Testim vs Selenium: What are the Differences?

Selenium is popular in code-based automation tools and Testim is popular in no-code-based automation tools. Having no-code automation helps in increasing the test coverage, additionally, no-code tools also come with many challenges. Comparing Testim vs Selenium helps to understand them in detail.

Testim vs Selenium – Overview

Selenium and Testim are both popular in the industry. Though Testim is a new arrival to the market it has gained a lot of popularity and it succeeded in attracting many large-scale companies. On the other hand, Selenium started releasing new features with upgraded versions which can secure its market share. 

What is Selenium?

Selenium is an open-source test automation tool, shipped with Apache 2.0 license. As it is an open-source tool, it is completely free to use. Selenium is a highly customizable and extensible automation library. Selenium was first released in 2004, and though many years passed its popularity has not decreased. Even today Selenium has a large market share in the test automation industry.

Selenium offers many programming languages such as .Net, Java, Python, JavaScript, etc. Selenium is capable of automating even complex applications. As it is highly customizable, you can integrate almost any tool into this. However, Selenium demands a lot of technical knowledge. Setting up a framework and configuring it as per your requirements is challenging.

What is Testim?

Testim is a commercial tool by Tricentis. It is a no-code tool, which means you do not need to know the programming languages to write the automation scripts. It also supports many features such as in-built cloud testing support, cross-device testing, cross-platform testing, mobile testing, and integration with third-party tools. Advanced features allow you to write small snippets using JavaScript. It incorporates AI into its tool to provide stable execution.

Testim supports both Mobile and Desktop web. For organizations that are looking for a test automation tool that has less complexity and offers both desktop web and mobile automation, it serves as the best tool. As it is a commercial tool, you need to pay for the license, on the good side, it offers good technical support.

Read here – Testim Alternatives

Testim and Selenium Similarities

Testim and Selenium both target the functional automation of web applications. There are many similarities between Testim and Selenium. They both support multiple platforms such as Windows and macOS. Like Selenium, Testim also supports all major browsers like Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. These are integration-friendly tools, they can be integrated with CI/CD tools. Though the level of customization differs, they both offer customization features. UI and functional testing can be easily performed using these tools. The deep-level automation features such as debugging, the grouping of test cases, etc. are supported by these tools. The way the tester writes the test script changes but both of them provide stable results.

Selenium vs Testim: What are the Differences?

Selenium and Testim both offer very good features. There are many differences as both are built on different architecture. Selenium is an open source project, Testim is a commercial tool and you need to pay for the license. Testim offers many features in-built such as cloud testing, reporting screenshots, etc, but Selenium doesn’t include anything apart from browser simulation libraries. Starting from test runners you need to rely on third-party tools such as JUnit, TestNG, ExtentReporters, etc. to achieve the required features.

When it comes to integrations Selenium provides almost all different types of tools integration, as Selenium is an open source tool there are many community users who develop plugins that can be integrated with Selenium, Testim also offers integration however the list of tools is limited. One of the great benefits of Testim is no-code automation, which means it doesn’t require any programming language knowledge to start automation, as opposed to Selenium requires a very deep level of technical knowledge to build the automation framework. As selenium requires coding knowledge the learning curve is high as compared to Testim. Though Selenium provides Selenium IDE where you can record and playback it is not recommended as tests may be flaky if your application has dynamic content.

Testim license may not be budget-friendly whereas Selenium comes as free. Testim offers many features other than functional testing such as API testing, responsive testing, etc. Though both of these tools are popular they may not fulfill all of your organization’s requirements. Testsigma is an alternative to Selenium and Testim, it offers a lot of benefits including nonfunctional testing such as visual regression testing, and integration with existing cloud tools, it is also a no-code test automation hence no coding knowledge is required to automate the script.

Testsigma VS Testim VS Selenium – Table Comparison

The following table helps to clear out all of your confusion. Let’s compare Testsigma VS Testim VS Selenium.

