Top 5 Cross-Browser Testing Tools

Have you ever experienced the frustration of your website looking perfect on one browser but falling apart on another? Different browsers have their own unique rendering mechanisms and features. These unique features can result in inconsistent appearance and functionality of your website. For example, a web page that loads fine in one browser may take longer to load or appear incomplete in another. Other factors that affect how a site is displayed, in addition to different browsers, include browser versions, operating systems, the device from which you are accessing the website, or varying network speeds or reliability. 

Cross-browser testing is critical to ensure web applications stay uniform and run smoothly across different browsers, operating systems, and devices and is an integral part of quality assurance when developing websites.

Cross-browser testing becomes more efficient and effective when using the right tools. These tools not only address compatibility issues across various browsers but also play a crucial role in enhancing the efficiency of web development workflows. Some of the best cross-browser testing tools include:

• LambdaTest

• BrowserStack

• Selenium

• Sauce Labs

• TestingBot

LambdaTest is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform that enables testing your website or mobile app on a wide range of platforms, including legacy and the latest desktop and mobile browsers. Designed to improve testing workflows, LambdaTest provides tools for both automated and manual tests with over 3,000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations.  It is considered one of the best cross-browser testing tools that supports automating test scripts with different testing frameworks like Selenium, Cypress, Appium, Hyperexecute, Playwright, and Puppeteer. LambdaTest also allows running parallel testing, where users can run multiple test scripts simultaneously in different browser environments, reducing the time required to thoroughly test web apps.

Key Features:

• Real device testing: users can conduct tests on real iOS and Android devices, allowing for accurate and realistic software testing. 

• Parallel testing: LambdaTest allows users to run multiple test scripts simultaneously across different browser environments. 

• Flexible testing modes: users can switch between automated and manual testing modes based on their project requirements and testing objectives.

• Visual regression testing: allows to identify visual changes in different app versions. 

• Geolocation testing: Test location-based scenarios with GPS and IP geolocation for 130+ countries.

• Automated screenshot functionality: enables capturing and comparing screenshots across multiple browsers

• Integration with third-party tools: LambdaTest integrates with CI/CD systems, project management platforms, codeless automation tools, and communication tools like Jenkins, CircleCI, Bamboo, Travis CI, Trello, Asana, Jira, Slack and more. 

• AI-Powered Test Analytics: LambdaTest's AI-powered test analytics examine test outcomes and offer testing process insights.

Pricing: Lamdatest offers a forever free plan with limited features, which makes it one of the most accessible cross-browser testing tools available on the market today. You can also choose from various pricing options based on your specific needs and the number of tests you'll be running. The lowest plan, called Live, starts at only $19 per month for one parallel test. To test on mobile devices, you must upgrade to a Real Device plan, which starts at $35 per month for one parallel test. Automation testing plans start at $99 per month for one parallel test. Lamdatest offers a 20% discount for annual subscribers.

BrowserStack is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform for web and mobile apps testing across various browsers, devices, and operating systems. It offers a scalable and on-demand infrastructure for running automated and manual tests and offers 3,000+ real desktop and mobile browser combinations, along with features such as screenshot comparison, accessibility testing, and visual testing. For live testing, it is sufficient to enter the site's URL and start interacting with it from real browsers on remote machines. For automated testing, it is necessary to write test scripts using a testing framework.  BrowserStack supports Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, JS Testing API,  Puppeteer, and Appium. It also allows running hundreds of tests concurrently to speed up software testing execution time. BrowserStack's Real Device Cloud allows customers to run an extensive range of tests on 20,000+ real devices. IP geolocation is available in beta only.

Features:

• Real device testing: testers can perform testing on a wide range of real iOS and Android devices.

• Parallel testing: BrowserStack allows users to run multiple test scripts simultaneously across different browser environments. 

• Visual testing: Percy tool helps teams automate visual testing. It captures screenshots, compares them against the baseline, and highlights visual changes. 

• Local testing: allows testing web apps hosted on their local development environments or private networks without deploying the app to a public server or making it accessible over the internet.

• Integration with third-party tools: BrowserStack integrates with popular test automation frameworks, project management software and CI/CD tools like Jira, Trello,  Jenkins, Travis CI, CircleCI, and others, enabling automated testing as part of the development workflow.

• Comprehensive analytics and reporting:  provide insights into the quality and performance of software tested on the platform. 

Pricing: BrowserStack offers various pricing tiers starting from an individual plan at $29 per user per month for manual desktop testing.  For live testing on mobile devices, you must upgrade to a Desktop & Mobile plan, which starts at $39 per user per month. Automation testing plans start at $249 per month for one parallel test. BrowserStack also offers plans for teams with varying members, enterprise, and a 25% discount for annual subscribers.   

Selenium is one of the most popular and completely free open-source frameworks for automated cross-browser testing. While it is not a cross-browser platform, it is considered a foundational tool for automated testing, particularly for web apps. It provides versatility and tools necessary to effectively automate cross-browser testing and supports multiple programming languages, including Java, C#, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, and more. With Selenium WebDriver, developers can simulate user interactions across various browsers, making it suitable for creating robust browser-based automated tests and suites. WebDriver excels in executing complex scenarios and interactions within the browser. While Selenium is primarily designed for web automation, it can be extended to support mobile testing through frameworks like Appium. But it's not just about testing; Selenium also handles web-based administrative tasks. Except for Selenium WebDriver, its suite also offers Selenium IDE for quick bug reproduction and for creating scripts to aid in automated exploratory testing, and Selenium Grid for distributing and running tests across different machines and environments.

