Karma vs Selenium

Overview

Karma

Stacks4.8K

Followers603

Votes181

GitHub Stars12.0K

Forks1.7K

Selenium

Stacks16.2K

Followers12.6K

Votes527

GitHub Stars33.6K

Forks8.6K

Karma vs Selenium: What are the differences?

Introduction: In the realm of web development and testing, both Karma and Selenium are popular tools. Karma is a test runner that allows developers to execute JavaScript code in multiple browsers, while Selenium is primarily used for automating web browsers. Despite their similarities, there are key differences between the two.

Test Execution Environment: One major difference between Karma and Selenium is the test execution environment. Karma runs tests in real browsers, which means developers can test their code in the same environment that end users will experience. On the other hand, Selenium tests are executed in a browser controlled by the Selenium WebDriver, which means developers may not always get an accurate representation of how their code behaves in real browsers.
Integration with Testing Frameworks: Karma and Selenium have different levels of integration with various testing frameworks. Karma is specifically designed to work with popular JavaScript testing frameworks like Jasmine and Mocha. It provides seamless integration and allows developers to easily write and execute unit tests. In contrast, Selenium is more versatile and can work with a wide range of testing frameworks across different programming languages.
Multi-browser Testing: When it comes to multi-browser testing, Karma and Selenium have different approaches. With Karma, developers can easily run tests in multiple browsers simultaneously. This allows them to quickly identify any browser-specific issues and ensure cross-browser compatibility. In Selenium, multi-browser testing can also be achieved, but it requires configuring and managing multiple instances of the Selenium WebDriver for each browser.
Continuous Integration (CI) Support: Both Karma and Selenium support Continuous Integration (CI) environments, but there are some differences in the level of support. Karma has built-in support for popular CI platforms like Jenkins and Travis CI, making it easier to integrate tests into the CI pipeline. Selenium, on the other hand, requires additional tools or plugins to integrate with CI platforms, although plugins like Selenium Grid can make it more streamlined.
Testing Capabilities: While both Karma and Selenium are primarily used for automated testing, they have different testing capabilities. Karma is focused on unit testing and is commonly used for testing small, isolated pieces of code. It provides a fast and efficient way to run unit tests on different browsers. Selenium, on the other hand, is more suited for end-to-end testing and can simulate user interactions like clicking buttons, filling out forms, and navigating through pages.
Community and Support: The community and support surrounding Karma and Selenium differ as well. Karma has a strong community support with active contributors and extensive documentation. It is widely used and has a large number of plugins and integrations available. Selenium also has a strong community support, but it is more established and has been around for a longer time, resulting in a larger pool of resources, tutorials, and community-driven projects.

In summary, Karma and Selenium differ in their test execution environment, integration with testing frameworks, multi-browser testing approach, CI support, testing capabilities, and community support.

Share your Stack

Help developers discover the tools you use. Get visibility for your team's tech choices and contribute to the community's knowledge.

View Docs

CLI (Node.js)

Manual

Advice on Karma, Selenium

Shivam

Mar 5, 2020

Needs advice

we are having one web application developed in Reacts.js. in the application, we have only 4 to 5 pages that we need to test. I am having experience in selenium with java. Please suggets which tool I should use. and why ............................ ............................ .............................

241k views241k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Karma	Selenium
Karma is not a testing framework, nor an assertion library. Karma just launches a HTTP server, and generates the test runner HTML file you probably already know from your favourite testing framework. So for testing purposes you can use pretty much anything you like.	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. Boring web-based administration tasks can (and should!) also be automated as well.
Test on Real Devices;Remote Control;Testing Framework Agnostic;Open Source;Easy Debugging;Continuous Integration	-
Statistics
GitHub Stars 12.0K	GitHub Stars 33.6K
GitHub Forks 1.7K	GitHub Forks 8.6K
Stacks 4.8K	Stacks 16.2K
Followers 603	Followers 12.6K
Votes 181	Votes 527
Pros & Cons
Pros 61 Test Runner 35 Open source 27 Continuous Integration 22 Great for running tests 18 Test on Real Devices Cons 1 Requires the use of hacks to find tests dynamically 1 Slow, because tests are run in a real browser	Pros 177 Automates browsers 154 Testing 101 Essential tool for running test automation 24 Record-Playback 24 Remote Control Cons 8 Flaky tests 4 Slow as needs to make browser (even with no gui) 2 Update browser drivers
Integrations
Jasmine Mocha	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Karma, Selenium?

