Lambdatest vs Selenium – Top Key Differences

A highly fragmented browser world is good for developers and society. It brings unique features to ease the browsing experience while simultaneously creating an environment that does not let the monopoly of one come into play (it could be as disastrous as it was for Internet Explorer). However, this becomes a challenge for the web app testers. With so many browsers and devices with their multiple versions still being operated globally, testing on each of them can be a nightmare and extremely costly. This is where the question of LambdaTest vs Selenium and tools like Testsigma come into the picture. They try to eliminate these challenges and bring more functionalities for the testers but in their own way.

LambdaTest vs Selenium – Overview

What is LambdaTest?

LambdaTest is an artificial intelligence – integrated online cross-browser testing platform on which a tester can test their web application without ever worrying about purchasing a real device. The platform provides real devices (desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobiles) already set up on their infrastructure just ready to be fired up with the web address.

LambdaTest brings a lot of helpful tools for web app testers that help shorten the feedback cycles and accelerate testing processes. For instance, visual regression and geolocation testing are extremely crucial and challenging to perform. With LambdaTest, they come integrated into the tools just like tons of other integrations such as JIRA, CI/CD tools like Jenkins, and bug tracking tools like Bugzilla.

Check here – LambdaTest Alternatives

What is Selenium?

Selenium has been associated with the process of web app automation testing for so long that knowledge of it is now expected from all the testers. Started as an in-house project in 2004, today, Selenium is a powerful automation tool (scripted) that uses the WebDriver approach (similar to Appium) to conduct the tests.

The methodology of Selenium works by initializing a WebDriver which is specific to the browser and downloadable through official channels. Scripts written in Selenium are converted to actions that are then communicated to the driver so that it can perform those actions on the browser installed on the local machine. Selenium’s approach to web app automation has been revolutionary in introducing newer tools and making automation a common talk among the organization.

Check here – Selenium Alternatives

What is Testsigma?

Testsigma is a cloud-based test automation tool that provides a codeless environment for testers to author and execute tests without involving any local resources. This is in contrast to Selenium which provides scripted automation support on local resources. Testsigma comes integrated with artificial intelligence that provides features such as self-healing tests, NLP-based scripting (in the English language), and automatic test case generation using generative AI. Due to AI, testers can speed up their test execution by up to 10 times which has a significant impact on test cycles.

The benefit of Testsigma among all of its peers, including LambdaTest, is its capability to provide NLP and AI into all the test domains. For instance, testers that require mobile app testing can initiate the testing process by simply uploading the app on Testsigma and operating on it like an end-user. These actions are converted to test cases automatically and reused later. This is just one of many examples of how Testsigma facilitates test automation without the need for programming languages. 

LambdaTest vs Selenium – Similarities and Differences

The question of LambdaTest vs Selenium cannot be answered without learning in detail about both of them – their pros and their cons. This information will help connect with their similarities and differences later.

Pros and Cons of LambdaTest

The advantages and disadvantages offered by the cloud-based cross-browser testing platform help us understand its compatibility with the project, the team’s skills, and the requirements.

Pros of LambaTest

• LambdaTest is completely cloud-based and therefore the team need not buy any additional resources to conduct testing.

• People who do not have a published web application can use LambdaTest’s secure tunnel feature where the app files can reside on the local machine while the infrastructure is on the cloud.

• The platform provides real devices on their platform that help in measuring the parameters accurately.

• LambdaTest offers a tool called KaneAI which acts as an end-to-end testing assistant. It helps write test cases in English or conditional flow diagrams and execute them on a web app on their infrastructure. It also helps in debugging and self-healing the test cases automatically.

• LambdaTest also integrates AI into reporting helping fetch data from multiple sources and creating meaningful representations for it using artificial intelligence.

• The platform integrates with multiple third-party tools including CI/CD tools like Jenkins and bug management tools like JIRA.

• LambdaTest also supports multiple test automation frameworks including Selenium and Appium so that the testers can write tests on their machine and execute them using their devices on their infrastructure.

LambdaTest is a great tool if the requirements revolve around cross-browser testing or demand multiple devices.

Check here – LambdaTest vs Katalon

Cons of LambdaTest

While LambdaTest’s pros excite us to learn more about the tool, its cons are something a tester should be well aware of to make a better judgement.

• LambdaTest is not a test automation platform. Hence, the tester will always require knowledge of additional tools and write scripts on them to execute them on their infrastructure.

• A free trial of LambdaTest is restrictive and gives very little time to conduct a testing session which is challenging for testers. Also, the features provided in the free account are extremely limited.

• A lot of online forums raise the issue of stability and lag during their sessions.

• Outdated documentation for a lot of features also seems to be a problem faced by many testers and developers.

These cons can prevent a tester from adopting LambdaTest and therefore should be carefully examined before finalizing the tool for the next project.

