Ghost Inspector vs Cypress – Top Key Differences

Cypress is an example of a code-based test automation tool, while Ghost Inspector and Testsigma are examples of no-code test automation. Though these tools aim to provide similar functionality, they offer many distinct features. Let’s understand in detail.

Ghost Inspector vs Cypress – Overview

What is a Ghost Inspector? 

Ghost Inspector is an end-to-end testing solution that supports the test automation of web applications with a cloud-based platform. It offers many unique features such as recording and playback, a codeless test editor, support for browsers, screens, and geolocations, accessibility testing, visual regression testing, etc. 

Ghost Inspector supports complex scenarios such as file uploads, iframes, PDF rendering, and 2FA logins. 

Additionally, Ghost Inspector can be used for environment-based testing and data-driven testing. Interestingly, Ghost Inspector can also validate email-based scenarios. Furthermore, it supports third-party integrations.

What is Cypress?

Cypress is a modern test automation framework designed for testing web applications. It is available as both an open-source version and a commercial version. Unless advanced reporting or dashboard capabilities are needed, the open-source version is sufficient for test automation. 

Unlike traditional test automation tools, Cypress doesn’t require middleware like browser-specific drivers. Cypress is designed with a unique architecture, injecting commands directly into the browser without requiring middleware. This gives Cypress greater control over the browser and the application under test. 

Cypress supports scripting using JavaScript or TypeScript. It facilitates end-to-end test automation, component testing, and API testing on the same platform. Cypress can be installed with minimal effort by executing a few commands. Furthermore, it provides a visual test runner that makes it easy to execute tests by visually selecting them. It is also suitable for cross-browser testing as it supports many modern browsers.

What is Testsigma?

Testsigma is a popular no-code and AI-driven test automation tool that supports a variety of automation scenarios on a single platform. It is a codeless automation tool, meaning it does not require you to write scripts in any programming language. 

As Testsigma is a cloud-based solution, there is no need for local setup or configuration. Testsigma supports multiple testing types, including end-to-end testing, data-driven testing, API testing, and visual regression testing. Additionally, it offers advanced features for Salesforce-based applications. 

One of the unique features of Testsigma is its support for both mobile and desktop automation out of the box. It also integrates with many third-party software tools, including CI/CD platforms, project management tools, and corporate messaging tools.

Ghost Inspector vs Cypress – Pros and Cons

Ghost Inspector is a cloud-based test automation platform that does not require any local installation. It offers many unique features, such as email validation and 2FA-based scenarios. However, Ghost Inspector is built specifically for web applications and may not support native mobile applications.

Pros of Ghost Inspector

• Cloud-based platform: Ghost Inspector is a cloud-based platform that eliminates the need for complex local setups. This also makes test cases and other test artifacts easily accessible, ensuring better collaboration by making everything available over the Internet.
• No-code test automation: Ghost Inspector does not require coding. It allows users to record and playback steps, enabling the creation of test cases by simply recording actions on supported browsers.
• Cross-browser testing: Ghost Inspector supports cross-browser testing with popular browsers like Chrome and Firefox.
• Responsive and geolocation testing: It supports responsive design testing, including mobile resolutions. Additionally, tests can be run based on different geolocations to validate geolocation-based scenarios.
• Edge case scenario support: Ghost Inspector simplifies complex edge cases by supporting scenarios like email validation, 2FA-based authentication, file uploads, credit card-based checkouts, etc., out of the box.
• Support for visual testing and accessibility testing: Ghost Inspector supports advanced use cases such as accessibility testing and image comparison testing (visual regression testing).
• Support for integration: Ghost Inspector offers integration with third-party tools like CI/CD platforms and supports alerts, notifications, and version control systems.
• Other features: Ghost Inspector also supports features like parallel execution, test scheduling, and reporting.

Cons of Ghost Inspector

• Lacks mobile app support: Ghost Inspector is primarily designed for web applications and does not support native mobile applications. Organizations may need to subscribe to a different tool if they need to test native mobile applications.
• Subscription cost: Many users opined that the pricing structure is not budget-friendly, especially if the team or organization is on a tight budget.
• Cross-browser testing limitation: It supports only Firefox and Chrome browsers. Safari, Edge, and other popular browsers are not supported. Cross-browser testing may be incomplete if you do not test the most used browsers.
• Debugging capability: Though it eases test case creation, you may find it difficult to debug. Many users opined that when a test fails, it is hard to find the root cause and fix it.
• Learning curve: Ghost Inspector makes test case creation and execution easier. This may be true for basic scenarios, but when considering advanced scenarios, users might still need to write code to handle specific use cases. This may require technical knowledge and learning.
• Issues with complex scenarios: Though Ghost Inspector claims to support 2FA authentication and other edge case scenarios out of the box, many users are facing difficulties bypassing CAPTCHA and handling other complex scenarios.
• Operating system support: Ghost Inspector offers services only in a Linux environment. If users want to execute the scenario in other popular operating systems, it may require complex installation and they might have to go through various challenges.