Features:

• Cross-browser testing: allows testers to write scripts to automate interactions on different browsers, devices, and operating systems. 

• Selenium Grid: enables parallel testing simultaneously.

• Multiple programming language support: although Selenium requires some basic programming knowledge, it supports multiple programming languages,  including Java, C#, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, and more, making it accessible to developers with different language proficiencies. 

• Browser interactions: Selenium provides APIs for simulating user interactions with web elements such as clicking buttons, entering text into input fields, selecting dropdown options, and navigating through web pages. 

• Analytics and reporting: Selenium lacks comprehensive reporting capabilities and requires integration of additional tools or custom solutions for detailed test reporting. Besides, Selenium's speed can be relatively slower compared to some commercial automated testing tools

• Integration with testing frameworks and multiple CI/CD tools: Selenium can be integrated with popular testing frameworks such as JUnit, TestNG, NUnit, Pytest, Mocha and CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, Travis CI, or GitLab CI. 

Pricing: Selenium is open-source and free to use.

SauceLabs is a cloud-based platform offering both automated and manual testing of web and mobile apps at any stage of software development for more than 700 browsers and OS combinations, 170+ device emulators, and over 300 unique real devices. Users can specify the website URL or upload their app file to the "App Management'' interface and select the desired browser or device from the grid and initiate the testing session. Regarding automated testing, SauceLabs supports various automated testing frameworks and tools, including Selenium, Appium, Cypress, Espresso, Puppertier, Playwright, TestCafe, and XCUITest. The platform allows running multiple test suites in parallel across every browser and OS combination. SauceLabs provides professional services, onboarding, and instructor-led Selenium and Appium training. 

Features:

• Real Device and Emulator/Simulator Testing: provides access to numerous real devices, emulators, and simulators for testing web and mobile apps. 

• Parallel Testing: supports parallel testing, allowing testers to run multiple tests concurrently across different browser environments.

• Integration with third-party tools: SauceLabs integrates with the best tools for CI/CD, automated testing such as Jenkins, Travis CI, TeamCity, and Azure Pipelines, team collaboration like Slack, and more

• Visual Testing: SauceLabs offers visual testing capabilities to help testers identify visual regressions and discrepancies in their apps' user interfaces. It provides tools for capturing and comparing screenshots across different browser configurations for visual inspection. 

• Analytics and Reporting: provides comprehensive analytics and reporting features, allowing testers to track test results, monitor testing trends, and generate detailed test reports with actionable insights. Testers can access their test results by video recording the entire test or browsing through screenshots on this platform.

• Automated screenshot and video recording functionality: Test results are accessible via video recordings or screenshot browsing on the platform.

• Performance Testing: SauceLabs offers performance testing capabilities in addition to functional testing to assess the scalability and responsiveness of web apps under different load conditions. 

Pricing: SauceLabs offers various pricing tiers starting from $43 per month for manual cross-browser & mobile app testing.  Automation testing plans start at $199 per month for one parallel test. Real device testing plans start at $249 per month for one parallel test. SauceLabs also offers a 28-day free trial, enterprise plans, and a 20% discount for annual subscribers.  

TestingBot is another popular cloud-based cross-browser testing platform for automated, manual, and visual testing of web and mobile apps. It supports over 5200 browser versions and real iOS and Android devices in the cloud. While TestingBot is compatible with all major operating systems, its primary focus is on providing browser and device testing capabilities.  TestingBot supports various automation frameworks, including Selenium, Appium, Playwright, Cypress, Puppertier, XCUITest, and Espresso. The platform also supports parallel testing, which enables testers to perform numerous tests simultaneously. Additionally, it integrates with many project management and CI/CD tools like Jenkins, Bamboo, Jira, and Slack. 

Features:

• Parallel Testing: Testers can run automated tests in parallel across different browsers and devices to expedite testing processes.

• Visual Testing: TestingBot offers visual testing capabilities. It allows users to capture screenshots of web pages across different browsers and compare them to identify visual differences or regressions. 

• Integration with CI/CD: TestingBot seamlessly integrates with popular CI/CD pipelines and development tools such as Jenkins, Travis CI, CircleCI, GitLab, and more. 

• Real-Time Debugging: TestingBot offers native debugging tools like Safari Developer Tools and Chrome DevTools for real-time debugging and remote debugging capabilities. 

• Reporting and Analytics: TestingBot offers comprehensive reporting and analytics features, allowing users to track test results, monitor testing trends, and generate detailed test reports with actionable insights. Testers can access test results, screenshots, and performance metrics to identify areas for improvement.

Pricing: TestingBot offers various pricing tiers, starting from $30 per month per user for manual cross-browser and mobile app testing. Automation testing plans start at $70 per month for one parallel test. TestingBot also offers a 28-day free trial, enterprise plans, and a 25% discount for annual subscribers.  

Bottom Line:

Before choosing a cross-browser testing solution, assessing several factors is crucial to ensure your choice aligns with the project's requirements and objectives. Considerations include platform support, available testing options like real-time testing and automation capabilities, integrations, debugging tools, and reporting. Evaluating these factors will help you select the most suitable cross-browser testing solution for your needs.