Top 6 Protractor Alternatives : Detailed Comparison With Testsigma

You might already know that Google is going to stop the development of Protractor soon. Here, in this article, we will discuss what Protractor is, why it was used, why it is being discontinued, and what are some of the Protractor alternatives that you can use now. So, without further ado, let’s begin.

What is Protractor?

Protractor is an end to end test framework made for angular and angularJS applications. It uses angular-specific locator strategies to make it easier to automate the end-to-end test cases on these applications.

The biggest challenge that is aimed to solve was the inclusion of automatic waits, such that tests would work without the need to add waits in the code to make the tests wait for a particular element.

The Angular team plans to end the development of Protractor at the end of 2022 (in conjunction with Angular v15).

Why is Protractor Getting Deprecated?

Protractor was created in 2013 when WebDriver APIs were not yet a standard and end-to-end (e2e) tests were hard to write due to a lack of support for async / await. To solve this problem, Protractor wraps Selenium-web driver and abstracts asynchronous operations from developers with the use of Control Flow.

Since then, the JavaScript standard and ecosystem have advanced considerably, providing modern syntax and much better development tools. Nonetheless, Protractor is not able to leverage such technology without forcing users to rewrite their tests.

Meanwhile, robust alternatives have emerged in the web testing space. Developers will see more benefits from adopting a more modern testing tool than from updating to a breaking version of Protractor which does not provide additional functionality or developer ergonomic improvements. And hence, our topic of Protractor alternatives.

We would like to hear from the community on

• the deprecation timeline
• what we can do to provide reliable integration with third-party solutions
• how users can transition by following migration guidelines
• additional concerns that would ensure a smooth transition

Protractor is an end-to-end test framework that was made for angular and angularJS applications in 2013. It was different from the other end-to-end test frameworks at that time because it used angular-specific locator strategies for the automation of end-to-end test cases.

Angular, a Javascript-based framework for developing mobile and web applications, was first introduced by Google in 2009. Because of its increasing popularity and usage, Google rewrote and rereleased it in 2016.

Angular is still one of the most used Javascript-based frameworks for high-traffic websites. Example of such sites includes Udemy.com, Hdfcbank.com, Springer.com, freelancer.com, etc.

Protractor, also introduced by google, thus has quite a lot of users worldwide. These people use it to automate tests for their angular websites.

But is Protractor still relevant? Angular is still in use; hence protractor too can continue as before. But there is a reason why Google decided to end its development at the end of 2022. They also mention the reason in their related post here.

Since then, the JavaScript standard and ecosystem have advanced considerably, providing modern syntax and much better development tools. Nonetheless, Protractor is not able to leverage such technology without forcing users to rewrite their tests.

Meanwhile, robust alternatives have emerged in the web testing space. Developers will see more benefits from adopting a more modern testing tool than from updating to a breaking version of Protractor which does not provide additional functionality or developer ergonomic improvements.

In this post, we will compare some of the robust alternatives for the automation of your angular website.

Top 6 Protractor Alternatives

Because Protractor is now derogating slowly, you need to know and understand its alternatives to migrate to those frameworks. We have made a list of the top 6 Protractor alternatives that have similar features as Protractor and even some more to support your testing.

Just remember that this is not the only final list. There are many other Protractor alternatives than the ones mentioned here.

Testsigma

Testsigma is a cloud-based test automation tool that lets you automate your end-to-end testing for web as well as mobile applications from the same place easily. It also readily integrates with multiple cross-browser testing cloud labs.

Key Features of Testsigma

1. Who can use it? Developers, Coders as well as Testers with limited coding knowledge. Only basic HTML knowledge is required to be able to work with it. 

2. Can other/non-technical team members use it? Yes

3. Automation of web browsers? Yes

4. Responsive Testing? Yes

5. Testing on mobile web browsers? Yes

6. Testing on Native Mobile Applications? Yes

7. Open Source? No

8. Premium? Yes

9. Needs Infrastructure to host? No

10. Cloud-based? Yes

11. Community support? No, but 24×7 support by the team

12. Supported Integrations? Readily integrates with all popular CI-CD tools

13. Supported languages? Test cases are written in simple English

14. Supported frameworks for automation? Anything that runs on the web

15. Supported browsers? All browsers

16. Possibility of cross-browser testing? Yes

17. Need Infrastructure for cross-browser testing? No

Cypress

Cypress is a Javascript-based end-to-end testing framework for websites. Any type of website can be automated in cypress.

