Are you a web developer looking to test your application on different platforms? Then this article is for you. Here we are going to talk about the most popular cross-browser testing services.
Cross-browser testing platforms will help you test your application in different browsers and operating systems. Such platforms are highly helpful as they provide an opportunity for cost reduction and easy infrastructure management.
For example, if you or your developer is working on Windows 10 and using Chrome browser for major application development, then when you roll out the product to the market, you can’t control what platform your users will be using it. So, you need to ensure your product is compatible with all major OS and browsers.
Although there are various cross-browser testing services and platforms available in the market, you should be careful while selecting. Whenever you’re going to use any cross-browser testing platforms, make sure you are able to test following KPIs:
When it comes to the cross-browser testing platforms, both paid and free platforms are available. Also, these paid platforms often offer you a free trial which you can use and if found the platform suitable, you can go ahead with the premium plans.
Browserling is the oldest platform with most experience for testing your applications on different browsers and operating systems. It offers solutions for individuals as well as companies. It supports all the major OS - like Windows Vista, XP, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 can be accessed as well. Mobile platforms and operating systems include Android Marshmallow, KitKat, and Lollipop. MacOS, iPhone (iOS), and Linux platforms are coming soon.
While testing your applications, you can also select multiple operating systems (Linux, Windows, mac, BSD) and customize browser features, such as color depth, JavaScript status, and system properties, such as screen size. This will help you test your applications from all perspectives. With the simple interface, you just need to put the website URL and you will get a grid of testing results. The only drawback I don’t like is the time it takes to show you the result when multiple browsers are selected.
Cross-browser testing platforms will help you test your application in different browsers and operating systems. Such platforms are highly helpful as they provide an opportunity for cost reduction and easy infrastructure management.
For example, if you or your developer is working on Windows 10 and using Chrome browser for major application development, then when you roll out the product to the market, you can’t control what platform your users will be using it. So, you need to ensure your product is compatible with all major OS and browsers.
Although there are various cross-browser testing services and platforms available in the market, you should be careful while selecting. Whenever you’re going to use any cross-browser testing platforms, make sure you are able to test following KPIs:
- CSS, HTML, XHTML page validation with or without JavaScript
- Font size, font family, special character, and Unicode support
- Responsive page layout and image responsiveness in different resolutions
- Zoom in and out functionality
- Same look on different operating systems and browsers
When it comes to the cross-browser testing platforms, both paid and free platforms are available. Also, these paid platforms often offer you a free trial which you can use and if found the platform suitable, you can go ahead with the premium plans.
5 Top Cross-browser Testing Services
Now let’s review the top services for cross-browser testing. You can try them and see the one which suits best for your needs.1 Browserling
The #1 in our list of best cross-browser testing platforms is Browserling. I have personally used this platform on multiple occasions in the last four years. You can check my earlier post on Browserling review to know more. When it comes to a live and interactive cross-browser testing platform, Browserling can be first on the list. What I especially like is that it requires no registration. You can just go to the homepage of Browserling and start testing in 5 seconds.
Browserling is the oldest platform with most experience for testing your applications on different browsers and operating systems. It offers solutions for individuals as well as companies. It supports all the major OS - like Windows Vista, XP, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10 can be accessed as well. Mobile platforms and operating systems include Android Marshmallow, KitKat, and Lollipop. MacOS, iPhone (iOS), and Linux platforms are coming soon.
Browserling features:
- It’s the simplest platform without complex terminology that lets you immediately get started with one click.
- It offers live interacting sessions and you can interact with browsers lively and not just the screenshot.
- It works like a real-browser on your computer and not just the emulators or fake simulators.
- Browserling always includes the new browser and so you can be sure about the latest updates in the market.
- You don’t need Java, flash, or any plug-in to use Browserling. It just uses JavaScript and HTML5.
- Browserling also helps you identify bugs and design issues with your pages instantly and using just a single click you can create bug reports for your team.
- It also offers Live API using which you can embed browsers in your own app on demand.
