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Protractor vs TestCafe: What are the differences?
<Write Introduction here>
1. **Browser support**: Protractor is specifically designed for Angular applications and works best with Angular websites, while TestCafe is more versatile and can test any web application regardless of the framework being used.
2. **API simplification**: Protractor has a more complex API which can sometimes lead to confusion and difficulties for beginners, whereas TestCafe offers a simpler and more intuitive API making it easier for users to write and maintain tests.
3. **Programming language**: Protractor uses JavaScript for writing test scripts, which can be limiting for teams that prefer working with other programming languages, whereas TestCafe supports multiple programming languages like JavaScript, TypeScript, and CoffeeScript.
4. **Cross-browser testing**: TestCafe has built-in support for parallel testing across multiple browsers, making it easier to perform cross-browser testing, while Protractor lacks this feature and requires additional setup for parallel testing.
5. **Installation process**: Protractor requires the installation of WebDriver and Selenium server, adding complexity to the setup process, whereas TestCafe has a simpler installation process with no additional dependencies needed.
6. **Performance**: TestCafe is known for its faster execution speed compared to Protractor, making it a more efficient choice for large test suites or time-sensitive projects.
In Summary, Protractor is more tailored towards Angular applications with a slightly more complex API and limited language support, while TestCafe offers versatility, simplicity, and faster performance for web application testing.
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
Pros of Protractor
- Easy setup9
- Quick tests implementation8
- Flexible6
- Open source5
- Promise support5
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 Protractor
- Limited4
Cons of TestCafe
- No longer free9