Functionize vs Selenium – Which One You Should Choose?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is dominating today’s technology. Every tool is adapting the AI capability to enhance its experience and provide the best features. Test automation tools are not an exception to this, many test automation tools are adapting the AI capability to make the automation script development faster and easier. Customers are showing interest in such tools to reduce the cost involved in automation. Functionize is one such test automation tool that has adapted AI and comes with many benefits. Selenium on the other hand continues to rule the market today, by providing highly customizable and extensible features to the users. Let’s compare Functionize vs Selenium.

Functionize vs Selenium – Overview

Functionize and Selenium both are software test automation tools aiming to provide similar features to the end user. However, they both target different types of customers. For example, Selenium is more for people who are technical experts and Functionize is for people who have less technical knowledge. Functionize provides an easy way to automate the application without worrying about the setup and other complexities, whereas Selenium focuses mainly on customization and extensibility with which one can create the framework specific to their needs or the organization’s needs.

What is Functionize?

Functionize is a commercial enterprise test automation software powered by modern artificial intelligence (AI) technology. 

→ It helps to cover all functional and end-to-end scenarios. 

→ It also supports CI/CD integration. 

→ Interestingly, it doesn’t demand technical expertise to automate the scenarios. 

→ Apart from functional testing it also supports visual regression testing which helps to compare the design and UI design flaws. 

→ Additionally, it also supports mobile, API, localization, and database testing features.

What is Selenium?

Selenium is an open-source test automation tool. It is highly extensible and customizable. Selenium supports many different languages such as Java, Python, Ruby, C#, JavaScript, Perl, and PHP. 

As Selenium has existed for many years, many organizations have created custom frameworks around Selenium as per the organization’s needs. 

→ Unlike modern tools, Selenium demands technical expertise.

→ it is not a SaaS application. 

→ Selenium only provides the browser automation libraries, by using these libraries you can build your custom framework by integrating third-party assertion libraries, reporting libraries, test runners, etc. 

→ Selenium has very good community support, there are many plugins available for free you can just install and use them in your automation framework.

Alternative Tool to Overcome Limitations of Functionize and Selenium

As we mentioned earlier, Selenium requires a deep level of technical knowledge to develop the test automation framework and develop the automation scripts. Selenium provides only browser automation libraries by default, everything else, you need to depend on third-party packages. 

Functionize is a modern AI-based test automation tool however many features of Functionize are still under development phase, hence it might not fulfil all of your needs. 

Testsigma can be the best alternative to overcome the limitations of Functionize and Selenium. Below are the reasons to consider alternative solutions

• Cost: The Functionize pricing structure may look complex, and it might be difficult to adapt the Functionize for companies having smaller budgets. Selenium is open source. It is a free tool, however considering the skilled resources for automation framework design and development you might have to spend more cost. Testsigma is a budget-friendly tool, it can be used by any organization ranging from small-scale to large-scale.
• Customization: Though Functionize provides a rich user interface, when it comes to customizing the solution, it may be difficult. Selenium offers a good level of customization however you need technical experts to perform the customization. Testsigma helps to customize many features just with a few UI clicks, without demanding technical knowledge.

• Mobile Automation Testing Challenges:  Functionize offers many different types of testing. However, many features of mobile automation testing are still in the development stage hence it may not fulfill all of your testing requirements. Testsigma has been providing Mobile feature support for a few years hence the feature is stable and reliable.

• Open-source options: Functionize is a commercial tool, it doesn’t provide any open-source option to the user. Testsigma is available as both open source and commercial tools which provides the option to switch at any time.

• Reporting and Analytics: Though Functionize provides good reporting and analytics some users might feel that customization may be difficult. Whereas tools like Testsigma provide customizable and comprehensive reports.

• Documentation: Not all of the Functionize documentation is visible to the public, if you are performing POC for your project or shortlisting the tool based on the features it may be difficult to find the required features. Whereas Testsigma documentation is open and transparent, you can find all the relevant information in one place.

Functionize and Selenium vs Testsigma Similarities

Functionize, Selenium, and Testsigma all of these tools are aiming to provide the best possible end-user experience for modern web and mobile testing. As they are targeting the same audience you may find many features are similar. 

→ Irrespective of the technical skills demanded, they support end-to-end testing, functional testing and cross-browser testing. 

→ Functionize and Testsigma support mobile testing built within the platform, however, this can be achieved in Selenium with Appium integration. 

→ Similarly, API testing and data-driven is possible in all of these frameworks. 

→ Visual Regression testing is supported by Functionize and Testsigma without any additional configuration. Selenium made it possible with third-party tools integration. Irrespective of your operating system these tools can be used, as Selenium supports all popular operating systems and the other two don’t have dependency on operating systems.

→ When it comes to third-party tools integration all of these support integration with third-party tools, however, the supported number of tools may vary. 

→ The same applies to CI/CD integration as well. 

→ They also support recording and playback options. 

Considering the tools’ similarity one can easily get confused about which tool to choose. To help with this we have provided the table comparison in the next section.

Functionize vs Selenium vs Testsigma – Tools Comparison Table

In the previous section, we have seen similarities between Functionize, Selenium, and Testsigma. However, to shortlist the right tool for the project we need to compare them side by side.

In this section let’s compare Functionize vs Selenium vs Testsigma to gain more deep insights on these tools.

