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Appium vs Ionic comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Appium
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Regression Testing Tools (6th)
Ionic
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of December 2024, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of Appium is 5.4%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Ionic is 7.8%, down from 8.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Abhishek-Tiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
Has cross-platform flexibility and a record-and-play option
The challenging part with Appium is that installation can be a bit tricky. It can be challenging to set up in Android versus iOS environments. Appium has some limitations in terms of writing code using simulators and online cloud devices. I faced challenges with native based scenarios, battery turn out percentage, battery charging percentage, and memory capacity. The other challenge I faced involved codes changing from device to device. For example, the piece of code that works in iOS version 10.1 won't work in iOS version 6.0. In upcoming releases, if they can reduce some more of the dependencies like SDK, UIAutomator, etc., it would be great. That is, I'd like to see a consolidated package or bundle release that is much more user-friendly.
Nakul Kundaliya - PeerSpot reviewer
The best cross-platform solution of its kind, with good performance and live reloading
Ionic is a cross-platform framework, so when we compare Ionic with native Android and iOS, we can see the drawbacks. For example, if you need to work on very high-level aspects of an application such as animation, even if everything else is not putting load on the app, you will still see high load from the server side. You will eventually find yourself getting lots of image, video, and hardware-related work to deal with. This is the main limitation of Ionic because we still have to depend on the native Android and iOS code. However, in other ways we can achieve the same performance with Ionic as we can achieve with native Android code. One feature I would like to see added is the code post. The code post is a very good feature I encountered when using React Native. Inside the code post, you don't need to deploy your application again when you're modifying your code. You just need to run one command, and each and every server will automatically receive the latest modification. A similar feature in Ionic would be appreciated. Another drawback of Ionic has to do with the no-code service that they provide, where you just need to drag and drop your components to build your application. I feel that, coding-wise, it isn't a good feature. And, for instance, if you're making an API call, they would only provide the UI, so you would still need to take some time to modify it. Because of this, I considered simply building our UI from scratch. Apart from that, one other disadvantage is when you're using a type of plugin like AdSense for putting adverts in your application, Ionic would take a percentage of whatever profit you make.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It runs completely flawlessly and seamlessly every day."
"Appium's wide support of programming languages is valuable."
"What I like about Appium right now is that it's like Cypress in the sense that............. to test the components in the way I want them to be tested."
"The solution helps with test automation. We focus mostly on Java."
"The automation part is extremely helpful in streamlining our processes."
"It's an open-source solution with a very large community and available documentation."
"Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to."
"We develop apps using the React Native framework, and Appium integrates well for testing those apps. The Appium automation framework also has good integration with GitHub Actions and plenty of other tools and frameworks, including BrowserStack."
"The solution is secure, reliable, and packed with features so we can easily implement apps even in the most complex situations."
"The most valuable feature of Ionic is the ease of use and the simple connection of the applications. Additionally, the documentation is good in the Ionic application, and beginners can easily learn and download their own application using Ionic. Everyone can easily switch out, their domain, from native applications to hybrid applications."
"It's very flexible for UI development."
"Ionic's best feature is that it's not necessary to write your own custom codes as all the hybrid is provided by Angular."
"What I like the most about Ionic is live reloading, which enables us to develop new features without having to build the application again and re-check the functionality."
"With the Capacitor feature, you have access to the native attributes of your phone such as your camera. This makes work a lot easier."
"Because it's a hybrid mobile app framework, it is easy for us to develop iOS as well as Android apps for our customers with the same resource skills. We didn't have to have separate iOS teams and Android teams to build the apps. We still have to use the Apple Xcode for iOS, but the main development happens with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. We don't have to write separate code bases in scripts for iOS and Android. We create apps using web-based technology."
"Ionic is easy to upgrade and is helpful for design purposes. It also is quite common and easy to use. It is a very reliable application. It's easy to write on and print. The UI is easy to use as well. My organization chose to go with Ionic because we can access both Android and iOS applications."
 