	Testsigma	Testim	Selenium
License	Commercial License	Commercial License	Open source
Cost	Variant Plans	Variant Plans	Free
Learning Curve	Low	Moderate	High
Language Support	No-code tool	No-code tool	Supports C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, etc.
Browser Support	Firefox, Edge, Firefox, Safari	Firefox, Edge, Firefox, Safari	Firefox, Edge, Firefox, Safari
Operating System Support	MacOS, Windows, and Linux	MacOS and Windows	MacOS, Windows, and Linux
Supported Platform	Mobile and Desktop Web	Mobile and Desktop Web	Web-only
AI based features	Yes	Yes	No
API Testing	Natively supported	Natively supported	No. Requires third-party tool integration.
Visual Regression Testing	Yes, inbuilt	No, Requires third-party tool integration.	No, Requires third-party tool integration.
CI/CD Support	Yes, Supports almost all major CI/CD tools	Yes, but support is limited.	Yes, but requires technical knowledge to integrate
In-built reporting	Yes, provides customizable reports and dashboards	Yes, offers limited customization	No
No-code feature	Yes	Yes	Yes, but supported via Selenium IDE. Not recommended for dynamic content websites.
Integration with third-party tools	Yes offers many third-party tools integration	Yes, offers a limited set of tools	Yes, but requires in-depth technical knowledge to integration
Pros	No-code testingSupports many different types of testing such as API testing, visual regression testing, data-driven testing, etc.Supports existing cloud provider integration and also offers in-built cloud executionAI features help in stable resultsOffers good customizationEasy to debugComprehensive reportingSupports Windows MacOS and Linux platformOffers mobile testing and desktop web testing in a single platform	Offers no-code testingSupports Windows and MacOSSupports both Mobile and Desktop webOffers CI/CD integration supportIn-built reportingIntegration to other tools	Highly configurable automation toolOpen source and free to useCloud testing tools integration supportedVery good community baseGood documentationOffers cross-browser testing
Cons	It is a commercial tool hence you need to pay for a license however prices are budget-friendly	License costs may be high for some organizationsNo inbuilt visual regression supportMany users have reported tests are flaky at timesDebugging information may not be enoughDoesn’t offer Linux platform execution support	Doesn’t support in-built reporting, API Testing, or cloud execution.Doesn’t offer mobile platform testing, you need to integrate Appium to do this.Highly technical tool, demands more skilled resourcesThe framework setup is complex and time-consumingMaintenance is challengingA lot of dependency on third-party tools makes automation heavy and may even cause performance issues.Tests may become flaky if you don’t set up the framework carefully
Customers	Testsigma is used by many popular companies such as Hewlett Packard, Mehilainen, PerfectMind, CiLicense	Testim is used by Walkme, Microsoft, USAToday, JFrog, OpenWeb, NetApp, SalesForce, Forter, and many more companies	Selenium has not listed its customers however based on 6senese.com data we can see that it is used by many organizations such asPRA, Cartrack, Telenor ASA, Open Compute Project, Piwik PRO, Moody’s Corporation, Arcarithm, Engle Martin & Associates, Skybooking.net etc.

Selenium vs Testim: Which is Better?

Though both offer good functionality, Selenium requires coding knowledge and it is difficult to set up the framework. Selenium depends a lot on third-party tools integration. As you are aware, the more you integrate third-party tools, the maintenance also increases. However it is highly customizable and configurable, if you have a dedicated team to maintain the framework then it can be enhanced to support many features. 

On the other hand, Testim is a commercial tool, you need to pay for the license, but it can decrease the time and effort involved in the design phase. As it is a commercial tool, it limits the customization feature, if you are working on a complex application or if you are planning to build a highly customizable framework this tool may not fulfill all of your requirements. The better tool can be decided based on your requirements and application architecture. You may also consider Testsigma as an alternative as it supports many more features that may serve well for your organization.

Alternatives for the Tools Selenium and Testim

Testsigma is a modern test automation tool, it was built after an analysis of the modern scope and demand of test automation. It is a no-code and budget-friendly tool. Though the tool is commercial and you need to pay initially, it can save a lot of cost during the test design phase as it doesn’t demand highly skilled resources and you do not need to bother about the testing infrastructure. 

Check here – Test Automation Tools Comparison

Testsigma supports many features under its platform, hence many large-scale companies articulated this tool as a “One-Stop solution for test automation”. 

Some of the notable features of Testsigma are no-code scripting, inbuilt screenshot and video recording, inbuilt cloud testing support, integration to the external cloud testing tools such as BrowserStack and SauceLabs, integration with many defect tracking tools, visual-based integrations to CI/CD pipeline, customizable, comprehensive reports and dashboards. Inbuilt visual regression testing, mobile automation support, etc. 

The list of Testsigma features grows as you start counting. Testsigma gained a good market share in the no-code test automation segment. In short, Testsigma can serve as an alternative to Selenium and Testim.

Conclusion

Testim is a no-code automation tool, it helps to reduce the effort involved in the designing and maintenance phase. Also as it is a cloud tool, many features are available in-built. Testers need not worry about setting up the framework and integrating third-party tools. However, it limits the customization and Testim may not be budget-friendly for all. 

Selenium is an open-source automation testing tool. It is free to use. One of the benefits of the Selenium tool is it can automate any complex functional scenarios. But Selenium requires very good programming language knowledge. Setting up and maintaining the Selenium framework is time-consuming. 

As both of these tools have many challenges, Testsigma can help in addressing many challenges involved in Selenium and Testim.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to migrate tests from Testim to Selenium?

There is no direct way to migrate from Testim to Selenium. It requires you to rewrite the script in Selenium. Migration costs are always heavy, hence it is important to make the right decision in the initial phase.

Can we migrate tests from Testim or Selenium to Testsigma?

Migrating from one test automation tool to another is always challenging. Considering this in mind, migration from Testim or Selenium to Testsigma is possible, but it may take some effort. However, Testsigma offers dedicated technical assistance, which can accelerate your migration process.

Testim Vs Selenium: which markets compete with each other?

Both Testim and Selenium are built for the QA and Testing domains. Hence they both compete to capture testing market share. While Selenium has a major market share in testing, Testim also has a share in the no-code testing space. However, when you make an overall comparison of market share, Testim has considerably less market share.

Does Selenium support no-code testing?

Selenium is popular as a code-based tool. It supports record and playback using the Selenium IDE.