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Appium vs Visual Studio Test Professional comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Appium
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Development Platforms (7th), Regression Testing Tools (6th)
Visual Studio Test Professi...
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
52
Ranking in other categories
Functional Testing Tools (6th), Test Management Tools (5th)
 

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.
ALFONSO LORENZO-RODRÍGUEZ - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides extensive extensions and plugins for seamless AI product development
Our primary use case for Visual Studio Test Professional is as a development tool. We develop software primarily in Python, specifically for applications related to artificial intelligence. We use frameworks like PyTorch for training models and developing applications using these models. This tool…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The way Appium server interacts with mobile apps is fantastic. It provides all the information about the elements inside the app, Android as well as iOS. I can interact with the element quickly, just type some text or get some text values from the element - whether it's a drop-down, or web text, or a native element."
"We do not need to pay for the solution. It’s free."
"The most valuable feature of Appium is it supports iOS and AOS and is open-source."
"Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to."
"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 is easy to use."
"Appium has easy interaction with mobile."
"Appium provides a record-and-play option, and the commands are the same as those that Selenium uses. So a person who has some exposure to Selenium will be able to write a piece of code in Appium."
"Searching is extensive and helpful."
"The whole suite is made for .NET development."
"The product is good to create big or small projects fastly. It is one of the leaders in the area."
"It is a good and user-friendly tool."
"The ability to quickly make your own components has been valuable."
"The tool is flexible and easy to manage. We use it since it is scalable and easy to use. It integrates with solutions."
"Visual Studio is highly powerful. It's probably the best software development tool on the market."
"You can easily write code, test, and deploy within the same environment. It is a mature tool. It regularly receives new updates and versions. In my opinion, it's one of the best products by Microsoft for developers."
 

Cons

"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."
"What needs improvement in Appium is its documentation. It needs to give more context on the libraries that Appium is using under the hood. For example, my team is using Appium for Android automation, and a lot of times, I feel that there's functionality that's available through the Appium interface, that exists within the UIAutomator, but there aren't a lot of useful or helpful resources on the internet to find that information, so it would be good to have some linkage with the underlying platform itself. Another room for improvement in Appium is that it's buggy sometimes. For example, at times, there's a bug in the inspector application that doesn't allow me to save my desired capability set, so it would be nice to get that bug fixed, but overall, Appium is a good tool. The Touch Actions functionality in Appium also needs improvement. For example, if I want to initiate a scroll on the device that I'm running Appium on, sometimes Swipe works, but in other situations, I have to explicitly use action chains, so I'm not too sure what's the better approach. What I'd like to see in the next version of Appium is a more intelligent and more intuitive AppiumLibrary, in terms of identifying menus and scroll bars, etc., because right now, I'm unsure if I have to do a lot of export reversals to get to the elements I'm looking for. It would be nice to have some functionality built in, which would allow me to easily get those exports."
"The deployment process and configuration are quite complex and require improvement."
"Appium has problems with automated validations following iOS updates, causing us to have to validate manually."
"Configuration-wise, there is a lot of room for improvement."
"An application developed on the Unity platform, such as a gaming application, objects are moving in that case. Interacting with those elements is still lacking in Appium. Appium doesn't have the internal library to play with the Unity platform. That is a huge lack right now."
"It breaks down."
"If it had more facility for configuration it would be a spectacular solution."
"In Visual Studio we still don't have anything which can pinpoint memory leaks on a certain code line."
"We would like to be able to easily integrate this solution with our continuous integration tools, such as Jenkins."
"Enhancing the support for web application testing and load performance would be an improvement."
"Visual Studio Test Professional should include more automation."
"It would be great to support other languages and applications, and that is one of the things we can improve."
"The tool crashes and has high memory consumption."
"The data flow can be improved."
"It needs more integration with other tools for monitoring. Microsoft also needs to make it more modern to make it work with microservices and the cloud. It is a bit outdated currently."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open source."
"The solution is open source so it is free."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"Appian is open-source, which is not licensed."
"I'm unsure if there's any cost associated with Appium. I got the free package which includes the server GUI application and the inspector application, and it was free to download, and that's all I need to get my work done. I'm not aware of any additional costs associated with the tool."
"Appium is free and open-source."
"The solution is free."
"The pricing of Appium is fine."
"Users have to pay a licensing fee for Visual Studio Test Professional."
"I think that the pricing is quite good."
"Our company pays a yearly licensing fee for Visual Studio Test Professional."
"The tool is affordable."
"The tool is expensive in my region."
"It is a price-effective solution"
"We have licensing for Visual Studio Community edition."
"The pricing is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Real Estate/Law Firm
7%
 

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 Visual Studio Test Professional?
The most valuable features of the solution are its ease of use and availability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Visual Studio Test Professional?
The tool is free, resulting in no costs associated with its use. The absence of price makes it cost-effective.
What needs improvement with Visual Studio Test Professional?
The product needs contextual help integrated within its interface. Currently, I need to search online to find out how to use certain functions. This feature would save time by providing direct assi...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nuvizz, Coupa Software, Eventbrite, Evernote
Transport for Greater Manchester, Ordina, Bluegarden A/S, CLEAResult, Jet.com, OSIsoft, Australian Taxation Office, BookedOut, Tracasa
Find out what your peers are saying about Appium vs. Visual Studio Test Professional and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,671 professionals have used our research since 2012.