Top 10 Tools for Cross-Browser Testing
Cross-browser testing is an important process for assessing the functionality of web applications on various browsers to find and fix flaws before users see them. It’s vital to choose the most suitable tool, to conduct this process properly. To help you with this, our experts prepared a detailed overview of the best 10 cross-browser testing tools, and explored their pros and cons.
Each of the tools can help you enhance your testing strategy and conduct cross-browser testing. We compared the specified tools according to the number of supported browsers and their versions, interactivity, price, and testing speed.
Why do you need cross-browser testing?
The contents of a website may be displayed incorrectly in some browsers as the result of differences in data interpretation across different versions of operating systems. And if a site is displayed incorrectly, a user is likely to leave it.
To avoid this issue, QA specialists should perform cross-browser testing to ensure that a site is displayed correctly regardless of the browser.
Cross-browser compatibility testing is a non-functional form of testing web applications and websites across different combinations of browsers, operating systems, and devices. The goal of this testing approach is to ensure a consistent user experience.
What to check with cross-browser testing?
Cross-browser testing allows QA specialists to check whether a website is displayed and works identically in all popular browsers. This means there must be no layout breaks and the information must be readable. Apart from that, QA specialists check lots of other website parameters:
Cross-browser testing tools and their benefits
Specialized tools for cross-browser testing help QA engineers accelerate the testing process. Depending on a tool’s features, it can also make the testing process more efficient. For instance, some tools allow for testing site performance, identifying slow loading, and even detecting possible crashes.
However, there are also several concerns you should keep in mind when deciding whether to use cross-browser tools.
Top 10 cross-browser testing tools that are worth using
We’ve chosen 10 helpful tools for cross-browser testing, both commercial and free. We picked tools for this list based on our testing experience, and we tried to present various price/quality options and tools that cover specific needs for testing certain browsers.
Tool #1: BrowserStack Live
BrowserStack Live is a cross-browser testing tool available on desktop and mobile browsers that doesn’t require any installation.
This tool allows you to set up a comprehensive testing environment with support for firewalls, proxies, and Active Directory. BrowserStack Live supports new and old versions of Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, Chrome, and Firefox on Windows and macOS.
You can test your website on real mobile devices running various operating systems using the BrowserStack cloud platform.
Advantages
- Can instantly start testing on a real device in the cloud
- Supports almost all real mobile device browsers
- Doesn’t require a device lab or virtual machines
Disadvantages
- Poor response time
- Some bugs found can’t be identified on real devices
Tool #2: Lambda Test
LambdaTest is a cloud-based platform for cross-browser compatibility testing of your web app or website. It allows you to perform live interactive testing in real browser environments or even run automated Selenium scripts on LambdaTest’s scalable cloud grid.
Advantages
- Provides a free version that allows you to perform six 10-minute sessions
- Supports cross-browser testing on both desktop and mobile browsers
- Offers an online grid for Selenium test automation that supports a lot of programming languages and frameworks
Disadvantages
- Not available on Linux
Tool #3: CrossBrowserTesting
CrossBrowserTesting has a user-friendly interface and allows developers to perform cross-browser testing on a wide range of browsers, including ones for mobile platforms.
This tool is available for Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, Android, and iOS. It allows you to run manual, visual, and Selenium tests in the cloud on more than 2050 real desktop and mobile browsers.
Advantages
- Wide range of browsers and browser versions
- Suitable for quick testing
- Provides an opportunity to choose the operating system and screen resolution
Disadvantages
- High price, especially if you need to perform testing on a large-sale project
- Not available on Linux
Tool #4: Sauce Labs
Sauce Labs is a cloud-based platform for testing web and mobile applications that offers QA specialists instant access to thousands of browser/operating system combinations and mobile emulators, simulators, and real devices.
Sauce Labs supports Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox on Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Advantages
- The opportunity to test mobile browsers on real devices
- A wide selection of emulators, simulators, and real devices
- Support for the latest browser versions
- Free trial available
Disadvantages
- Its high price significantly raises development costs
Tool #5: Browserling
Browserling is an easy-to-use interactive online tool for cross-browser testing powered by HTML5 and JavaScript. It doesn’t require you to install Java or plugins. A license starts at $19 per month, but Browserling offers a limited trial version.
