Cypress vs Protractor | What are the differences?

Cypress is a modern, JavaScript-based end-to-end testing framework specifically designed for the fast-paced development of modern web applications. Protractor, on the other hand, is an end-to-end testing framework specifically built for Angular applications.

Both Cypress and Protractor share a common goal: automating user interactions with web applications to verify functionality and identify potential issues. However, their approaches and specialties differ, making them suitable for distinct testing scenarios. 

In this article, let’s delve into Cypress vs Protractor, understanding the differences between them to help you make an informed decision for your automated testing requirements.

What is Cypress?

Cypress is a test automation tool based on the Chromium browser engine. This allows it to run tests in a headless or headed mode, offering flexibility and visibility during execution. Moreover, its event-based architecture eliminates the need for explicit waiting conditions, resulting in deterministic and fast-executing tests. 

Additionally, Cypress provides a rich API for interacting with web elements, network requests, and local storage, empowering you to create comprehensive and robust tests. Unlike traditional testing tools, Cypress runs a dedicated browser instance within your test environment, allowing it to directly manipulate the DOM and intercept network traffic. 

This eliminates the need for external WebDriver connections and provides real-time feedback during test execution. Additionally, Cypress leverages a time-traveling debugger that allows you to step through tests line-by-line and inspect the application state at any point.

These technical aspects translate into several key advantages:

1. Fast Test Execution: Cypress avoids the overhead of external drivers, leading to significantly faster test execution, especially for complex scenarios.
2. Visual Debugging: The built-in debugger and intuitive test runner make it easy to visualize and understand test failures, saving valuable debugging time.
3. Seamless Integration: Tight integration with your development environment allows for rapid test creation and iteration, boosting your testing productivity.

Cypress excels in various testing scenarios, particularly:

1. Modern Web Applications: Built for the modern web, Cypress handles single-page applications, dynamic content, and complex interactions with ease.
2. Integration and End-to-End Testing: Cypress seamlessly tests both individual components and their interactions within the overall application.
3. Rapid Development Cycles: Its fast execution, intuitive interface, and visual debugging make it ideal for agile development methodologies where quick feedback is crucial.
4. JavaScript-Focused Teams: With its JavaScript-centric nature, Cypress integrates well with existing developer workflows, especially for teams with strong JavaScript expertise.

Pros of Cypress

Regarding end-to-end testing, Cypress emerges as a formidable contender with its unique set of advantages. Its focus on ease of use, speed, and developer-friendliness makes it a popular choice for modern web applications. Let’s delve into the key benefits that set Cypress apart:

1. Lightning Fast: Cypress executes tests in real-time within the browser, eliminating the need for external servers or grid setup, leading to significantly faster test execution and feedback.
2. Effortless Setup: With minimal dependencies and a self-contained environment, Cypress boasts a remarkably easy setup process, allowing you to start testing quickly and efficiently.
3. Intuitive Interface: The visual test editor and debugger provide a user-friendly interface, making it easy for developers and testers of all skill levels to create and debug tests.
4. Automatic Waiting: Cypress eliminates the need for manual wait commands, automatically waiting for elements to load before interacting with them, resulting in more reliable and maintainable tests.
5. Rich API: Cypress offers a comprehensive API for interacting with web elements, network requests, and local storage, empowering you to create complex and robust tests for various application functionalities.
6. Seamless Debugging: The visual debugger allows you to step through your tests line by line, inspect variables, and understand test failures in real time, leading to faster bug identification and resolution.
7. CI/CD Integration: Cypress integrates easily with popular CI/CD tools, allowing for automated test execution during builds and deployments, fostering a continuous quality assurance practice.

