Introduction to Appium and Selenium

As a successful developer, you should be aware of tools and strategies that can enable you to not only do your job successfully but more efficiently, as well. That’s why a comprehensive understanding of open-source tools like Appium and Selenium – and understanding the differences between them – can be so important.

What is Appium?

Appium is a popular open-source test automation framework for mobile applications. It is widely used for mobile app automation testing, enabling the automation of tests on various mobile platforms, including native, hybrid, and web applications. Appium testing is frequently used for both mobile and desktop applications and was first released in 2012. Appium leverages WebDriver’s JSON wire protocol to operate Android and iOS sessions, using the mobile JSON wire protocol to drive native, mobile web, and hybrid applications.

What is Selenium?

Selenium is also an open-source test automation framework but for web applications alone. Selenium enables cross-browser testing, allowing web application testing and verification for consistency and correctness across different web browsers such as Chrome, Brave, Firefox, etc.

Selenium was first released in 2004. It facilitates automated testing, eliminating the need for manual efforts by using tools like Selenium Grid.

Comparison of Appium and Selenium

Despite their similarities, there are some notable differences between Appium and Selenium.

For example, Appium testing is primarily focused on mobile applications, while Selenium is widely used for web application testing. Appium offers cross-platform testing for both Android and iOS, supporting testing of mobile apps on different platforms. Additionally, both tools can run tests across different operating systems, including Android, iOS, and Windows. Selenium Grid allows for parallel testing across different environments, which helps manage large test suites faster. Selenium provides broad browser compatibility for web applications.

Regardless of these differences, it’s important to learn how mobile test automation tools like Appium and Selenium can impact any comprehensive application development strategy.

Supported Platforms

• Appium: Supports various platforms (like iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows) for mobile application testing. Appium specifically supports the testing of mobile apps on different platforms, such as Android, iOS, and Windows.
• Selenium: Primarily used for web application testing and supports multiple browsers (like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge). Selenium can run tests across different operating systems, including support for various browsers and mobile platforms such as Android, iOS, and Windows.

Programming Support for Multiple Programming Languages

• Appium: Supports multiple programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, PHP, and C# for writing test scripts. Appium also supports NodeJS, making it versatile for various programming language preferences.
• Selenium: Provides multi-language support, allowing testers to write test scripts in languages like Java, Python, C#, Ruby, and JavaScript. Selenium also supports PHP and NodeJS, offering extensive programming language compatibility.

Integration and Compatibility

• Appium: Integrates well with various tools and frameworks for mobile app testing, providing compatibility with different devices and platforms.
• Selenium: Offers seamless integration with Continuous Integration (CI) tools like Jenkins and supports various programming languages for test case automation.

Automation APIs

• Appium: Utilizes the Selenium WebDriver API to interact with mobile devices and automate test scenarios.
• Selenium: Offers a robust set of automation APIs for web application testing, enabling testers to perform various actions on web elements.

Testing Scenarios

• Appium: Specializes in mobile application testing, including native and hybrid app testing, accessibility testing, and cross-platform testing.
• Selenium: Primarily used for web application testing, offering features like browser compatibility testing, UI testing, and regression testing. It is also effective in verifying and testing functional test scenarios on e-commerce websites, particularly in relation to cross-browser testing using Selenium and Selenium Grid to automate the testing process.

Setup and Configuration

• Appium: Requires setup and configuration specific to mobile app testing, including device management, session handling, and command execution.
• Selenium: Involves setting up browser drivers, configuring test case environments, and integrating with CI tools for web application testing.

When to Use Appium

Appium is designed to address platform fragmentation in mobile app testing for both Android and iOS platforms. Appium is part of the Selenium WebDriver family and utilizes the Selenium WebDriver API.

Developing a test automation framework in Appium can be straightforward once users are familiar with many of Kobiton’s recommended best practices for the platform.

Mobile App Development and Mobile App Automation Testing

Regarding mobile app development, Appium enables the QA to write test scripts in different programming languages — such as JavaScript, Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, and C#.

At their core, top mobile automation tools like Appium are designed to assist with the implementation of automation testing strategies; Kobiton has found that Appium specifically excels at most mobile application development plans.

Mobile Gaming

Appium offers cross-platform testing for mobile gaming applications, and integration with various tools and frameworks for mobile app testing. This can prove to be quite valuable, with the Appium platform providing compatibility with different devices and across multiple platforms.

Enterprise Mobility

Appium testing also provides a great degree of scalability and flexibility, making it an efficient choice for mobile testing in the enterprise environment.

When to Use Selenium

Selenium is an open-source test case automation framework that enables QAs to automate web application testing. It has a tool suite consisting of four main components: Selenium IDE, Selenium WebDriver, Selenium Grid, and Selenium RC. Selenium facilitates automated testing, eliminating the need for manual efforts, and supports cross-browser testing across various web browsers such as Chrome, Brave, and Firefox. Given its unique characteristics, there are a handful of testing scenarios when it might be an ideal open-source tool for your own applications.

Web App Development and Web Application Testing

Selenium testing supports multiple programming languages and integration with various tools and frameworks for web app testing.

E-commerce Platforms

Additionally, Selenium testing provides features such as browser compatibility testing, UI testing, and regression testing, making it an efficient choice for testing e-commerce platforms. Selenium is also used to verify and test functional test scenarios on e-commerce websites, ensuring cross-browser compatibility and functionality.

SaaS Solutions

When it comes to SaaS solutions, Selenium provides scalability and flexibility — making it an efficient choice for testing SaaS solutions in different environments.

Choosing the Right Framework: Appium vs. Selenium

Some of the factors to consider when choosing between Appium and Selenium are:

• Project Requirements
• Testing Needs
• Programming Languages

Ready to decide which framework for test automation is best for your own project? Professionals at Kobiton are experienced and adept in helping organizations of any size make sense of mobile application testing strategies.

Mobile app automation testing is crucial when choosing Appium due to its support for multiple programming languages and its ability to automate any mobile app from any language and any test framework. Additionally, parallel testing is essential when choosing Selenium as it allows running multiple tests in parallel across different operating systems, browsers, and machines, thereby managing large test suites faster and reducing the total time to complete a parallel-testing complete pass.

While it is important to understand fundamentals and additional best practices for tools like Appium and Selenium, there are many other significant components and resources informing the way we successfully implement testing solutions today.

To start your own free demo – or to learn even more about Selenium vs. Appium – reach out to Kobiton today.