Cypress is popular because of its developer friendliness, easy debugging capability, and customization options. Cypress tests are comparatively faster and more stable as they directly execute tests on the browser without requiring any middleware. Additionally, it supports integration with many tools. Though it comes with many advanced capabilities, it lacks mobile app testing, iFrame support, parallel execution in a local environment, etc.

Pros of Cypress

• Easy to install: Cypress provides an easy way to install the framework. One can use npm or yarn commands to install Cypress. Additionally, during the first launch, it automatically configures the required files and folders.
• Open source: Although Cypress has both open-source and commercial versions, the open-source version provides almost all the required features, which helps reduce costs.
• Faster and reliable tests: It is built with modern architecture and directly interacts with the browser, which not only makes Cypress tests faster but also reduces flakiness, making it more reliable.
• Cross-browser testing: Cypress supports many popular browsers such as Chrome, Electron, Edge, and Firefox. Additionally, it automatically detects the installed browsers on the system and provides a way to execute tests on them.
• Advanced debugging capability: It provides various ways to debug, including browser dev tools, logs, screenshot-based time travel, and video recording.
• Screenshot and videos: Cypress provides built-in screenshot and video capturing capabilities. There is no need to integrate third-party tools to achieve this.
• Mocking and network control: Cypress also supports advanced features like mocking and network control. One can easily test APIs without integrating the backend system through the mocking feature.
• Good documentation and community support: Cypress has comprehensive documentation with all supported features and trade-offs, which helps in writing scripts and making informed decisions during the evaluation phase. The community is growing, so we can expect moderate community support.
• Integration with third-party tools: Cypress also supports integration with third-party tools like CI/CD platforms. It provides a CLI option to execute tests, which helps with integration.

Cons of Cypress

• No support for mobile applications: Cypress is primarily built for web application testing; however, it does not support native mobile application testing.
• No support for codeless automation: Cypress requires JavaScript or TypeScript to write test cases. It does not offer a no-code test automation feature.
• Complexity with parallel execution: Cypress tests run in a single context, and test cases cannot be executed in parallel on a local system. Running parallel tests might require complex environment configurations.
• Issues with multiple window and iframe-based scenarios: Cypress lacks many basic features that are crucial for testing web applications. You need to follow workarounds to test multiple window or tab scenarios. Similarly, many other features like iframes and hover are not supported.
• Lacks reporting: The open-source version of Cypress lacks reporting, and you might need to rely on third-party plugins to achieve various reporting structures.
• Support for browsers: Cypress only supports Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and Electron browsers. The stock Safari version is not supported yet.
• Cross-domain restrictions: Cypress restricts cross-domain features, meaning that your test steps need to be on the same domain.
• Steep learning curve: As Cypress requires coding expertise and integration also requires complex configuration, there is a steep learning curve involved in adopting Cypress.
• Supports only JavaScript: Cypress supports only JavaScript or TypeScript and doesn’t offer any other programming languages for scripting.