Cons of Cypress

While Cypress boasts an impressive array of advantages, it’s not without its limitations. It’s crucial to understand these potential drawbacks before making a decision, as they may impact its suitability for your specific testing needs. Let’s delve into some of the key cons of Cypress:

1. Limited Cross-Browser Support: Although Cypress supports major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, it offers limited compatibility with older browsers and mobile devices.
2. Smaller Community & Ecosystem: Cypress has a relatively smaller community and ecosystem than established frameworks like Selenium.
3. Limited Parallel Testing: Currently, Cypress primarily focuses on serial test execution, making it less efficient for large-scale test suites requiring parallel execution for faster results.
4. Dependency on the Chromium Engine: Its reliance on the Chromium engine limits its ability to interact with browser-specific features outside of the Chromium ecosystem.
5. Lack of Native Mobile App Testing: Although Cypress offers solutions for web-based mobile testing, it doesn’t natively support testing native mobile applications requiring interaction with device-specific features.
6. Limited Grid Testing: While Cypress supports parallel testing within a single browser, its capabilities for large-scale grid testing across multiple machines are limited compared to other frameworks.
7. Enterprise Integration: Integrating Cypress with enterprise-grade tools and security protocols might require additional effort compared to more established frameworks with better documented and supported integrations.

Here are a few Selenium alternatives that may meet your requirements.

What is Protractor?

Protractor is built upon the foundation of Selenium WebDriver and specializes in end-to-end testing specifically for Angular applications. This deep integration translates into powerful features and functionalities tailored to the unique structure and challenges of Angular testing.

Leveraging Selenium’s browser automation capabilities, Protractor offers extensive cross-browser compatibility, ensuring your tests run seamlessly across various platforms. But it goes beyond that, providing Angular-specific locators that simplify element identification within Angular components. This deep understanding of Angular constructs eliminates the need for complex CSS or XPath selectors, resulting in clearer, more maintainable tests.

Technical Aspects and Advantages:

1. Selenium Powerhouse: Inherits robust browser automation capabilities from Selenium, ensuring cross-browser compatibility and flexibility.
2. Angular-Specific: Provides specialized locators and integrates with Angular testing features, simplifying test creation and maintenance.
3. Dependency Injection Integration: Seamlessly interacts with Angular’s dependency injection system for targeted testing and mocking.
4. Advanced Features: Offers data-driven testing, custom waiting mechanisms, and reporting tools for comprehensive and informative tests.
5. Enterprise-Ready: Commercial support and an established community make it suitable for large-scale deployments with complex testing needs.

Protractor shines in these scenarios:

1. Comprehensive Angular Testing: Tests components, directives, services, and the overall application behavior, guaranteeing a quality Angular experience.
2. Cross-Browser Compatibility: Inherits Selenium’s extensive browser support for reliable testing across different platforms.
3. Advanced Angular Features: Leverages dependency injection and other Angular concepts for targeted and efficient testing.
4. Scalability and Support: Well-suited for enterprise deployments with commercial support and a strong community.

Pros of Protractor

Protractor, with its deep integration with Angular and the power of Selenium WebDriver, offers a compelling set of advantages for testing Angular applications. Here’s a closer look at some of its key pros:

1. Comprehensive Angular Testing: Protractor goes beyond basic element interaction, offering specialized locators and integration with Angular testing tools, enabling thorough testing of components, directives, services, and overall application behavior.
2. Extensive Cross-Browser Compatibility: Inheriting Selenium’s capabilities, Protractor supports a wide range of browsers and platforms, ensuring your Angular application works seamlessly across different environments.
3. Seamless Dependency Injection Integration: Protractor leverages Angular’s dependency injection system, allowing you to mock dependencies and isolate specific parts of your application for focused testing, leading to more efficient and targeted test cases.
4. Advanced Features: Protractor offers data-driven testing for repetitive scenarios, custom waiting mechanisms to handle asynchronous operations effectively, and integration with reporting tools for comprehensive test results and analysis.
5. Enterprise-Ready: With commercial support and a strong community, Protractor is well-suited for large-scale enterprise deployments with complex testing requirements and a need for reliable and scalable testing solutions.
6. Leverage of Existing Skills: If your team already has expertise in Selenium and Angular, Protractor leverages these existing skills, minimizing the learning curve for adopting the framework.
7. Clear and Maintainable Tests: Angular-specific locators and integration with Angular concepts result in tests that are easier to understand and maintain, improving collaboration and test longevity.

