Detox vs Appium

There are many testing tools in the market to automate tests for mobile applications. Appium is widely used and it is more powerful. Detox is another tool that focuses on React native applications.

In recent days many tools are emerging with advanced capabilities like AI, No-code automation, etc. Testsigma is one such tool that comes with modern features and requires less technical knowledge. Let’s understand all these tools in detail.

What is Detox

Detox is an end-to-end test automation tool for native react applications. It is an open-source automation framework. It supports cross-platform apps like iOS and Android. This allows for validation of the application on real devices and simulators and allows to ensure the application is behaving as expected. It focuses on react native application though it can be extended to another type of application (but it may be complex).

What is Appium

Appium is an open-source mobile test automation tool that supports the automation of Android, iOS, and Tizen OS applications. Appium can be used for both native and hybrid mobile application automation testing.

Appium uses Selenium protocol, if you are already using Selenium for web application testing then it may be easy to extend it for mobile automation using Appium. Appium supports multiple programming languages such as Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, Ruby, etc.

Testsigma: Alternative to Detox and Appium

Though Appium and Detox are good tools for mobile automation, one of the major challenges with these tools is technical expertise and coding knowledge. One needs to know the supported programming language and other technical details in in-order to use them efficiently. Testsigma overcomes all these challenges by providing the no-code automation approach.

Testsigma is a popular test automation tool that supports both mobile and web automation. It uses a cloud-first approach that reduces any local setup required for the automation framework. Additionally, it also provides hundreds of real devices for both mobile and web application execution that allows one to validate like a real user.

Pros and Cons of Detox

Detox is developed with a React native app focus in mind. It provides support for JavaScript programming language. One can write automation scripts using the same. It allows you to automate the edge cases with its robust API. Below are some of the pros and cons of Detox.

Pros of Detox

• It is an open-source tool, no need to pay for the license
• Offers seamless integration with native React applications
• Supports cross-platform such as iOS and Android
• End-to-end and functional scenarios can be automated using the Detox tool
• The test can be run like real devices and emulators that help to simulate the user behaviour
• Detox automatically synchronizes with the app’s asynchronous operations (like network requests, animations, and timers) and reduces the manual wait insertion within the code
• It supports parallel execution and integration with CI/CD pipelines
• It provides a CLI tool that can be used for managing the devices with ease.
• Detox also has good debugging features.

Cons of Detox

• It focuses on React native apps only, automating non-react apps may be challenging.
• Detox has a steep learning curve and it requires technical expertise
• Detox offers only JavaScript/Typescript programming language for automation testing
• Setting up a Detox framework is time-consuming and complicated
• It does not offer a recording and playback feature natively
• Many users opined that detox is less mature in comparison with other framework
• Limited documentation and community support
• No support for advanced capabilities like AI, No-code testing.

Pros and Cons of Appium

Appium is a well-known tool for mobile automation that supports both iOS and Android. It follows a similar syntax to Selenium. This allows Selenium users to quickly start mobile automation. Appium follows a complex setup and it may require good technical knowledge to build the framework.

Pros of Appium

• Supports both Android and iOS devices
• Appium supports multiple programming languages such as Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, Ruby, etc.
• It is an open-source test automation tool with no license cost involved
• It can be used for Native, Hybrid, and Web applications
• It supports integration with CI/CD tools
• Appium uses Webdriver protocol, which makes it easier for Selenium users
• Tests can be run on real devices, emulators, and simulators
• Appium comes with Appium inspector which makes it easier to write test cases
• Supports parallel execution
• Good community support and stable releases

Cons of Appium

• Appium requires expertise in programming language to set up the framework and write the test cases.
• Though it can be easy to use for Selenium users as It follows a similar approach, for non-Selenium users there is a steep learning curve.
• It lacks advanced features like AI capabilities, no-code testing, etc.
• Many users opined that Appium tests are slow and flaky
• Does not support in-built reporting, one needs to integrate the reporting from available third-party tools
• Though it supports parallel execution using Appium Grid, setting up infrastructure for parallel execution may be a challenging task
• It doesn’t offer cloud execution support natively
• To build the complete framework that requires a lot of third-party dependencies which may increase the maintenance in the long term
• Only community support is available, no dedicated technical support.

Features of Testsigma

Testsigma is an AI-based no-code test automation tool. It’s built considering the modern enterprise challenges and scope in mind. It supports the no-code feature, that eliminates many challenges involved in Detox and Appium. Additionally, it is a cloud-ready tool, which means all of your scripts can be executed on many devices parallely with minimal and basic configurations. Below are some of the features of Testsigma.

• Enterprise-ready tool, no setup or installation required.
• It offers no-code automation, which doesn’t require technical skills, anyone in the team including manual testers can automate the functionalities.
• It offers web and mobile testing on a single platform
• Testsigma supports different testing types such as End-to-end testing, functional testing, API Testing, visual regression testing, etc.
• It is a cloud platform that provides hundreds of real devices with multiple operating systems to test
• Comes with modern AI capabilities which reduces maintenance and makes the scripting easier
• Supports integration with many popular tools including Jenkins, Azure DevOps, AWS, Jira, MS Teams, etc.
• Support data-driven testing with ease.
• In-built support for dashboard and reporting, no need for third-party tool integration

Testsigma vs Detox vs Appium: Table Comparison

Testsigma vs Detox vs Appium which is best for your project?

Detox offers seamless integration for React native applications. It provides many native features that make the tester’s job easier. But Detox demands good programming languages which in turn requires a good amount of learning. Additionally, you may not be able to use this framework for non-React applications.

Appium supports multiple programming languages but setting up the framework and maintaining the automation suites are challenging. Appium also requires technical expertise. It doesn’t come with inbuilt reporting, dashboard, and cloud execution support However Appium is highly customizable and extensible you can write a custom code to support any organization-specific requirements.

Testsigma is a modern test automation tool that accelerates test authoring by providing AI-based features and no-code features. Additionally, it is a cloud-based tool and it doesn’t require any setup or installation. Users can use this platform for the automation of desktop, web, and mobile applications from the same place, executing them on the cloud.

Nonetheless, you may need to evaluate specific requirements against this tool and choose the best fit for your project.

Conclusion

Mobile testing is challenging as one needs to test across devices and operating systems combinations. Though tools supports such functionality, setting up infrastructure may be challenging and maintaining it incurs a lot of cost to the organization. Testsigma helps in overcoming such challenges by supporting automation design, development, and maintenance on the cloud. Interestingly, all of these operations do not require coding skills, and many configurations are made simple with visual interfaces. Considering the code-based tools like Appium and Detox, Testsigma can help in accelerating testing and helps to increase the ROI.