Browserling Pricing
Browserling offers free and paid plans. In the free plan, you can use limited 3 minutes sessions which is good for getting started. If you need all features and unlimited testing, subscribe to the paid plans which start at $19 per month. If you are a team and looking for a team solution, subscribe to the team plan which costs $29 per month.2 Browsershots
My next favorite service is Browsershots. It’s a platform for verifying static browser compatibility in many browsers and platforms at once by selecting checkboxes. It is not interactive as Browserling above but it’s very easy to use to fulfil the testing needs. Browsershots gets you multiple screenshots of your site and it’s being used at large scale due to its quick user interface.
While testing your applications, you can also select multiple operating systems (Linux, Windows, mac, BSD) and customize browser features, such as color depth, JavaScript status, and system properties, such as screen size. This will help you test your applications from all perspectives. With the simple interface, you just need to put the website URL and you will get a grid of testing results. The only drawback I don’t like is the time it takes to show you the result when multiple browsers are selected.
Browsershots features:
- It’s a simple platform that gives you screenshots.
- It’s quick and easy to select which browsers you want.
- Browsers can be customized (JavaScript enabled or not, browser color depth, etc.)
- Systems can be customized (screen resolution).
- Supports the most number of various browsers - Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, SeaMonkey, Arora, Dillo, Epiphany, Konqueror, Lynx, Luakit, Rekonq, Midori, and many more.
Browsershots pricing:
Browsershots is free to use3 CrossBrowserTesting
The third in our list of the best cross-browser testing platforms is CrossBrowserTesting. It helps you make every web experience perfect on any browser or mobile device. With CrossBrowserTesting you don’t need to have a huge infrastructure for your testing and design experience teams. With this, you can easily run manual, visual, and selenium tests in the cloud on 2050+ real desktop and mobile browsers.
CrossBrowserTesting offers four products for different testing works - live testing which is for interactive and manual testing, visual testing for automated screenshots and comparisons, automated testing for selenium and Appium test automation, and record and replay for automation testing.
CrossBrowserTesting features:
- It fits right in your CI process and integrates with tools like Jenkins, TeamCity, GitHub, Jira, and more.
- You can use real Android and iOS mobile devices for both manual and automated testing.
- Intuitive REST API allows you to access almost all the features of CrossBrowserTesting using the command line.
- Your team will be able to automate and scale the project testing easily.
CrossBrowserTesting pricing:
For open-source projects, you can use CrossBrowserTesting for free. For a freelancer, it costs $15 per month, and then product-wise plans are also available. Live testing costs $29 per month, automated at $78 per month, and unlimited at $100 per month.4 LambdaTest
LambdaTest is a cross-browser testing cloud platform where you can perform live interactive and automated testing on real browsers and operating systems online. More than 300k users are using LambdaTest to test their applications.
LambdaTest also provides similar features to CrossBrowserTesting and have launched the following products: automated testing, live testing, and screenshot testing. Compared to other services, you can also use LambdaTest on your mobile phone.
LambdaTest features:
- Integrated developer tools to help the debug issues in live testing.
- Test locally hosted pages. This will help you ensure browser compatibility before you take your application to production.
- Geography location testing feature is available.
- You can integrate LambdaTest with the major productivity tools like Slack, Asana, and Trello.
LambdaTest pricing:
LambdaTest offers the lite plan which is free for lifetime where you can have 60 minutes/month realtime testing. If you need more options and more time, go with the paid plans which starts with $15 per month when it will be billed bi-anually.5 TestingBot
Last but not least in our top cross-browser testing services is TestingBot. TestingBot offers similar features to previous services and primarily offers automated and manual testing. Additionally, it offers performance testing, headless testing, and testing on real-devices.
Overall, it allows you to test your applications on 2600+ browser and device combinations. Many top organizations like Microsoft, Grammarly, and Fox News are using this service to do cross-browser compatibility testing.
TestingBot features:
- It allows visual testing with screenshots on all browsers.
- You can compare the screenshot results (similar to Browsershots) and quickly see defects in the design.
- Support for real-devices to run automated tests on physical iOS and Android devices.
- Stress and performance testing websites and mobile apps.
- You can integrate TestingBot in your existing setup with Jenkins, Bamboo, Jira, and Azure.
- More than 6 million tests are performed each month on TestingBot.