.0 and the replacement is .find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "class"). Check selenium's site for more info. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Issues with Selenium 4.8.0
    This is the code again after checking selenium's official site :. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Having Issues with selenium
    I also tried the following code seen on the selenium.dev website. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Document Object Model Specification
    The following functions are defined within the Selenium project, at revision 1721e627e3b5ab90a06e82df1b088a33a8d11c20. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing jsdom and Selenium, you can also consider the following products

html2canvas - JavaScript library to take "screenshots" of webpages or parts of it, directly on the...

Cypress.io - Slow, difficult and unreliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Install Cypress in seconds and take the pain out of front-end testing.

Katalon - Built on the top of Selenium and Appium, Katalon Studio is a free and powerful automated testing tool for web testing, mobile testing, and API testing.

puppeteer - Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium...

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

RasterizeHTML.js - Renders HTML into the browser's canvas.