Features of Testsigma

• Cloud-Based Tool: Testsigma is a cloud-based platform that does not require local installation and setup, which eliminates a lot of complexity and makes the setup simple.
  User Experience: Testsigma has an intuitive and modern UI, which makes the user experience smooth and feels rich while using.
• No-Code Test Automation: Testsigma offers no-code test automation, where testers do not need to write complex logic in programming languages. It offers record and playback options and a visual editor to write the automation scripts. This removes the skillset barrier and allows anyone to be part of automation testing.
• Supports Desktop, Web, and Mobile Applications: Testsigma can be used for any type of application, including desktop, web, and mobile applications. This helps automate different applications by relying on one platform.
• Various Testing Type Support: It supports many testing types such as functional testing, end-to-end testing, visual testing, API testing, and data-driven testing across mobile and web applications.
• Plentiful Environments to Choose From: Testsigma’s built-in cloud supports a large list of environments for both mobile and web applications. It supports Linux, macOS, and Windows operating systems, and Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge browsers. It also supports iOS and Android devices to test mobile applications. Testsigma’s cloud is highly scalable and meets the requirements of organizations of any size.
• Support for Various Testing Needs: Testsigma can be used for cross-browser testing, cross-platform testing, cross-device testing, and visual testing. It has an inbuilt cloud platform with 3000+ web and real mobile devices, allowing tests to run in parallel, locally, or on the cloud.
• AI-Driven Test Automation Increases Productivity: Testsigma has AI integration that allows for maximum automation coverage, accelerated test cycles, and early bug detection by supporting advanced features like automated test case generation using Figma, user stories, screenshots, and different types of inputs, AI-based API test case generation, and auto-healing tests.
• Parallel Testing: Testsigma supports parallel testing, so you can execute your tests across different platforms simultaneously. This helps reduce the execution duration of tests and provides faster feedback.
• Supports Multiple Project Management: You can use Testsigma for multiple projects. It can support multiple projects. Using role management and user management, multiple projects can be managed easily.
• Schedule Execution: It allows you to schedule execution for the future, such as daily, weekly, monthly, etc.
• Reports and Dashboards: Testsigma provides customizable dashboards and reports. Dynamic and context-driven reports allow you to filter out the results and create custom reports like summary reports, environment-based reports, test suite-based reports, etc.
• Sharable Reports: Test reports can be generated in various formats, including PDF, and can be shared easily with stakeholders both within and outside the organization.
• Easy to Manage Users and Roles: You can manage and customize your Testsigma account easily with user role management, user management, and custom field options.
• Integration with Third-Party Tools: Testsigma supports integration with more than 30 tools, including JIRA, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, GitHub, and Bamboo. This allows you to enable CI/CD integration, instant bug reporting, notifications, etc.
• Low Learning Curve: As Testsigma is a no-code-based tool, it does not require technical knowledge. Additionally, most of the features in Testsigma are self-explanatory, which reduces the learning curve and also reduces upskilling costs for the organization.
• Advanced Salesforce Test Automation: Salesforce automation is exclusively supported with many advanced features. It eliminates the complexity involved in Salesforce automation. One can leverage out-of-the-box automation with Salesforce metadata and APIs.
• Budget-Friendly: It is a budget-friendly tool that offers flexible pricing. Additionally, organizations can reduce costs in various ways by integrating Testsigma. Low learning costs save money on resource upskilling and training, in-built cloud execution eliminates third-party cloud provider integration, and supporting various platforms like mobile, desktop, and web eliminates the need for maintaining and subscribing to multiple tools.
• Customer Support: Testsigma provides 24×5 extended customer support via chat, email, call, and community.
• Documentation: Testsigma documents every possible feature with detailed videos, screenshots, and steps, which not only makes testers’ lives easier but also reduces the time spent on scripting

Table Comparison Cypress vs Ghost Inspector vs Testsigma

Feature	Ghost Inspector	Cypress	Testsigma
About	Ghost Inspector is a no-code and cloud-based testing tool for web application testing.	Cypress is a code-based testing tool for web application testing	Testsigma is a unified cloud testing platform for testing both mobile and web application
No-code support	Yes, supported	Not supported	Yes, Supported
Mobile application support	No support for native mobile application testing	No support for native mobile application testing	Yes, supports desktop, mobile, and web application testing
Supported Browsers	Firefox and Chrome	Firefox, Chrome, and Edge	Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Safari
Supported Operating system	Linux	Linux, MacOS, and Windows on Physical machine (non-cloud)	Linux, MacOS, Windows
In-built cloud execution	Yes comes with built-in cloud execution	Does not offer cloud execution for open source version.	Yes, In built-cloud execution with 3000+ real devices
Pricing	May be expensive for smaller teams	The open-source version is free	Flexible and more budget-friendly
Parallel execution	Yes, supported	Not supported locally	Yes, supported
AI-driven features	No AI feature	No AI features	Provides many AI features including auto-healing and test case generation
Supported Testing types	Supports accessibility testing, visual testing, and functional testing for web applications	Supports functional, component, and API testing for web applications	Supports functional, API, end-to-end, and visual testing for both mobile and web applications
Variants	Supports cloud hosting and on-premise hosting	Provides open-source variant and commercial enterprise variant with advanced features	Support Pro and Enterprise version depending on your team size and requirements

Cypress vs Ghost Inspector vs Testsigma: Which One to Choose?

Cypress is a code-based test automation platform for testing web applications. It supports web applications using JavaScript or TypeScript. Though it offers greater flexibility, it lacks many features like mobile testing, parallel execution, multiple window scenarios, cross-origin restrictions, iframe-based scenarios, etc. It may serve better when you have highly technical resources and a dedicated team for framework management. 

Ghost Inspector is a cloud-based platform, which makes installation easier by providing a cloud-based editor. Additionally, one can easily write test cases with the no-code feature, and it supports accessibility testing, visual testing, and functional testing. However, it does not support mobile test automation, and handling advanced scenarios may be complicated. 

Testsigma is a unified testing platform that provides many features, including no-code automation, in-built cloud execution, cross-browser testing, and API testing. It supports a diverse range of applications, including desktop, web, and mobile. 

Testsigma has a low learning curve and is also a budget-friendly tool. The advanced AI integration makes Testsigma a popular choice for both new-generation applications and traditional applications. However, when it comes to choosing the right tool, each organization may have specific requirements and many factors that may affect the decision. One can choose the right tool by carefully considering these factors.

Conclusion

In this blog, we compared Ghost Inspector and Cypress, and also discussed about Testsigma as an alternative to both. All these tools are made for specific needs and the one that suits your specific requirements, project scope, resources and other factors will be the best one for you.