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Selenium VS AWS Device Farm

Compare Selenium VS AWS Device Farm and see what are their differences

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.

AWS Device Farm logo AWS Device Farm

Improve the quality of your iOS, Android, and web applications by testing against real mobile devices in the AWS Cloud.
  • Selenium Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-08-22
  • AWS Device Farm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-17

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.

AWS Device Farm features and specs

  • Wide Range of Devices
    AWS Device Farm provides access to a large selection of real devices, including the latest models. This variety ensures comprehensive testing across different hardware and software configurations.
  • Simultaneous Testing
    Users can run tests concurrently on multiple devices, which speeds up the testing process and provides quicker feedback on app performance.
  • Integration with CI/CD
    Device Farm integrates seamlessly with various Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools, facilitating automated testing workflows and streamlined development processes.
  • Detailed Reporting and Logs
    The service provides in-depth test reports and logs, which help in diagnosing issues, debugging, and improving the quality of mobile applications.
  • Custom Test Environment
    Developers can customize the test environment by installing app prerequisites, configuring devices, and uploading test files to simulate real-world usage conditions closely.

Possible disadvantages of AWS Device Farm

  • Cost
    The pricing structure can become expensive, especially for frequent testing or extensive use of multiple devices, thus potentially increasing operational costs.
  • Limited Offline Testing
    Since tests are run on AWS infrastructure, real offline testing scenarios may not be adequately simulated, which can be a limitation for applications requiring offline functionality.
  • Network Dependency
    Testing relies on internet connectivity, which means network issues can impact test reliability and performance, potentially leading to delays or disruptions.
  • Learning Curve
    New users may experience a learning curve to understand how to set up and execute tests effectively, as well as navigate the AWS interface and integrations.
  • Geographic Restrictions
    Device Farm infrastructure is located in specific AWS regions, and latency or legal restrictions might affect availability or performance depending on the user's location.

Selenium videos

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

AWS Device Farm videos

AWS Device Farm iOS Testing for Enterprise customers

More videos:

  • Review - Introducing AWS Device Farm: Automated Android and Fire OS App Testing on Real Devices in AWS Cloud
  • Review - [Arabic Video] Getting Started with AWS Device Farm and Appium
  • Review - What is AWS Device Farm ? | Programming With Ashish
  • Review - Getting Started with AWS Device Farm

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Selenium and AWS Device Farm)
Automated Testing
95 95%
5% 5
Website Testing
85 85%
15% 15
Browser Testing
93 93%
7% 7
Developer Tools
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 Selenium and AWS Device Farm

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.

AWS Device Farm Reviews

We have no reviews of AWS Device Farm yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, AWS Device Farm should be more popular than Selenium. It has been mentiond 17 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.

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

AWS Device Farm mentions (17)

  • Connect Appium inspector to a real android device
    Cool thing about Appium is that you can connect it to cloud driver stacks like Amazon Device Farm. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Need free Online Mac OS through browser
    Browserstack - 30 minute trail available AWS Device farm - 1000 minutes trail with aws free tier You can also go DIY with setting up playwright and configuring it to emulate safari browsers. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • CI/CD system using a real device
    You can still use it for building, just not testing. You can probably automate tests using The AWS Device Farm or similar system, but it may be easier to just install each build on your own device and run the tests manually. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Using Selenium WebDriver 4.0 BiDirectional API
    Something I found last minute: Unfortunately this is not supported by AWS Device Farm and it's not clear when it will ever be. This means that this is only supported locally, or for any remote/grid servers that have built-in support for it. I happen to run into the error DevTools is not supported by the Remote Server. If anyone has any solutions or workarounds for this, I'm all ears! - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • I'm starting a new position as a DevOps release engineer and i'm looking for some tips
    Don’t muck with automating simulators, it’s a PITA: we used Https://aws.amazon.com/device-farm/ and it was ok. This was pretty ok: Https://bitrise.io As much as I hate Microsoft, https://appcenter.ms was workable, but required the most calories and was slow. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Selenium and AWS Device Farm, you can also consider the following products

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.

TestFlight - iOS beta testing on the fly.

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.

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

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

Robot framework - Robot Framework is a generic test automation framework for acceptance testing and acceptance...