Cons of Protractor

Although Protractor has its unique advantages, it’s not without its limitations. Understanding these limitations is crucial to ensure that you choose the right tool for your specific needs. Here are some key downsides of Protractor to consider:

1. Learning Curve: Protractor’s integration with Selenium and Angular concepts requires some additional learning, especially for those unfamiliar with these technologies. This can be a barrier to entry for testers with limited experience in these areas.
2. Potential Overhead: Compared to simpler frameworks, integrating Protractor with Selenium can add complexity to your testing setup. This might require additional configuration and maintenance, especially for smaller projects with less complex testing requirements.
3. Limited Mobile Testing: While Protractor supports web browser testing, its native mobile testing capabilities are limited. If your testing scope extends beyond web applications to mobile platforms, you might need to consider additional tools or frameworks.
4. Angular-Centric: Protractor’s focus on Angular applications makes it less suitable for testing projects built with other frameworks or technologies. If your project doesn’t use Angular, you might be better served by a more general-purpose testing framework.
5. Debugging Complexity: While Protractor offers debugging capabilities, complex asynchronous interactions within Angular applications can sometimes be challenging to debug compared to frameworks with more traditional debugging tools.
6. Commercial Support Costs: While the open-source version of Protractor exists, commercial support comes with additional costs. For smaller teams or projects with limited budgets, this might be a factor to consider.

Protractor vs Cypress – Which companies use these?

While both Protractor and Cypress excel in end-to-end testing, the types of companies that gravitate toward each tool often differ based on their specific strengths and features. Here’s a breakdown:

Protractor:

1. Enterprise-heavy industries: Its robust features, commercial support, and deep integration with Angular attract large corporations like financial institutions (e.g., banks, and insurance companies), healthcare organizations, and government agencies. These sectors often prioritize reliability, security, and cross-browser compatibility, areas where Protractor shines.
2. Complex web applications: Protractor excels in handling intricate applications built with Angular. Its understanding of Angular’s structure and features makes it ideal for companies with web applications heavily reliant on this framework.
3. Established organizations with dedicated testing teams: Protractor’s learning curve and potential setup complexity might be better suited for companies with dedicated testing teams and resources to invest in understanding its intricacies.

Cypress:

1. Agile development environments: Its fast execution, user-friendly interface, and developer-centric approach resonate well with startups, scale-ups, and companies embracing agile methodologies. These environments prioritize rapid feedback, iterative testing, and developer involvement, all strengths of Cypress.
2. Modern web applications: Cypress caters well to dynamic, single-page applications, and those built with modern web technologies. Its ability to handle complex interactions and real-time feedback aligns perfectly with the needs of such applications.
3. Companies prioritizing cost-effectiveness and open-source solutions: Its open-source nature and free core offering make it attractive for companies with budget constraints or favoring open-source tools.

Cypress vs Protractor – What tools to integrate with?

Both Cypress and Protractor offer valuable integrations to enhance your testing efficiency and provide deeper insights. Let’s explore the key tools that seamlessly connect with each platform:

Tools that Integrate with Cypress

1. Jest: Cypress seamlessly integrates with Jest, allowing you to leverage its rich assertion library and test runner within your Cypress tests. This combination provides a powerful and flexible testing environment.
2. CircleCI: Integrate Cypress into your CircleCI pipelines for automated test execution during deployments. CircleCI offers dedicated orbs and workflows specifically tailored for Cypress testing, simplifying your CI/CD process.
3. Cypress Dashboard (Enterprise): For enterprise users, Cypress Dashboard offers a centralized platform to view, analyze, and share Cypress test results across teams and projects. This integration empowers data-driven decision-making and collaboration.