Browserling supports only Android and Windows and works with various versions of Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari.
Advantages
- Offers a free trial
- Supports over 40 versions of popular browsers
- Сan be used for functional and responsive testing
- Allows for pixel by pixel comparisons
- Suitable for quick testing
Disadvantages
- Doesn’t support rare browsers
- Doesn’t support operating systems besides Android and Windows
- Free version allows only three-minute limited sessions and supports a limited number of browsers
Tool #6: IETester
IETester is a convenient and easy-to-use tool for testing a web application on different versions of the Internet Explorer browser, including IE5.5, IE6, IE7, IE8, IE9, IE10, and IE11. IETester works on Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
Unlike the majority of other tools, which are online services, IETester is a desktop application.
Advantages
- Free for both for personal and professional use
- Suitable for quick testing
- Allows for functional testing
Disadvantages
- Supports only Internet Explorer
- Has several known problems and limitations, like issues with Previous/Next buttons
- May incorrectly test web applications on IE9
Tool #7: IE NetRenderer
IE NetRenderer is intended only for online testing of websites on different versions of Internet Explorer. It’s ideal for pixel by pixel testing and supports IE5.5, IE6, IE7, IE8, IE9, IE10, and IE11.
To start working with NetRenderer, you only need to type in a URL and choose the Internet Explorer version. The tool is able to process a large number of capturing jobs in parallel and in real time, accelerating the testing process.
Advantages
- Free
- Can conduct pixel by pixel comparisons across different versions of Internet Explore
Disadvantages
- Supports only Internet Explorer
- Can’t be used for functional testing
Tool #8: Turbo.net
Turbo.net (previously Spoon.net) is a browser sandbox that allows you to deploy or test your website on multiple versions of web browsers without creating a large number of virtual machines. You also can run multiple applications side by side without any conflicts or dependencies via Turbo.net using isolated sandboxes.
Turbo.net works with the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Chromium Canary, Firefox Beta, and Firefox Nightly. The Turbo.net tool is currently available only for Windows.
Advantages
- Supports various versions of the most common browsers
- Сan be used for functional testing
- Supports Firefox and Opera
Disadvantages
- Doesn’t work on macOS and Linux
Tool #9: Digital.ai (Experitest)
Digital.ai (formerly Experitest) is a platform that offers various testing solutions, including manual cross-browser testing. It’s cloud-based and allows for cross-browser testing on any desktop version of Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Advantages
- Allows for executing hundreds of tests in parallel
- Can be used for mobile testing on real mobile devices
- Provides visual test reports with screenshots, videos, and log files
- Offers a free trial version for manual testing
Disadvantages
- Doesn’t support Linux
Tool #10: Browsera
Browsera is suitable for testing cross-browser layouts and checking for scripting errors on your website. You can use it to perform automated browser compatibility testing of a website and its elements in multiple browsers.
Browsera works on Windows, currently supporting Internet Explorer, Firefox (56.0 and 57.0), and Chrome (87.0). It can also be used on macOS to test Safari versions 6.0, 7,0, 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0.
Advantages
- Doesn’t require installation
- Can be used to test the entire website
- Provides a 30-day free trial
Disadvantages
- Not available for Linux and mobile platforms
- Doesn’t support Opera
- Doesn’t support older versions of Firefox and Chrome
- Requires payment prior to providing a free trial
Apriorit tips on choosing the right tool for cross-browser testing in your project
Your choice of cross-browser testing tool will greatly depend on your website’s specifics. Three crucial aspects to keep in mind when choosing a tool are:
- Supported browsers. The majority of tools support the most popular browsers and their latest versions. However, if you need to test on a particular rare browser, be sure to choose a tool that supports it.
- Device testing. Many cross-browser tools also support testing across devices. Make sure to pick a tool that supports the devices you need.
- Automated testing. Some tools, mostly those that are paid, also include test automation, which can save developers a lot of time since they can run fewer manual tests.
Tools comparison
Let’s finalize our tools’ comparison in the form of a table that compares the specified tools according to the number of supported browsers and their versions, interactivity, price, and testing speed.
More insights on cross-browser testing benefits and tools you can find in the full article on our blog.
