Is selenium a real threat to UFT?

Today, most organizations automate their testing efforts to save time and cost. While automating their software testing efforts, every business has the option to choose from a variety of testing tools available on the market. Some of these tools are open source and free, while others are licensed. Similarly, the features and functionality of individual test automation tools also differ. That is why; It becomes essential for companies to choose the right testing tools based on important criteria such as testing needs, budget, availability of qualified resources, and test management.

Both HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT) and Selenium are very popular test automation tools. But the testing tools completely differ from each other in terms of features, performance, and popularity. As highlighted in a number of recent reports, UFT’s popularity is gradually declining, while Selenium has become the pioneer in the software testing space. The data clearly indicates the growing popularity of Selenium among QA professionals and independent software testing service providers around the world. There are a number of reasons why Selenium is considered a real threat to HP UFT.

Why is Selenium affecting HP UFT market share?

open source

Every organization wants to develop and test their software applications without spending a lot of money. That is why; There is a gradual decline in the popularity of licensed software testing tools. UFT is currently available as a commercial and licensed test automation tool from HP’s software division. But Selenium is available as open source and free software. So users can take advantage of the portable software testing framework without increasing project overhead. At the same time, the QA professional can also take advantage of the support of an extremely active community to resolve all Selenium related issues and queries.

Web Browser Compatibility

The choice of web browser differs from user to user. For the web application to be popular, the manufacturer must ensure that it runs on all major web browsers without any glitches or flaws. So go for a testing tool that supports different web browsers. Despite being a commercial product, HP UFT does not support different types and versions of web browsers. Therefore, it becomes difficult for QA professionals to assess the look, feel, and performance of the application in many web browsers. Unlike UFT, Selenium supports all major web browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari. This is why most web developers today opt for Selenium to test their websites thoroughly and efficiently.

platform support

The operating systems supported by these two software testing frameworks also differ. HP UFT is designed to test software applications only in the Windows environment. Therefore, it only supports a single operating system i.e. Microsoft Windows. On the other hand, Selenium is compatible with major operating systems like Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The cross-platform feature makes it easy for QA professionals to use Selenium to test web applications in various environments.

Programming language support

While using UFT, testers have the option to write test scripts in VBScript only. As the scripting version of the VB programming language, VBScript is simple and easy to learn. It allows testers to write test scripts quickly and easily. But the scripting language lacks the advanced features offered by other modern object-oriented programming languages. Selenium supports several object-oriented programming languages, including C#, Java, PHP, Ruby, and Python. Therefore, the framework makes it easy for QA professionals to take an object-oriented approach to test automation. At the same time, it also allows testers to write test scripts in the programming language of their choice.

IDE support and testing frameworks

Today, QA professionals use IDEs to perform and accelerate test script development. But the choice of IDE differs from tester to tester. HP UFT does not allow test professionals to use their preferred IDE. They are required to develop test cases using only one IDE, that is, UFT IDE. Selenium, on the other hand, allows test professionals to choose from several widely used IDEs such as Eclipse, Netbeans, and Visual Studio. You also have the option of using a variety of testing frameworks with Selenium, depending on your choice of programming language. These IDEs and testing frameworks make it easy for QA professionals to significantly reduce the time and effort required to test large and complex web applications.

Reduced execution time

To complete all tests within a stipulated time period, QA professionals explore ways to write and run test scripts quickly. UFT uses scripting time using VBScript. But it drastically increases the execution time by taking all the load on RAM and CPU. Also, it lacks the ability to run multiple instances or threads of the application simultaneously. On the other hand, Selenium executes test scripts at a faster rate. Furthermore, it allows users to run different instances or threads of the web application simultaneously in different web browsers. The shorter runtime and the option to run multiple instances make Selenium very popular with web developers and testers around the world.

Option to create a complete test automation suite

HP UFT allows users to automate all kinds of functional tests using a single GUI interface. The interface allows them to test the functionality of the application’s GUI and business logic or back-end services. On the other hand, Selenium allows users to create a complete test automation suite for web applications by combining Selenium IDE and Selenium WebDriver. Selenium IDE can be used to create quick bug-reproduction scripts, while Selenium IDE performs test development and browser-based regression automation suites. The various variants also make Selenium outperform UFT.

When comparing Selenium and HP UFT, the user should focus on the features of each test automation tool. Despite being considered as the pioneer in the software testing space, Selenium testing can only be used for web-based applications. Therefore, the huge popularity of the portable web application testing framework can be attributed to the huge popularity of websites and web applications. On the other hand, a business can use HP UFT to automate desktop and web applications. That is why; it becomes essential for the user to choose Selenium or HP UFT based on their testing needs.

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