Key Features of Cypress

1. Who can use it? Developers or Coders, Some development knowledge needed because it requires NPM installation and all.

2. Can other/non-technical team members use it? No

3. Automation of web browsers? Yes

4. Responsive Testing? Yes

5. Testing on mobile web browsers? No

6. Testing on Native Mobile Applications? No

7. Open Source? No

8. Premium? Yes

9. Needs Infrastructure to host? Yes

10. Cloud-based? No

11. Community support? Yes

12. Supported Integrations? Mostly can integrate with all supported CI-CD tools/ will need coding knowledge

13. Supported languages? Javascript only

14. Supported frameworks for automation? Anything that runs on web

15. Supported browsers? Canary, Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Edge Beta, Edge Canary, Edge Dev, Electron, Firefox, Firefox Developer Edition, Firefox Nightly

16. Possibility of cross-browser testing? Yes

17. Need Infrastructure for cross-browser testing? Yes

PlayWright

The playwright is a Nodejs based open-source web automation library that is built on similar architecture as that of the Puppeteer. It is developed by the authors of Puppeteer and maintained by Microsoft. 

Playwright can test web apps across multiple browsers: Chromium-based browsers like Google Chrome and the new Microsoft Edge, WebKit-based Apple Safari, and the Gecko-based Mozilla Firefox.

Key Features of Puppeteer

1. Who can use it? Developers or Coders, Some development knowledge needed because it requires NPM installation and all.

2. Can other/non-technical team members use it? No

3. Automation of web browsers? Yes

4. Responsive Testing? Yes, via device emulation

5. Testing on mobile web browsers? No

6. Testing on Native Mobile Applications? No

7. Open Source? Yes

8. Premium? No

9. Needs Infrastructure to host? Yes

10. Cloud-based? No

11. Community support? Yes

12. Supported Integrations? Mostly can integrate with all supported CI-CD tools/ will need coding knowledge

13. Supported Languages? JavaScript and TypeScript, Python, Java, C#

14. Supported frameworks for automation? Anything that runs on the web

15. Supported browsers? Chrome and the new Microsoft Edge, WebKit-based Apple Safari, and the Gecko-based Mozilla Firefox

16. Possibility of cross-browser testing? Yes

17. Need Infrastructure for cross-browser testing? Yes

Puppeteer

Puppeteer is an open-source Node.js library developed by Google. Puppeteer supports automation of actions on Google’s Chrome and Chromium. 

Key Features of Puppeteer

1. Who can use it? Developers or Coders, Some development knowledge needed because it requires NPM installation and all.

2. Can other/non-technical team members use it? No

3. Automation of web browsers? Yes, but only Chrome or Chromium

4. Responsive Testing? Yes, via device emulation

5. Testing on mobile web browsers? No

6. Testing on native mobile applications? No

7. Open Source? Yes

8. Premium? No

9. Needs Infrastructure to host? Yes

10. Cloud-based? No

11. Community support? Yes

12. Supported Integrations? When integrated with Puppetry – can integrate with CI/CD tools, record, and playback

13. Supported Languages? Node.js

14. Supported frameworks for automation? Anything that runs on the web

15. Supported browsers?  Chrome or Chromium

16. Possibility of cross-browser testing? No

17. Need Infrastructure for cross-browser testing? Cross-browser testing not possible

TestCafe

TestCafe is a Node.js based end-to-end test automation framework. This is not a Selenium-based framework and can be used for automating web applications as well as native mobile applications.

Key Features of TestCafe

1. Who can use it? Developers or Coders.

2. Can other/non-technical team members use it? when using record and playback via Testcafe studio, non-technical team members can use too.

3. Automation of web browsers? Yes

4. Responsive Testing? Yes

5. Testing on mobile web browsers? Yes

6. Testing on native mobile applications? No

7. Open Source? Yes

8. Premium? No

9. Needs Infrastructure to host? Yes

10. Cloud-based? No

11. Community support? Yes

12. Supported Integrations? Integrate with most popular CI/CD tools

13. Supported Languages? Node.js

14. Supported frameworks for automation? Anything that runs on web

15. Supported browsers? All

16. Possibility of cross-browser testing? Yes

17. Need Infrastructure for cross-browser testing? Yes

Webdriver IO

WebDriverIO is a javascript-based end-to-end test automation framework for both mobile and test automation. It is a custom implementation of Selenium’s WebDriver API. It is written in Node.js.