Tools that Integrate with Protractor

1. Jasmine: Protractor integrates seamlessly with Jasmine, allowing you to use its familiar syntax and BDD approach for writing end-to-end tests for your Angular applications.
2. Cucumber: Protractor integrates with Cucumber, allowing you to define your tests in a behavior-driven style, promoting collaboration and understanding across stakeholders.
3. Jenkins: Jenkins plugins provide integration with Protractor, enabling you to define and execute your Protractor tests within your Jenkins pipelines. This integration leverages Jenkins’ CI/CD capabilities for streamlined testing workflows.
4. Jasmine Reporters: Protractor offers built-in integration with Jasmine Reporters, providing various reporting formats like HTML, JSON, and JUnit XML. These reports offer detailed test results and insights into your testing execution.

Protractor vs Cypress – Why you should use & Why you should not use?

Why you should use Protractor?

If your application is built using Angular and requires comprehensive testing, Protractor may be more suitable. Its deep understanding of Angular’s structure simplifies test creation, while its inheritance from Selenium grants access to various browsers for reliable cross-platform testing. 

Why you should not use Protractor?

If your project ventures beyond Angular or you prioritize lightweight solutions, Protractor might not be the best fit. Its reliance on Selenium can add complexity, and the learning curve for both Selenium and Angular concepts can be steep. Additionally, limited native mobile testing support might require workarounds if your testing scope extends beyond web applications.

Why you should use Cypress?

If your goal is lightning-fast execution, intuitive interfaces, and developer-friendly features, Cypress may be your choice. It’s real-time testing within the browser eliminates unnecessary waiting and provides instant feedback. Automatic waiting simplifies test creation, while the visual debugger empowers you to pinpoint issues quickly.

Why you should not use Cypress?

While impressive in speed and ease of use, Cypress might not be the ultimate solution for every project. Its current browser support, although including major players, is not as extensive as some frameworks, potentially limiting cross-browser testing needs. Debugging complex asynchronous interactions can be trickier compared to tools in other frameworks. Furthermore, the open-source nature and limited community support might pose challenges for large-scale enterprise deployments with complex testing requirements.

Cypress vs Protractor: What are the differences?

Here are the key differences between Cypress and Protractor:

Feature	Cypress	Protractor
Expertise	Modern web applications, developer-centric	Angular applications, enterprise-ready
Execution Speed	Very fast, real-time within browser	Moderate, uses Selenium WebDriver
Setup Complexity	Low, self-contained environment	Medium, integrates with Selenium WebDriver
Learning Curve	Low, user-friendly interface	Medium, requires an understanding of Selenium and Angular
Cross-Browser Testing	Supports (Chrome, Firefox, Edge), limited for others	Extensive (various browsers through Selenium)
Mobile Testing	Requires additional tools or workarounds	Limited native support
Debugging	Visual debugger, step-through execution	Leverages Selenium’s debugging capabilities
Testing Features	Automatic waiting, rich API	Data-driven testing, custom waits, reporting tools
Open Source	Yes, with paid enterprise support	Yes, with commercial support available
Community Support	Growing, but smaller than Protractor	Established and active community

Which is better, Protractor or Cypress?

Declaring a definitive “winner” between Protractor and Cypress depends heavily on your project’s unique landscape. However, here’s a quick guide to help you navigate:

Choose Protractor if:

1. Your testing requirements are for Angular, and you require comprehensive testing features and in-depth debugging capabilities.
2. Cross-browser testing across various platforms is crucial for your project.
3. You have an established enterprise environment with dedicated testing teams and potentially utilize commercial support.

Choose Cypress if:

1. You value lightning-fast execution, intuitive interfaces, and developer-friendly features to streamline testing.
2. Your project focuses on modern web applications beyond Angular and prioritizes speed and ease of use.
3. Your team leans towards open-source solutions and doesn’t require extensive cross-browser or native mobile testing support.

