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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 (6th), 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

"Appium has easy interaction with mobile."
"It's an open-source solution with a very large community and available documentation."
"I haven't explored other solutions in this particular area, but what I like best about Appium is the fact that it shares functions with Selenium. The extension of Selenium functions allows me to use all of the methods that exist in that domain, and it just makes it simpler for me. I've been using Selenium for some time as well, so using Appium just seems like a natural fit for me."
"The interface is user-friendly, which is beneficial for users, even for those who are new to it."
"It has great documentation and excellent community support."
"The solution helps with test automation. We focus mostly on Java."
"Appium's wide support of programming languages is valuable."
"The most valuable feature of Appium is it supports iOS and AOS and is open-source."
"The most valuable features are tools like IntelliSense and ReSharper."
"It is very easy to use. You can handle a lot of things together at once in one package, which is a good point for us."
"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."
"Its initial setup process is easy."
"The product is good to create big or small projects fastly. It is one of the leaders in the area."
"The interface is easy to use."
"The documentation is easy, and it helps us solve our problems."
"The solution is easy to use and they have also integrated with Microsoft."
 

Cons

"It needs to accommodate applications that use React.js and AngularJS."
"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."
"The user interface needs improvement because there are issues when setting up environment variables."
"The installation part of Appium is somewhat clumsy, requiring numerous dependencies and configurations."
"The tool needs to add a dependency manager."
"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."
"I rarely use Appium nowadays because I'm now at the managerial level, but the last time I used it, whenever I selected and clicked on an element, Appium was very slow. I tried to debug it, but I still couldn't find the problem, so this is an area for improvement in the solution. Another area for improvement lies with the connector and server. For example, the effort to get into the local machine sometimes causes the emulator to become slow, which then leads to failure in testing, and this is the usual issue I've encountered from Appium. An additional feature I'd like added to Appium in its next release is being able to do automation in iOS without using XPath and the name of the element. In Xcode, you can use previous UI tests for detecting elements, but in Appium, you have to use Xpath and the element name instead of being able to directly put the X-UiPath, which is what you can do in Xcode. In iOS as well, sometimes the element doesn't have a name or a path. Sometimes, there's also no element."
"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."
"Sometimes Visual Studio is slow. It uses a lot of resources like memory and processing power. You should optimize the performance by only installing what you need on your machine. Don't install unnecessary things that will slow your machine."
"The solution's documentation could be improved because it keeps disappearing from the solution."
"Enhancing the support for web application testing and load performance would be an improvement."
"The product must provide more automation."
"The solution’s stability could be improved."
"The server that we use is very slow so that is concerning for us."
"I would like to see more integration in the solution."
"Visual Studio Test Professional could improve by having better integration with external databases."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open source so it is free."
"The solution is free."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"The solution is open source."
"As far as I know, Appium is a free solution. It's not for commercial use."
"We found out that we could explore features of the solution for 30 days trial. We can switch to a permanent license later if we want."
"Appium is free and open-source."
"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."
"Our company pays a yearly licensing fee for Visual Studio Test Professional."
"For the cloud services option, you buy a subscription per account or per user. This costs around $52 a month per person."
"There are two versions of Visual Studio Test Professional: Community and Professional. We are currently using the Community version, but if we start working on a commercial product, we will consider upgrading to the Professional version. We need to identify how we will proceed with our projects, and based on that, we will decide on our licensing."
"I positioned it at a mid-range level. It isn't an inexpensive solution, but considering its capabilities, it represents excellent value for the functionalities it offers."
"There is a paid version of the solution as well as a community version that is free."
"The tool is affordable."
"Visual Studio Test Professional is a very expensive solution."
"We pay for the solution annually and the price could be reduced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
9%
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: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.