Key Features of WebDriverIO

1. Who can use it? Developers or Coders.

2. Can other/non-technical team members use it? No

3. Automation of web browsers? Yes

4. Responsive Testing? Yes

5. Testing on mobile web browsers? Yes

6. Testing on native mobile applications? Yes, via appium

7. Open Source? Yes

8. Premium? No

9. Needs Infrastructure to host? Yes

10. Cloud-based? No

11. Community support? Yes

12. Supported Integrations? Chrome DevTools , Google LightHouse,@wdio/devtools-service

13. Supported Languages? Node.js

14. Supported frameworks for automation? modern web frameworks such as React, Angular, Polymer, or Vue.js as well as native mobile applications for Android and iOS.

15. Supported browsers?  All

16. Possibility of cross-browser testing? Yes

17. Need Infrastructure for cross browser testing? Yes

Here, we put the comparisons down as a summary for you:

Testsigma VS Protractor Alternatives : Detailed Comparison

Features	Testsigma	Cypress	Playwright	Puppeteer	TestCafe	Webdriver IO
Who can use it?	Developers, Coders as well as Testers	Developers or Coders	Developers or Coders,	Developers or Coders	Developers or Coders.	Developers or Coders.
Can other/non-technical team members use it?	Yes	No	No	No	when using record and playback via Testcafe studio, non-technical team members can use too.	No
Automation of web browsers?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes, but only Chrome or Chromium	Yes	Yes
Responsive Testing?	Yes	Yes	Yes, via device emulation	Yes, via device emulation	Yes	Yes
Testing on mobile web browsers?	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Testing on native mobile applications?	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes, via appium
Open Source?	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Premium?	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Needs Infrastructure to host?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cloud-based?	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Community support?	No, but 24×7 support by the team	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Supported Integrations?	Readily integrates with all popular CI-CD tools	Mostly can integrate with all supported CI-CD tools/ will need coding knowledge	Mostly can integrate with all supported CI-CD tools/ will need coding knowledge	With Puppetry – can integrate with CI/CD tools, record, and playback	Integrates with most popular CI/CD tools	Chrome DevTools , Google LightHouse,@wdio/devtools-service
Supported Languages?	Test cases are written in simple English	Javascript only	JavaScript and TypeScript, Python, Java, C#	Node.js	Node.js	Node.js
Supported frameworks for automation?	Anything that runs on the web	Anything that runs on web	Anything that runs on the web	Anything that runs on the web	Anything that runs on web	modern web frameworks such as React, Angular, Polymeror Vue.js as well as native mobile applications for Android and iOS.
Supported browsers?	All browsers	Canary, Chrome, Chromium, Edge, Edge Beta, Edge Canary, Edge Dev, Electron, Firefox, Firefox Developer Edition, Firefox Nightly	Chrome and the new Microsoft Edge, WebKit-based Apple Safari, and the Gecko-based Mozilla Firefox	Chrome or Chromium	All	All
Possibility of cross-browser testing?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Need Infrastructure for cross-browser testing?	No	Yes	Yes	Cross-browser testing not possible	Yes	Yes

Conclusion

Thus, even though Protractor is soon to stop getting further updates, the options are plenty. You just need to decide which automation tool/framework works best for you.

And all the Protractor alternatives that we have talked about here consist of almost similar or better features than the tool. Some are no-code as well for your newly built testing team that will surely help you to save time and resources in training fresh talents.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why is Protractor better than Selenium?

Both Protractor and Selenium are test automation tools. But if you are working with applications designed with Angular, it is better to use Protractor as it is specifically designed to test Angular applications. Read here more – Protractor vs Selenium

Which automation tool is best for Angular applications?

There are multiple tools you can employ to automate testing for Angular applications. Protractor is one of those tools that offer end-to-end testing for Angular and AngularJS applications. It is also good for running Regression testing for non-angular applications.

Which is better, Protractor or Cypress?

Both Protractor and Cypress have their benefits. The former is the best choice for test framework for Angular and AngularJS applications, while the latter offers better, faster, and more reliable testing options for web-based applications.

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