Check here – Serenity vs Selenium

Pros and Cons of Selenium

Selenium, being a popular test automation software, comes with its advantages and disadvantages, just like any other tool.

Pros of Selenium

The age of Selenium and a vibrant active community has helped the tool to modify and advance according to its users. Due to this, there are a lot of pros offered by Selenium.

• Selenium is open-source and is actively developed by people all around the world. This has helped Selenium transform itself according to the current trends and the expectations of the testers.

• Selenium’s language support has been its selling point for a long time. It supports all the major programming languages including Python, Ruby, C#, Perl, and Scala.

• Selenium can be used on all the major browsers and all the major operating systems smoothly. This is a great benefit considering how tests expand multiple browsers and platforms and all such requirements can be sufficed with a single tool.

• Parallel test execution is possible with Selenium test automation. Selenium uses Selenium Grid for this purpose.

• Selenium is easy to use and has a very simple learning curve. It poses no problem for beginners in test automation.

• Selenium is highly scalable and therefore can be used for small-scale applications, medium-scaled, or even enterprise applications.

Selenium’s pros are highly promising and eliminate a lot of overheads for the testers giving them a simplified tool with integrations to help develop and execute simple to complex scripts.

Check here – Testim vs Selenium

Cons of Selenium

There are a few disadvantages of using Selenium that one should consider especially at this time when there are hundreds of test automation tools available to choose from.

• Selenium works on the local system. To achieve the efficiency and throughput from it, the scripts have to be taken to the cloud platform that supports Selenium. This becomes an added overhead.

• Selenium is a scripted test automation platform and hence knowledge of programming is essential. Considering there are excellent codeless tools available, Selenium’s coded approach can become a point of discussion sometimes.

• Selenium asks to download drivers to work with. These drivers should be of the same version as the browser. So if Google Chrome 120 is present on the system, the current chromedriver in use should be version 120. Otherwise, it has to be downloaded manually. This is extremely hectic and since browsers release a new version every 15 days, it wastes a lot of time.

• The test automation tool is only compatible with web applications and there is no support for desktop apps and mobile applications. For this, the tester has to work on other tools like Appium that can be additional work for them.

• Selenium interacts with the webdriver that then communicates instructions to the browser and vice versa for the response. This is a long process and is responsible for making Selenium a “slow” software.

• In-built visual UI testing which compares baseline images with the new UI is not available in Selenium. Although, it can be used through third-party tools.

These disadvantages of Selenium can prove to be a showstopper for some of the testers as there is hardly any workaround for such challenges. However, it depends on the team’s experience as well.

What sets Testsigma apart in the LambdaTest vs Selenium debate?

While LambdaTest and Selenium have many disadvantages, one in each of them is the most prominent and concerning.

LambdaTest’s main issue is with the script writing. Since LambdaTest does not support automation script authoring, the tester has to find a new framework, learn it, and write scripts on it. It could be Selenium as well since LambdaTest provides support for both Selenium and Selenium Grid for parallel testing.

Selenium’s main issue is its high maintenance, absence of any in-built devices (not even virtual), and high resource utilization. In addition, Selenium does not support a codeless paradigm (just low-code using IDE) which can also be a pain for many testers.

All these challenges can be resolved by Testsigma without integrating or attaching any other tool to it. Testsigma is cloud-based and provides codeless automation test authoring to the users which sets it apart from LambdaTest and Selenium.

With Testsigma, the author need not integrate Selenium and can execute English-based tests easily on real devices available on their infrastructure. Along with this, the tester gets added advantages to conduct their tests:

• Testsigma comes integrated with artificial intelligence into their platform that helps correct the tests automatically when UI changes (self-healing), author new test cases using Copilot and NLP, and suggest corrections when a test case fails.

• Testsigma supports all the major testing types including data-driven testing, web app automation testing, visual UI testing, Salesforce testing, API testing, and many more.

• The platform supports end-to-end testing without writing any code. This can be achieved by interacting with the application and those actions can be directly converted to test cases.

• Testsigma supports the inclusion of visual UI testing into regression tests so that each code push also checks the UI elements clearly.

• The platform supports desktops, mobile, web, and hybrid applications hence covering the whole testing area under a single roof.

• More than 30 supported integrations ensure that the tester can complete all the jobs from a single location and get all the data there without switching to multiple third-party applications.

Adopting Testsigma is like adopting multiple tools that do different work but on the same platform. It can perform all the tasks required by a tester from authoring, to execution to reporting. It is a versatile tool that is open source and available for free account sign-up as well.

Testsigma vs LambdaTest vs Selenium

Let’s see how Testsigma, LambdaTest and Selenium stand on various important parameters when it comes to test automation.

