Comparison of Various JavaScript Testing Frameworks and Libraries for UI and Beyond

javascript-testing-frameworks-comparison.md

Criteria	Comments	WebdriverIO	TheIntern	Nightwatch	TestCafé	Playwright
Compatibility 🤝
Supported Application Types	Web, Mobile, and Desktop Applications	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Platform Compatibility	Browsers, Operating Systems	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Documentation 📚
User-Friendly with Examples		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Search Engine	Facilitates finding key information	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Test Writing ✍️🧪
Programming Languages	JS, TS, Java, Python, etc.	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Page Object Model		✔ (heavy)	✔ (heavy)	✔ (elegant)	✔ (heavy)	✔ (heavy)
Configuration Complexity	Low, Medium, or High	Medium	Medium	Low	Low	Medium
Record and Playback	Test writing without programming	✔ (internal plugin)	✔ (internal plugin)	✔ (internal plugin)	✔	✔
Test Method Functionality ⚙️🧪
Extensibility	Extend existing functionalities	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Multiple Windows		✔	✔	✔	❌ (Edge)	✔
iFrame Handling		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Drag and Drop of External Objects	From file explorer	✔ (WebDriver Bidi, CDP)	❌	✔ (WebDriver Bidi, CDP)	❌	✔ (WebDriver Bidi, CDP)
Test Execution ▶️🧪
Test Stability	Automatic retries and waits	✔	❌ (no auto-retry)	✔	❌ (no auto-retry)	✔
Test Runners	Mocha, Cucumber, Jest, Jasmine, etc.	✔ (internal plugin)	✔ (external plugin)	✔	✔ (configurable)	❌ (no Cucumber)
With or Without UI Visibility	Traditional mode (with) or headless (without)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Debugging		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Network Request Interception		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Continuous Integration	GitHub Actions, AWS CodeBuild, Jenkins, etc.	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Parallel Execution		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Cloud Test Providers	BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, LambdaTest, etc.	✔	✔	✔	✔ (limited)	✔
Execution Reporting 📊🧪
Screenshots	On-demand or at assertion moments	✔	✔	✔	❌ (on mobile)	✔
DOM Node Snapshot		❌	❌	✔	✔	✔ (external plugin)
Available Reporters	JUnit, Mocha, HTML, JSON, etc.	✔	❌ (Mocha, JSON)	✔	❌ (Mocha)	❌ (Mocha)
Code Coverage Analysis		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
License 📄🔑
License Name	Apache-2.0, MIT, ISC, BSD-3-Clause, etc.	Apache-2.0	BSD-3-Clause	MIT	MIT	Apache-2.0
Free to Use		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Open Source Code		✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Communication 💬🧪
Execution Level	High or Low (inside or outside the browser)	Low	Low	Low	High	Low
Protocol	WebDriver, NodeJS, Chrome DevTools Protocol	WebDriver, WebDriver Bidi CdP	WebDriver	WebDriver, WebDriver Bidi	NodeJS, Web API	WebDriver, WebDriver Bidi CdP
Sustainability 🌱
Financial or Human Support	Sponsors, foundation, reputable company	OpenJS Foundation	OpenJS Foundation	BrowserStack	Independent	Microsoft
Age	Version 1.0.0 Release Date	2012	2013	2014	2016	2020
Updates (Last 3 Months)	Version Changes	8.10.5 -> 8.15.5	4.10.1 (since 11/21)	3.0.0 -> 3.1.3	2.6.0 -> 3.2.0	1.34.0 -> 1.37.1 Many breaking changes
Reliability (Last 3 Months)	Bugs Detected / Resolved	29 / 80	0 / 0 (since 01/22)	28 / 29	23 / 106	164 / 715
Ecosystem 🌐
Community Health	Online platform assistance	Very Active	Inactive	Active	Paid Support	Very Active
Popularity	Monthly npm Downloads	5.6M	88.2K	784.2K	1M	5.9M
Beyond UI Testing 🛠️🧪
Visual Regression Testing		✔ (external plugin)	✔ (internal plugin)	✔ (internal plugin)	✔ (configurable)	✔
API Testing		❌	❌	✔	✔	✔
Component Testing	React, Angular, Vue, etc.	✔ (external plugin)	❌	✔ (external plugin)	❌ (AngularJS)	❌ (React)