Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!
Puppeteer vs WebdriverIO: What are the differences?
Introduction
In this article, we will compare Puppeteer and WebdriverIO, two popular tools for browser automation. We will explore the key differences between the two, highlighting their unique features and capabilities.
Execution: Puppeteer is a Node.js library developed by Google that provides a high-level API for controlling headless Chrome or Chromium browsers. It allows you to interact with web pages, navigate, and perform actions like clicking, submitting forms, and capturing screenshots. WebdriverIO, on the other hand, is a client library that implements the WebDriver protocol. It supports various Selenium-compatible browser drivers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. It provides a robust set of APIs for browser automation.
Syntax: Puppeteer uses a more JavaScript-centric syntax and provides a simpler, more intuitive API for common tasks. It leverages the power of modern JavaScript features like async/await, making it easier to write and read automated browser scripts. WebdriverIO, on the other hand, uses a more traditional WebDriver syntax that follows the W3C WebDriver specification. It provides a wider range of configuration options and allows for more fine-grained control over the automation process.
Browser Support: Puppeteer works only with the Chrome or Chromium browsers as it directly controls the Chrome DevTools Protocol. This makes it highly optimized for Chrome automation and allows for advanced debugging and profiling capabilities. WebdriverIO, on the other hand, supports multiple browsers through the WebDriver protocol. It provides cross-browser testing capabilities, allowing you to run the same tests on different browsers and platforms.
Parallel Execution: WebdriverIO has built-in support for parallel test execution, allowing you to run multiple tests or test suites concurrently. This can significantly reduce the overall test execution time, especially in larger projects with a large number of tests. Puppeteer, on the other hand, does not have native support for parallel execution. However, it can be combined with other tools or frameworks, like Jest or Mocha, to achieve parallelism.
Ecosystem and Integrations: WebdriverIO has a larger ecosystem and community support compared to Puppeteer. It integrates well with popular testing frameworks like Mocha and Jasmine and supports various plugins and extensions to enhance its functionality. Puppeteer, although being a powerful tool for browser automation, has a relatively smaller ecosystem and fewer integrations available.
Headless Mode: Puppeteer is specially designed for headless browser automation. Headless mode allows for running browser automation without a visible UI, allowing for background processes and faster execution. WebdriverIO also supports headless mode, but it requires a separate Chrome driver to be installed for the headless configuration.
In summary, Puppeteer and WebdriverIO are both powerful tools for browser automation, but they differ in terms of their execution model, syntax, browser support, parallel execution capabilities, ecosystem, and headless mode support. The choice between the two depends on specific requirements, browser compatibility needs, and the familiarity of the development team with the technologies.
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 ............................ ............................ .............................
with the help of selenium we can automate react js for functional testing
Hi, I am starting out to test an application that is currently being developed - FE: React. BE: Node JS. I want the framework to be able to test all UI scenarios (from simple to complex) and also have the capability to test APIs. I also need to run tests across all OSs and Browsers (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS). I have also looked into react-testing-library and @TestProject.io. Any advice you can give as to which framework would be best and why would be so much appreciated! Thank you!!
You should also definitely look into Playwright, which is a new automation tool from Microsoft building on top of the Puppeteer experience and trying to bring this experience in the cross browser space - very exciting project. Great team. Also CodeceptJS as already Playwright support which at a ton of valuable features on top of Playwright, give it a go!
I'm also looking for the same, FE: React & BE: NodeJS. Cypress won't help as it lacks cross-browser testing, it doesn't support all the browsers. I'm still investigating it, but looks like WebdriverIO may fulfil what I'm looking for - Cross-browser testing, integration with CI/CD, running it as a docker service, good support on assertions & reporting of test results. Let me know if you found any information on any of the above mentioned points.
Hi Esther, if you really need cross OS and cross device automation Cypress wont help, with WebdriverIO you can do it … and check out CodeceptJS, which is a wrapper around several frameworks (like WebdriverIO) and will support future players (currently for example upcoming Playwright) as well.
I am using Node 12 for server scripting and have a function to generate PDF and send it to a browser. Currently, we are using PhantomJS to generate a PDF. Some web post shows that we can achieve PDF generation using Puppeteer. I was a bit confused. Should we move to puppeteerJS? Which one is better with NodeJS for generating PDF?
You better go with puppeteer. It is basically chrome automation tool, written in nodejs. So what you get is PDF, generated by chrome itself. I guess there is hardly better PDF generation tool for the web. Phantomjs is already more or less outdated as technology. It uses some old webkit port that's quite behind in terms of standards and features. It can be replaced with puppeteer for every single task.
I suggest puppeteer to go for. It is simple and easy to set up. Only limitaiton is it can be used only for chrome browser and currently they are looking into expanding into FF. The next thing is Playwright which is just a scale up of Puppeteer. It supports cross browsers.
Pros of Puppeteer
- Very well documented10
- Scriptable web browser10
- Promise based6
Pros of WebdriverIO
- Various integrations to vendors like Sauce Labs11
- Open Source10
- Great community8
- Easy to setup7
- Best solution for broad browser support4
Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions
Cons of Puppeteer
- Chrome only10
Cons of WebdriverIO
- High maintenance8