DevOps

The Top 7 Cross Browser Testing Solutions

Discover the Top Cross Browser Testing Solutions with features including scripting language support, visual testing, and debugging.

Last updated on Aug 16, 2024

Written by Mirren McDade

Technical review by Laura Iannini

The Top 7 Cross Browser Testing Solutions include:

1. Appium
2. BrowserStack Live
3. Cypress
4. LambdaTest
5. Playwright
6. Sauce Labs
7. Selenium WebDriver

In today’s highly competitive landscape it is vital to provide a seamless user experience if you want to stand out amongst your competitors and retain customers. With software delivery being so in demand for modern businesses, ensuring optimal functionality across browser platforms should be a priority.

Cross-Browser Testing encompasses the inspection of web applications’ user interface and functionality across different web browsers. This involves comparing and analyzing the behavior of your website in a variety of browser environments. This ensures that the website can deliver an optimal user experience, independent of the browser used to access it. Cross browser testing aims to provide a seamless user experience by identifying and fixing browser-specific quirks.

Our list of the top Cross-Browser Testing Solutions for businesses is informed by the technical capabilities of each solution, the range of bowser and mobile devices supported, as well as their ease of use and customer reviews.

Every solution that we’ve listed prioritizes ensuring consistent web application performance across all browsers and devices, aiding in delivering a superior user experience. Typically, these solutions can be integrated into broader software testing workflows.

Appium

Appium is an open-source tool used for UI testing across mobile, web, and desktop applications, ensuring consistent operation and display on different browsers and devices.

What We Like: Appium supports a variety of major programming languages including JavaScript, Java, Python, Ruby, and .NET. It offers extensive automation capabilities across multiple platforms and operating systems.

Best Features:

The ability to reuse code for cross-platform application testing
Testing can be run on emulators/virtual devices and real devices
Capability to conduct simultaneous tests on different devices

We Recommend: Appium is an excellent choice for developers or teams of any size looking for a comprehensive, free UI testing solution. Headspin, BrowserStack, and Sauce Labs are all key backers for this project.

BrowserStack Live

BrowserStack Live is a manual cross-browser testing tool for web and mobile applications, that can assist developers and QA testers in checking compatibility across various environments.

What We Like: BrowserStack Live offers seamless integration with popular tools such as Jenkins and Jira. It also provides an impressive range of over 3,500 device-browser combinations for extensive testing. The solution requires no additional setup or maintenance overhead.

Best Features:

Secure and confidential testing on physical devices and desktop VMs, wiped clean after every session
Debugging tools pre-installed, aiding in cross-browser tests on both desktop and mobile browsers
Testing capabilities on real browsers and devices, with support for Android and iOS
Capability to test applications hosted behind firewalls or on internal environments without additional configuration

We Recommend: BrowserStack Live is suitable for teams of all sizes, as evidenced by its use by six million developers and 50,000 teams globally. Enterprise versions are also available for larger companies that require more extensive testing capabilities.

Cypress

Cypress is an intuitive web application testing tool that enables developers to conduct automated tests and troubleshoot their software effectively. The platform consists of two solutions, the free open-source Cypress App and the enhanced SaaS solution, Cypress Cloud.

What We Like: With Cypress, cross-browser testing is simple to use across Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. It excels thanks to integrations with CI tools such as Jenkins, GitLab, or Azure DevOps.

Best Features:

Automatic generation of tests by recording interactions with your application
Offers real-time views of command execution and application response with Live Reload and Time Travel features
The ability to run tests in parallel across multiple virtual machines (Cypress Cloud feature)
Detailed analytics offering insights into project health, most common errors, test coverage, and more (Cypress Cloud feature)

We Recommend: Cypress App is ideal for any team seeking a free and efficient testing tool, while Cypress Cloud is best suited for enterprise-level teams desiring advanced features. Renowned enterprise clients include Twilio and GoFundMe.

LambdaTest

LambdaTest is a cloud-based platform providing comprehensive automated and manual software testing across numerous browsers and environments.

What We Like: LambdaTest supports widespread browsers, including Chrome, Safari, and mobile versions, with over 5,000 combinations of real devices, operating systems, and browsers for testing.

Best Features:

Includes pre-installed native developer tools for debugging in every browser on the cloud
Allows uploading of various kinds of files for use in browser tests
Pre-loaded Extension feature for adding Chrome extensions to the test environment, saving the repetition of manual login
Inclusive of browser accessibility testing

We Recommend: LambdaTest is widely adopted by over 2 million users in 10,000 organizations globally, which include highly popular names like CNBC and Xerox. This makes it an ideal choice for both Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) as well as large enterprises.

Playwright

Playwright is an open-source, cross-browser tool that facilitates comprehensive testing for web apps across several platforms.

What We Like: The platform supports modern browser rendering engines, with the ability to emulate mobile interfaces and provides recording options in several coding languages.

Best Features:

Support for multi-platform tests (Windows, Linux, and macOS) running both locally and on CI
Auto-waits for actionable web elements during tests to avoid artificial timeouts
Offers comprehensive traces of testing execution including videos and screenshots
Uses real browser input pipeline ensuring a user-like interaction

We Recommend: Playwright suits organizations of all sizes, most notably those formulating commercial software such as Microsoft and Adobe. It’s also a valuable testing tool for small teams developing open-source applications.

Sauce Labs

Sauce Labs offers a cloud-based platform for comprehensive software testing, allowing developers to assess application and website performance across a spectrum of browsers, operating systems, and devices.

What We Like: Sauce Labs handles infrastructure support, reducing overhead for development teams. It permits live testing across numerous browser, OS, and resolution configurations.

