Testing platforms assist the developers in testing their applications for real-world usage. There are many platforms available, and usually, the small-time developers shall go in for cost-effective platforms. At the same time, the versatility of the platform helps to test the application in various modes. There are two sought after testing services that the developers look for; BrowserStack and Sauce Labs. They both have similar features, but there are a few clinical differences between them.
BrowserStack vs Sauce Labs
The main difference between BrowserStack and Saucelabs is user psychology. Browser stack is known to be used widely by individual creators. At the same time, Sauce Labs is preferred mostly by Small to medium-sized enterprises. The main reason for people choosing Browser stack over Sauce labs is because the latter has more features that are not required by them. Moreover, the price of Sauce Labs is more compared to the Browser stack.
BrowserStack is the mobile and web testing platform that is extensively used to test the applications before releasing them to the real world. This service offers 1000+ real desktop browsers for testing and also uses as many mobile browsers for testing too. Browser stack does not have a virtual machine, though, as it has a hardware-enabled testing process.
Sauce Labs, on the other hand, is again a testing platform that is a fully integrated automated testing platform. This is the only cloud-based testing platform that connects with more devices to test your application. Sauce Labs has advanced and updated Operating system combinations with mobile simulators and emulators.
Comparison Table Between BrowserStack and Sauce Labs
| Parameters of Comparison | BrowserStack | Sauce Labs |
| Platform | It is real-world hardware connected with the web without any virtual machines. | It is a completely integrated cloud-based service that uses virtual machines. |
| Main Feature | The application runs on Real-world machines, and it is unique in this context. | The application runs on a virtual platform and does not use any real-world machines. |
| Testing Style | BrowserStack instantly tests the application for all the necessary aspects and does not include any requirement based testing. | Sauce Labs is the master in Requirements based testing, and that is one of the reasons companies prefer them. |
| Browsers | Uses real browsers | Virtual browsers |
| Price | Less Expensive | Very Expensive |
What is BrowserStack?
BrowserStack is primarily a web and mobile testing platform. This service is used to test the applications that are developed. These applications can be websites or even mobile applications. These applications are tested on ‘On demand’ browsers and Operating systems to check the feasibility and error factors. This indeed is done in real browsers and real mobile devices.
The four products that BrowserStack have are
- Products-Live
- App-Live
- Automate
- App Automate
It is a subscription-based service and mostly preferred by individual tech geeks. The features that the BrowserStack has is enough for the individual developers. Moreover, the price is affordable with a free trial and free version available with them.
Founded in the year 2011 by Ritesh Arora and Nakul Aggarwal, it 2011 now has more than 25 thousand paid customers. Also, the registered developers’ count has reached two lakhs.
Initially, the developers were able to test their applications only on Internet Explorer. Now they have a variety of options that makes it conducive for the developers to test it on multiple browsers too.
BrowserStack is widely used, and the users have always lauded the speed with which the applications are tested. This is an incredible factor when it comes to product release. Though the individual users prefer this platform, there are a few notable firms that have taken their service too. They are
- Accenture
- eBay
- Razorpay
Likewise, the organization has more than 800 companies as their clients all over the world.
What is Sauce Labs?
It is an American based Web and mobile testing platform widely accepted by organisations for its advanced features. It is the best cloud-based testing platform based out of San Francisco, California.
If you are planning to run and test your application in 700 different browsers, then Sauce Labs must be your choice. Incredible features and immaculate services make the clients glue on to them.
Founder of Selenium Jason Huggins found this platform along with two other techies. This is a comprehensive test infrastructure that is used by enterprises. The secure testing protocols provided by Sauce Labs helps users to test it behind the firewalls too.
The company strongly claims to have a broad spectrum of customers across the globe. The automated testing is offered for
- Continuous Integration
- Continuous Delivery
The renowned customers of Sauce Labs are from top-class industries. A few of them are
- Salesforce.com
- Bank of America
- PayPal
It is named as the Top 100 fastest growing companies in the world in the year 2015.
Main Differences Between BrowserStack and Sauce Labs
- The main difference between BrowserStack and SauceLabs is the secure testing protocols of BrowserStack is less effective when compared to the Sauce Labs.
- BrowserStack uses real-world testing machines while Sauce Labs provide a cloud-based automated testing platform
- BrowserStack has limited browsers to test on, while Sauce Labs uses 500+ browsers to test any application that is developed.
- BrowserStack has a shortcoming in the testing aspect as it does not perform any requirement base testing procedures while Sauce Labs is a master in it.
- The price for subscribing BrowserStack services is less when compared to Sauce Labs’.
Conclusion
The testing platforms need to offer a wide range of accessibility and a real-world environment. This is ideally achieved through Sauce Labs. At the same time, the real-world testing of applications is much appreciated by the developers. Sauce Labs has a lot of clients connect due to their incremental features that the BrowserStack does not have. The cross-browser test is incredible with Sauce Labs, though.
References
- http://norma.ncirl.ie/2881/
- https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2933242.2933249