Features	Functionize	Selenium	Testsigma
License	Commercial licenseFree Trial	Open-source License	Commercial LicenseFree trial for Commercial Features
Pricing	Price On Request	Free	Price On Request
Execution Platform Support	Linux, Windows, macOS	Linux, Windows, macOS	Linux, Windows, macOS
Desktop Automation Support	No	No	No
Mobile platform support	Android and iOS	No built-in support for mobile. However, the integration of the Appium framework can be extended to support Mobile devices	Android and iOS
API Automation Support	Yes, Available	No in-built support for API automation. Requires third-party tools integration	Yes, Available
Supported Browsers	Edge, Chrome, Safari, Firefox	Edge, Chrome, Safari, Firefox	Edge, Chrome, Safari, Firefox
SaaS tool	Yes	No	Yes
No code/Low code feature	Yes, Supported	Provides record and playback via Selenium IDE however tests are flaky and hence not recommended to use	Yes, Supported
Report and Dashboard	Provides report and dashboard	No in-built reporting feature	Provides customizable reports and dashboard
Integrations	Supports integrations however tools list may be limited	Yes, but requires good technical knowledge to integrate	Supports a wide list of tools to integrate without any technical knowledge
AI features	Yes, Supported	No in-built AI capabilities	Yes, Supported
Documentation	Limited documentation	Good documentation	Good documentation
Support	Dedicated support via Phone/Online	Community support. No dedicated support team is available	Dedicated support via Phone/Online/ 24/7 live support

Functionize vs Selenium – Key Differences

Functionize and Selenium aim to automate the web and mobile applications however they are targeting different types of customers so they have many differences. 

Functionize is a no-code automation tool, which is also a SaaS platform. Whereas Selenium is exclusively for coders who have in-depth coding knowledge. Let’s start comparing them with features.

Comparison of Functionize vs Selenium In terms of Features

Functionize provides almost every feature inbuilt. Which means Functionize is a ready-made framework. In the case of Selenium, you need to build all the required features on your own. 

Functionize comes with an easy no-code testing platform and provides features such as Visual integrations, reporting and dashboard, visual editor to write the automation test cases. It also offers the visual regression testing feature without additional complexity. You can use Functionize for API testing. In the case of Selenium, it provides only browser automation libraries for all the other features you need to depend on third-party plugins/libraries. The Selenium framework development is not an easy task as it requires expertise level understating in coding and configuration. 

Testsigma further simplifies the complexity and provides many similar features which can be used with ease. Testsigma also doesn’t require any coding knowledge to automate the scripts.

Functionize or Selenium: Which Is Ideal for Your Industry

Functionize and Selenium both are capable of automating any type of web application. However, Functionize has been tuned for specific use cases such as Salesforce, Workday, SAP, Oracle, and Guidewire-based applications. Which helps to automate faster and easier. 

Similarly, Testsigma also has different use case support which helps to accelerate the automation without worrying about the background complexity. Also, Testsigma recently launched specific support salesforce which can be tried out here: https://testsigma.com/automated-salesforce-testing

Functionize vs Selenium: Pros

Functionize is the ready-made framework, and because of that many features are readily available such as test automation framework structure, functional and API automation configurations, reporting and dashboard configuration, etc. As it is a no-code automation tool that simplifies any additional integrations. 

Selenium is known for its customizability and extensibility. Selenium can go beyond the scope of test automation with third-party plugin integrations. Selenium is also known for supporting any edge case scenarios. This helps in the creation of a custom framework with organization-specific requirements. 

Testsigma also has many advantages like Functionize, which can also accelerate script development with pre-built frameworks and record and playback options. Additionally, Testsigma allows users to customize the automation framework in many ways. 

Functionize vs Selenium: Cons

Functionize provides limited support for customization. It may be difficult to cover the edge case scenarios. Additionally, you may need to experiment with scalability for large-scale organization requirements. 

Selenium requires a very good understanding of coding knowledge which will slow down the script development. Selenium also requires many third-party tool integrations which will increase the dependency and complexity of the test automation framework. 

Finally, Functionize is a commercial tool you need to pay for the license.

Which Is Better? – Functionize or Selenium

Functionize and Selenium both are good automation testing tools. 

If you want to accelerate the automation coverage on a tight schedule then Functionize may be a good option. 

Also if you do not have the skilled resources and you want to share the resources across the project then Functionize and Testsigma may be the best fit. 

If your application is complex and which has many edge-case scenarios then Selenium is the right option. Selenium allows a high degree of customization which requires more technical expertise if you have all these Selenium can be a good fit. 

Testsigma is the best alternative to both Functionize and Selenium. It  also helps to accelerate automation as it has all the features in-built and requires fewer configurations.

Read more on Functionize Alternatives and Selenium Alternatives

Limitations of Functionize and Selenium

Functionize is a commercial tool that involves the license cost to use it. As it is a commercial tool, it is less customizable and extensible. You may find difficulties in automating the edge case scenarios.  Additionally, it may be difficult to integrate Functionize, if you are using the less known tools as integration support for the tools is limited. 

Selenium helps in a good level of customization, it allows you to integrate different types of tools into your automation framework however demands good coding skills and expertise. Because of technical skill requirements, it may be difficult to share the resources across the project/product, it can also increase the human resource cost.

Conclusion

Selenium, Functionize, and Testsigma all are good automation testing solutions. Just like any other tool, all of these tools have advantages and disadvantages. Functionize and Testsigma come with modern AI integration which can help in accelerating the script development and lowering the maintenance cost, whereas Selenium requires more maintenance and skilled resources to automate. 

Selenium requires you to set up a framework from scratch that is complex and time-consuming. Testsigma and Functionize eliminate all these complexities and you can start testing within a few days of learning. That means Selenium has a deep learning curve, and Testsigma has a minimal learning curve. 

However, all these tools have major advantages based on the use case. You can choose the right automation framework/tool after evaluating your organization/project requirements against these three tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we migrate test data from Functionize and Selenium to Testsigma?

Functionize, Selenium, and Testsigma all are built with different architectures though there is no one-click solution to migrate Functionize or Selenium to Testsigma. You can migrate them easily with the record and playback option which is very easy.