Best Features:

Chrome DevTools and Safari Web Inspector compatibility for live website testing
Provides video recordings, screenshots, and log files for each test to aid debugging efforts
Capability to run multiple tests concurrently for multiple browser/device checks, increasing efficiency

We Recommend: Sauce Labs is a scalable solution, making it ideal for startups and large firms alike. We would recommend it to any enterprise seeking robust, diverse, and efficient software testing.

Selenium WebDriver

Selenium is a renowned open-source tool that is primarily used for automating web browsers and performing cross-browser tests during application development. It leverages WebDriver, an interface that allows the creation of scalable, browser-based tests.

What We Like: Selenium supports all major web browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari) as well as major operating systems (Windows, Linux, and Mac), offering broad versatility.

Best Features:

Creates build for C#, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, and Java programming languages
Operates a browser both locally and remotely, mimicking actual user behavior

We Recommend: Selenium is highly recommended for any developer or team who are looking to perform testing at zero cost. Additionally, this solution is the go-to tool for organizations seeking the support of companies specializing in software testing and automation.

The Top 7 Cross Browser Testing Solutions

Everything You Need to Know About Cross-Browser Testing Solutions (FAQs)

What Is A Cross-Browser Testing Solution?

Cross browser testing is a form of compatibility testing where you can carry out AUT (Application Under Testing) by comparing and analyzing an application’s behavior across various systems. This testing examines compatibility across different browsers and versions, as well as on devices with other operating systems like Windows, Linux, and Mac. This helps to ensure that the application remains usable, irrespective of the browser that the user is accessing it from.

Inconsistencies in browser behavior can lead to poor user experiences such as text not formatting correctly and image resizing issues. To ensure that customers can have a seamless interaction with your organization, it’s important to ensure that your sites load correctly, however a user is choosing to access it.

Cross browser testing solution make it easier to identify and fix compatibility issues early so that web applications can deliver a seamless experience to all users, regardless of the browser or devices they use.

How Do Cross-Browser Testing Solutions Work?

Cross-Browser Testing Solutions operate by comparing how web applications appear and function across different web browsers and mobile devices. These solutions can automate testing, replicate user interactions, and monitor application performance across varied browser environments.

Cross browser testing involves automating the processes of checking how sites load and other key metrics across different browsers. If this process were to be carried out manually, it could be a time-consuming and costly task. By implementing a strategy for testing, organizations can significantly reduce the time and money spent on this entire process.

What Are The Benefits Of Using A Cross-Browser Testing Solution?

Different users will try to access your site in many different ways. In addition to this, sites and applications must be compatible with multiple devices such as laptops, mobiles, and tablets. All these considerations can make browser testing a difficult task.

Some key benefits of using cross browser testing tools include:

Improving the user experience. By ensuring that web applications are functioning consistently across different browsers and operating systems, these tools create a more seamless user experience for all visitors.
Increased efficiency. These solutions make it possible to automate the testing process across a variety of environments, helping to reduce the time and effort it takes to identify browser issues.
Broader test coverage. Proper cross browser testing leads to support for a wide range of browsers and devices, meaning that coverage for user environment is as comprehensive as possible. This reduces the risk of unexpected issues in production.
Faster time to market. By running parallel test and integrating with CI/CD pipelines, cross browser testing solutions speed up the development and testing process, allowing for quicker release and updates.

What Features Should You Look for When Choosing Cross-Browser Testing Solutions?

When selecting Cross-Browser Testing Solutions, look for the following key features:

Browser and Device Coverage – This refers to the range of different web browsers, versions, and devices (including smartphones, tablets, and desktops) that the solution supports. The broader this is, the fewer users who will encounter any issues.
Scripting Language Support – This means the platform’s ability to work with a variety of programming languages and testing frameworks that are used to create automated test scripts (including JavaScript, Python, Java). This is an important capability as it allows development teams to write and execute tests in whatever language they are most familiar with, resulting in more seamless integration with their existing development processes.
Visual Testing – This compares the visual appearance of a web application across different browsers and devices to make sure that they are all consistent, with no drop in visual quality. Layouts, fronts, colors, images, and the overall design will all be checked.
Debugging – Debugging refers to the tools and processes used to identify, analyze, and solve issues that occur when a web application is tested across various browsers and devices. Debugging is necessary as it helps developers to resolve compatibility issues quickly, including fixing broken layouts, scripting errors, or performance issues.
User Simulation – Being able to mimic real user interactions, including clicks, scrolling, navigation across browser and devices, and form submissions, is important for allowing developers to comprehensively test how a web application responds to actual user behaviors in different environments. In simulating real-world usage, developers can make sure that applications are performing consistently and effectively for all users.
Integration. Any cross-browser testing platform that you consider needs to be able to work seamlessly with other tools and systems, including CI/CD pipelines, version control systems, bug tracking tools, and project management platforms. This will ensure that testing is a consistent part of the development process whilst also allowing teams to respond to compatibility issues efficiently.

Mirren McDade

Senior Journalist & Content Writer

Mirren McDade is a senior writer and journalist at Expert Insights, spending each day researching, writing, editing and publishing content, covering a variety of topics and solutions, and interviewing industry experts. She is an experienced copywriter with a background in a range of industries, including cloud business technologies, cloud security, information security and cyber security, and has conducted interviews with several industry experts. Mirren holds a First Class Honors degree in English from Edinburgh Napier University.

Laura Iannini

Cybersecurity Analyst

Laura Iannini is an Information Security Engineer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity from the University of West Florida. Laura has experience with a variety of cybersecurity platforms and leads technical reviews of leading solutions. She conducts thorough product tests to ensure that Expert Insights’ reviews are definitive and insightful.