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Cypress vs TestCafe: What are the differences?
Introduction
Cypress and TestCafe are two commonly used frameworks for web application testing. While they both serve the purpose of testing web applications, there are key differences between the two. In this article, we will explore and highlight six of these differences.
Architecture: Cypress runs directly in the browser and runs inside the application’s context, allowing direct access to the Document Object Model (DOM). On the other hand, TestCafe uses iframes to execute tests and communicates with the browser using built-in transport mechanisms. This difference in architecture affects how tests are written and executed.
Programming Language: Cypress is mainly written in JavaScript and enables test authors to write tests using JavaScript. TestCafe, on the other hand, supports a wider range of programming languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, and CoffeeScript. This allows teams to choose the language they are most comfortable with for writing their tests.
Assertions and Selectors: Cypress makes use of a jQuery-like API for making assertions and selecting elements on the page. In contrast, TestCafe uses a built-in mechanism for assertions and provides a powerful selector system that doesn't require any libraries or additional dependencies.
Cross-browser Testing: TestCafe provides built-in cross-browser support, allowing tests to be run on multiple browsers without the need for additional configuration. Cypress, on the other hand, requires additional setup and configuration to run tests on different browsers.
Waiting for Element Availability: Cypress automatically waits for elements to become available before performing assertions or interactions. This eliminates the need for explicit waits and makes tests more reliable and deterministic. In TestCafe, explicit waits are required to ensure elements are available before interacting with them.
Debugging and Testing Tools: Cypress provides a rich set of built-in tools for debugging tests, including real-time reloading, automatic screenshots, and video recordings of test runs. TestCafe, on the other hand, provides a simpler debugging experience and does not offer the same level of visual tools for debugging and testing.
In Summary, Cypress and TestCafe differ in architecture, programming language support, assertions and selectors, cross-browser testing, element availability handling, and debugging/testing tools. These differences make each framework suitable for different use cases and user preferences.
In the company I will be building test automation framework and my new company develops apps mainly using AngularJS/TypeScript. I was planning to build Protractor-Jasmine framework but a friend of mine told me about Cypress and heard that its users are very satisfied with it. I am trying to understand the capabilities of Cypress and as the final goal to differentiate these two tools. Can anyone advice me on this in a nutshell pls...
I've used both Protractor and Cypress extensively. Cypress is the easier and more reliable tool, whereas Protractor is the more powerful tool. Your choice of tool should depend on your specific testing needs. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each tool:
Cypress advantages:
Faster
More reliable (tends to throw fewer intermittent false failures)
Easier to read code (handles promises gracefully)
Cypress disadvantages:
Cannot switch between browser tabs
Cannot switch to iFrames
Cannot specify clicks or keypresses explicitly as if a real user was interacting
Cannot move the mouse to specific co-ordinates
Sometimes has trouble switching between different top-level domains, so not good for testing external links
Cypress is a newer tool with less extensive documentation and less community support
Protractor advantages:
More powerful because it is Selenium-based - it can switch between tabs, it can handle external links to other domains, it can handle iFrames, simulate keypresses and clicks, and move the mouse to specific co-ordinates within the browser.
More extensive community support and documentation
Protractor disadvantages:
Slower and more brittle - in general there is a higher likelihood of cryptic and/or intermittent errors which may cause your tests to fail even though there is nothing wrong with your application
For highly experienced automation engineers, the fundamental "brittle" nature of Selenium can be worked around - it can be reliable but only if you really know what you are doing
Less graceful handling of promises - relies on async/await or .then to manage the order of execution. Therefore it is a bit harder to read the code.
Harder to set up, and the method of setup impacts its reliability. For example, a hub/node configuration where the selenium jar is on a different physical machine than the browser under test will cause unreliability in your tests. Not everyone knows about this type of thing, so it's common to find Selenium frameworks that are set up poorly.
It's probably better to use Cypress if
you're at a smaller company and have a close relationship with developers who can help write hooks or stubs in their code to assist your testing
you don't need to do things like switch between tabs or test links to external top-level domains
It's probably better to use Protractor if
You might need to switch between tabs or test external links to other domains within the scope of your framework
You want to use a more accurate simulation of how a real user interacts with a browser (i.e. click at this location, type these keys)
You're at a company where you won't have any support from developers in writing hooks or stubs to make their code more testable in a less powerful framework like Cypress
Please try Handow, the e2e tool basing on Puppeteer.
Gherkin syntax compatible
Chrome/Chromium orentied, driven by Puppeteer engine
Complete JavaScript programming
Create test suites rapidly without coding (or a little bit), basing on built-in steps library
Schedule test with plans and arrange stories with sequential stages
Fast running, execute story groups in parallel by multi-workers
Built-in single page report render
Cover page view, REST API and cookies test
As we all know testing is an important part of any application. To assist with our testing we are going to use both Cypress and Jest. We feel these tools complement each other and will help us get good coverage of our code. We will use Cypress for our end to end testing as we've found it quite user friendly. Jest will be used for our unit tests because we've seen how many larger companies use it with great success.
Pros of Cypress
- Open source29
- Great documentation22
- Simple usage20
- Fast18
- Cross Browser testing10
- Easy us with CI9
- Npm install cypress only5
- Good for beginner automation engineers2
Pros of TestCafe
- Cross-browser testing8
- Open source4
- Easy setup/installation4
- Built in waits4
- UI End to End testing3
- Supports Devices without extra software/package2
- Both client and server side debug1
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Cons of Cypress
- Cypress is weak at cross-browser testing21
- Switch tabs : Cypress can'nt support14
- No iFrame support12
- No page object support9
- No multiple domain support9
- No file upload support8
- No support for multiple tab control8
- No xPath support8
- No support for Safari7
- Cypress doesn't support native app7
- Re-run failed tests retries not supported yet7
- No support for multiple browser control7
- $20/user/thread for reports5
- Adobe4
- Using a non-standard automation protocol4
- Not freeware4
- No 'WD wire protocol' support3
Cons of TestCafe
- No longer free9