Cons

"Appium has problems with automated validations following iOS updates, causing us to have to validate manually."
"One thing which can be really helpful is that there is some kind of a recorder made available rather than scripting everything."
"It breaks down."
"Configuring the project to be used in Appium is a little bit tedious."
"We haven't been able to fully leverage Appium for multiple reasons. I think number one is just that the tests take a long time to run. We have had some issues around just the results themselves and how predictable they are, but those are not issues with Appium directly."
"Support-wise, it could be better."
"There is always a concern about the amount of code that is required to enhance the automation process. The idea of having less code or no code is what we would like to see in future updates."
"Appium could improve by enabling record and run techniques similar to what they have in other licensing tools, such as Micro Focus. We have to all write the code, and then we can proceed."
"Ionic's UI component doesn't always look like the native mobile app."
"Ionic would be improved with dynamic design features."
"It would be good if the mobile version uses something other than JavaScript and HTML."
"Documentation for migrations and compatibility is insufficient."
"In a future release, we would like to have a little more support for the desktop environment. Currently it is still focused on mobile devices."
"They started writing Capacitor to get rid of PhoneGap and Cordova, but they haven't yet got all the libraries and all the functionalities. They want you to start using Capacitor, but they don't have all the libraries there. They're developing them as they go. So, currently, you have to mix and match the three. When it comes to mobile applications, I would only like to use Capacitor. I don't want to jump between Cordova and Capacitor or have both of them. That's the main thing for me, but they have been working on it."
"The documentation could be improved."
"As a developer, I would say one of the improvements is more plugins."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"As far as I know, Appium is a free solution. It's not for commercial use."
"Appium is open source; we can use it for free."
"The price is good for people to be able to make a favorable decision for the value."
"It's open source, so it's completely free."
"The pricing of Appium is fine."
"The solution is open source so it is free."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"This is an open source solution so it does not cost anything for licensing or otherwise."
"You can use the free version, but if you still want to buy it, the price starts from $499/month."
"Ionic is an open-source solution, it is free."
"You don't have to pay anything except for certain projects. For example, Appflow has some costs related to it but you don't have to use it. You can also pay for extra support."
"The solution's open source option is free with no licensing fees."
"We pay 50,000 dinars per month."
"The starting cost for the enterprise option is around one hundred dollars per month."
"I think most of the plugins for Ionic are open source, and you can do a lot with many of the basic features. However, if you need to use a premium plugin for something like extra scroll list functionality, Ionic will ask for a certain sum of money."
"Ionic is an open source solution, and there are no hidden fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Insurance Company
5%
Computer Software Company
19%
Educational Organization
9%
Insurance Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend Appium?
I do recommend Appium. It is an open-source solution and completely free of charge. We use Appium and Appium Studio as our base for any type of mobile automation for testing. It has a great interfa...
What do you like most about Appium?
Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Appium?
My experience with Appium from a pricing perspective is favorable due to it being open source, making it a cost-effective option.
What do you like most about Ionic?
Being able to have one set of code is valuable. I don't have to recode for different platforms. I don't have to recode for Xcode, Angular, or Android. So, the biggest feature for me is that it's a ...
What needs improvement with Ionic?
When they jumped from version 3 to version 4, 5, and 6, they introduced something called Capacitor, which is basically the tool that you use to convert your code to Xcode, etc. They have a few plug...
What is your primary use case for Ionic?
We are using it for mobile applications that we are publishing to iOS, Huawei, and Google Play Store. It's a very nice hybrid framework for mobile applications.
 

Comparisons

 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nuvizz, Coupa Software, Eventbrite, Evernote
MRA, Napa Group, Sworkit, Airbus, Sense Corp, Interactive Gaming Company, Pacifica, Untapp'd, Diesel, National Museum of African American History and Culture
Find out what your peers are saying about Appium vs. Ionic and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.