Parameter	Testsigma	LambdaTest	Selenium
Goal served	Codeless test automation on the cloud with artificial intelligence and real devices.	Provide real devices and a cloud infrastructure where test automation scripts written on the local system can be run through integration.	A web app test automation framework on which tests can be authored to be run on any browser.
Learning Curve	Extremely smooth since test cases are written in English and in most cases, they can be auto-generated.	Steeper than Testsigma since the integration of test framework requires setup such as enabling the keys and integrating into tests. If only manual device testing is required, it can be done smoothly.	Steep learning curve as the tester has to script the tests in a programming language with the knowledge of locators on the web app as well.
Method of test automation	Codeless based on the English language.	KaneAI can be used to script test cases in an English-type language that follows a strict syntax.	Scripted test execution on a programming language of the choice of tester.
Free trial	Available	Available	Completely free to use.
Supported testing domains	Cross-browser testing, API testing, Data-driven testing, functional testing, UI testing, mobile app testing, regression testing, and visual UI testing.	Cross-browser testing, mobile app testing (using third-party framework integration like Appium), partial UI testing (currently in development through AI)	UI testing, functional testing, and cross-browser testing through browser drivers.
Customization	Highly customizable and flexible to accommodate changes according to the tester.	Restrictive when it comes to customization.	Scripted test automation tools are always highly customizable since a tester programs it himself.
Cloud-based service	Available	Available	Not available, only locally accessible.
Live testing performance	Minimum lag and smoother interaction with the hosted application.	A bit lag while performing live testing.	No UI is available and the tests are performed on local browsers, hence no lag is possible.
Integrations	Supports 30+ integrations	Supports 120+ integrations	Selenium does not support any integration officially. However, since it is open-source, tool developers can create support for Selenium from their end and the tester can then integrate it.
Scalability	Highly scalable, recommended for all types of applications.	Highly scalable, recommended for all types of applications.	Highly scalable. However, will require additional resources during scaling as its maintenance overheads keep on increasing with the application’s scale.
Test Maintenance	Highly maintainable tests since they are crafted in English.	Automation done through KaneAI is a little harder since it is written vertically in a flow with strict syntax that resembles English.	Hard to maintain especially when the tool starts to expand.

This table helps us understand each of the tools in detail clearly and make a wise decision when it comes to their adoption.

Testsigma vs LambdaTest vs Selenium: Which one should you choose?

Testsigma, LambdaTest and Selenium are all excellent tools for conducting test automation on web applications. However, they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

LambdaTest is an excellent tool when the requirement is for devices that vary on various parameters including operating systems (or their version), browsers (or their versions), and resolutions. It provides real devices and integrates with a lot of third-party tools. However, LambdaTest is not a test automation authoring platform. Recently, it has started its own test scripting through AI, but that is in the infancy stage and cannot be relied on with enterprise-level software.

Selenium is a test automation framework whose main job is to provide a set of libraries through which a tester can write test cases. It can be integrated with another framework like TestNG but it still is just a test authoring platform at best. Selenium’s main disadvantage is the maintenance overhead which is hard to tackle especially when the application size is growing. Downloading so many browser drivers and the mandatory existence of all the browsers on the local device is something that concerns all organizations today. Selenium, as of today, is best to be used with other tools specifically those that are cloud-based.

Testsigma is a cloud-based software that brings both Selenium and LambdaTest to a single place without needing any local resources. In addition, it eliminates all the weaknesses of both tools and still manages to provide a platform that does not even need a programming script like Selenium. It brings out the best of both worlds and therefore due to this and many more reasons discussed in this post, Testsigma is a better choice when Testsigma vs LambdaTest vs Selenium is in the question.

Conclusion

Even though we compared Lamdatest and Selenium and also explored Testsigma – all of these tools cater to unique use cases.

Lambdatest is primarily for people who are looking to scale their test execution on multiple devices for cross-browser testing and cross-device testing. 

Selenium is for people who have a skilled team in programming languages and are looking for a free and open-source tool, while they are also okay to spend on infrastructure requirements separately. 

Testsigma is for people who are looking for a complete test automation platform and are interested in doing complex test automation using simple no-code technologies – simple English and record-n-play in the case of Testsigma. Here, the team can automate and execute their tests on the device cloud of their choice. Along with all this, everything is hosted on the cloud so they don’t need to worry about infrastructure.

So, to conclude, what tool will suit you depends on your requirements. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Which automation tool is better than Selenium?

Testsigma is a great alternative to Selenium in many regards. It does not require any programming skills to work, produces low-maintenance scripts, is available on the cloud, and does not require any additional downloads such as browser drivers to work. It also provides integrated devices, unlike Selenium which requires physical devices to work.

Is there anything faster than Selenium?

Testsigma is much faster than Selenium in test authoring and in test execution as well. It can also generate test cases automatically using artificial intelligence, something which is not yet available with Selenium.