Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

Puppeteer

875
567
+ 1
26
WebdriverIO

414
500
+ 1
40
Add tool

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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

Advice on Puppeteer and WebdriverIO
Needs advice
on
JestJestSeleniumSelenium
and
WebdriverIOWebdriverIO
in

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 ............................ ............................ .............................

See more
Replies (1)
Prashanth Marappa
Senior Software Engineer at Mphasis · | 1 upvotes · 213.3K views
Recommends
on
SeleniumSelenium

with the help of selenium we can automate react js for functional testing

See more
Needs advice
on
CypressCypressSelenideSelenide
and
WebdriverIOWebdriverIO

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!!

See more
Replies (3)
Recommends
on
PlaywrightPlaywright

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!

See more
Jinesh Khimsaria
Test Automation Specialist at Personal · | 3 upvotes · 72.4K views
Recommends
on
WebdriverIOWebdriverIO

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.

See more
Recommends
on
CodeceptJSCodeceptJS

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.

See more
Ankur Loriya
Needs advice
on
PhantomJSPhantomJS
and
PuppeteerPuppeteer

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?

See more
Replies (2)
Recommends
on
PuppeteerPuppeteer

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.

See more
Recommends
on
PuppeteerPuppeteer

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.

See more
Get Advice from developers at your company using StackShare Enterprise. Sign up for StackShare Enterprise.
Learn More
Pros of Puppeteer
Pros of WebdriverIO
  • 10
    Very well documented
  • 10
    Scriptable web browser
  • 6
    Promise based
  • 11
    Various integrations to vendors like Sauce Labs
  • 10
    Open Source
  • 8
    Great community
  • 7
    Easy to setup
  • 4
    Best solution for broad browser support

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of Puppeteer
Cons of WebdriverIO
  • 10
    Chrome only
  • 8
    High maintenance

Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

- No public GitHub repository available -

What is Puppeteer?

Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome over the DevTools Protocol. It can also be configured to use full (non-headless) Chrome.

What is 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.

Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

What companies use Puppeteer?
What companies use WebdriverIO?
See which teams inside your own company are using Puppeteer or WebdriverIO.
Sign up for StackShare EnterpriseLearn More

Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

What tools integrate with Puppeteer?
What tools integrate with WebdriverIO?

Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

Blog Posts

What are some alternatives to Puppeteer and WebdriverIO?
Chef
Chef enables you to manage and scale cloud infrastructure with no downtime or interruptions. Freely move applications and configurations from one cloud to another. Chef is integrated with all major cloud providers including Amazon EC2, VMWare, IBM Smartcloud, Rackspace, OpenStack, Windows Azure, HP Cloud, Google Compute Engine, Joyent Cloud and others.
Selenium
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.
Salt
Salt is a new approach to infrastructure management. Easy enough to get running in minutes, scalable enough to manage tens of thousands of servers, and fast enough to communicate with them in seconds. Salt delivers a dynamic communication bus for infrastructures that can be used for orchestration, remote execution, configuration management and much more.
Puppet Labs
Puppet is an automated administrative engine for your Linux, Unix, and Windows systems and performs administrative tasks (such as adding users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) based on a centralized specification.
Ansible
Ansible is an IT automation tool. It can configure systems, deploy software, and orchestrate more advanced IT tasks such as continuous deployments or zero downtime rolling updates. Ansible’s goals are foremost those of simplicity and maximum ease of use.
See all alternatives