Ultimately, the best tool is the one that aligns with your project’s specific needs and empowers your team to excel in their testing journey. Weigh the pros and cons of both Protractor and Cypress carefully before making your final decision.

It’s always a wise decision to look for all-round alternatives like Testsigma. Let’s discuss in detail why Testsigma is the best test automation alternative to Cypress and Protractor.

Best Alternative Tool for Cypress and Protractor

While both Protractor and Cypress offer end-to-end testing, Testsigma emerges as a compelling alternative, offering unique features and a comprehensive approach to testing across web, mobile, and APIs.

Here’s a complete list of Protractor alternatives.

Why Testsigma is the best test automation alternative?

Here are the key differentiators that allow Testsigma to sit right on top of the deck.

1. Unified Platform: Testsigma stands out with its unified platform, eliminating the need for separate tools for web, mobile, and API testing. This simplifies test automation, enhances efficiency, and provides a holistic view of your testing efforts.
2. Low-Code/No-Code Capabilities: Testsigma caters to testers of all skill levels with its intuitive low-code/no-code interface. Users can create and maintain tests without extensive coding expertise, democratizing test automation and accelerating testing cycles.
3. AI-Powered Features: It leverages AI for intelligent test recommendations, self-healing tests, and anomaly detection, reducing manual effort and improving test accuracy and efficiency.
4. Cross-Browser and Cross-Device Testing: Testsigma supports a wide range of browsers, devices, and operating systems, ensuring comprehensive cross-platform testing coverage.
5. API Testing: It offers robust API testing capabilities, enabling you to validate API functionality and data integrity seamlessly within your testing workflow.
6. Reporting and Analytics: Testsigma provides detailed reports and analytics to track test execution, identify trends, and gain insights into your application’s performance and stability.

Testsigma goes beyond basic features, offering additional advantages like:

1. Scalability: Designed to handle large-scale testing needs, Testsigma can adapt to growing projects and complex test suites.
2. Integrations: It integrates with popular CI/CD tools, project management platforms, and issue trackers, streamlining your testing process and enhancing collaboration.
3. Security: Testsigma prioritizes data security with robust encryption and access controls, ensuring the safety of your sensitive testing data.
4. Community and Support: Testsigma offers a growing community and responsive support team, providing valuable resources and assistance throughout your testing journey.

While both Protractor and Cypress have their merits, Testsigma presents a compelling alternative with its unified platform, low-code/no-code capabilities, AI-powered features, and comprehensive testing coverage across web, mobile, and APIs. You can check out this guide to see how Testsigma compares with other test automation tools.

If you’re seeking a modern, efficient, and user-friendly end-to-end testing solution, Testsigma is worth exploring.

Conclusion

Testing frameworks like Protractor and Cypress offer distinct strengths, but the optimal choice hinges on your project’s unique characteristics. Consider your technology stack, testing needs, and team expertise to make an informed decision. Protractor’s deep Angular integration and comprehensive features excel in complex enterprise scenarios, while Cypress’ speed, ease of use, and open-source nature appeal to modern web applications and developer-centric environments. 

Instead of choosing a tool that specializes only in a few areas, it’s always better to choose an all-in-one test automation tool like Testsigma. Such tools can be used in automating all the areas of testing like UI, API, cross-browser, visual, performance, regression testing, and much more.

You can check out other test automation alternatives like Playwright and more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why is Protractor better than Selenium?

Protractor isn’t inherently better but excels in specific areas. It boasts deep Angular integration and simplifies testing for Angular applications. However, its reliance on Selenium adds complexity and it might not be needed for broader web technologies. Choose Protractor for comprehensive Angular testing, while Selenium suits broader needs.

Why is Selenium better than Cypress?

Both have strengths. Selenium offers wider browser support and potential mobile testing integrations, while Cypress prioritizes speed, ease of use, and developer-friendliness. If extensive cross-browser testing or established enterprise support is crucial, Selenium might be better. For speed and developer-centric features, consider Cypress. Ultimately, the choice depends on your specific project priorities.