BrowserStack

BrowserStack is the leading test platform built for developers & QAs to expand test coverage, scale & optimize testing with cross-browser, real device cloud, accessibility, visual testing, test management, and test observability.

Sauce Labs

Cloud-based automated testing platform enables developers and QEs to perform functional, JavaScript unit, and manual tests with Selenium or Appium on web and mobile apps. Videos and screenshots for easy debugging. Secure and CI-ready.

LambdaTest

LambdaTest platform provides secure, scalable and insightful test orchestration for website, and mobile app testing. Customers at different points in their DevOps lifecycle can leverage Automation and/or Manual testing on LambdaTest.

Playwright

It is a Node library to automate the Chromium, WebKit and Firefox browsers with a single API. It enables cross-browser web automation that is ever-green, capable, reliable and fast.

Rainforest QA

Rainforest gives you the reliability of a QA team and the speed of automation, without the hassle of managing a team or the pain of writing automated tests.

WebdriverIO

WebdriverIO lets you control a browser or a mobile application with just a few lines of code. Your test code will look simple, concise and easy to read.

TestingBot

TestingBot provides automated and Manual cross browser testing in the cloud. Make sure your website looks ok in all browsers.

Ghost Inspector

It lets you create and manage UI tests that check specific functionality in your website or application. We execute these automated browser tests continuously from the cloud and alert you if anything breaks.

Selenide

It is a library for writing concise, readable, boilerplate-free tests in Java using Selenium WebDriver.

Autify

It is a software testing automation platform powered by AI. Autify helps in creating the Quality Assurance team to deliver the best version of their product in record time.

Related Comparisons

Karma vs Selenium: What are the differences?

Test Execution Environment: One major difference between Karma and Selenium is the test execution environment. Karma runs tests in real browsers, which means developers can test their code in the same environment that end users will experience. On the other hand, Selenium tests are executed in a browser controlled by the Selenium WebDriver, which means developers may not always get an accurate representation of how their code behaves in real browsers.
Integration with Testing Frameworks: Karma and Selenium have different levels of integration with various testing frameworks. Karma is specifically designed to work with popular JavaScript testing frameworks like Jasmine and Mocha. It provides seamless integration and allows developers to easily write and execute unit tests. In contrast, Selenium is more versatile and can work with a wide range of testing frameworks across different programming languages.
Multi-browser Testing: When it comes to multi-browser testing, Karma and Selenium have different approaches. With Karma, developers can easily run tests in multiple browsers simultaneously. This allows them to quickly identify any browser-specific issues and ensure cross-browser compatibility. In Selenium, multi-browser testing can also be achieved, but it requires configuring and managing multiple instances of the Selenium WebDriver for each browser.
Continuous Integration (CI) Support: Both Karma and Selenium support Continuous Integration (CI) environments, but there are some differences in the level of support. Karma has built-in support for popular CI platforms like Jenkins and Travis CI, making it easier to integrate tests into the CI pipeline. Selenium, on the other hand, requires additional tools or plugins to integrate with CI platforms, although plugins like Selenium Grid can make it more streamlined.
Testing Capabilities: While both Karma and Selenium are primarily used for automated testing, they have different testing capabilities. Karma is focused on unit testing and is commonly used for testing small, isolated pieces of code. It provides a fast and efficient way to run unit tests on different browsers. Selenium, on the other hand, is more suited for end-to-end testing and can simulate user interactions like clicking buttons, filling out forms, and navigating through pages.
Community and Support: The community and support surrounding Karma and Selenium differ as well. Karma has a strong community support with active contributors and extensive documentation. It is widely used and has a large number of plugins and integrations available. Selenium also has a strong community support, but it is more established and has been around for a longer time, resulting in a larger pool of resources, tutorials, and community-driven projects.

Karma vs Selenium

Overview