Selenium HQ Reviews

In my current project, we are working with an online pharmacy system, and for this system we maintain prescription details for patients. For example, patient names and other details such as where the patients live, what medications they need, and other types of information for various scenarios.

Then there is information for the doctors, such as what prescriptions there are in the system, and from which doctors they have been prescribed. These are the types of scenarios and test cases that we are automating with Selenium.

Specifically, I have been using Eggplant Functional and the Java Selenium pack, and Selenium WebDriver is the driver we use for developing the automation and scripts for the different test cases we use. This is our main testing tool for the online pharmacy system project and it is deployed on the cloud on a virtual machine because we are working from home now.

Selenium HQ has helped us through its automation capabilities, because testing manually takes a lot of time and money. For instance, we have now automated an end-to-end application for the test cases. So now it's really easy for the testers, and it reduces the time and effort taken to do their work.

There are many phases that must be completed while delivering the product to the client, and in the system integration testing phase we can easily execute our automation and scripts, which saves us a lot of time and enhances the testing process dramatically.

There are many useful features in Selenium that I like, and of the new features I particularly enjoy the Selenium Grid. With this, we can run many test cases in one go, and in one suite we can extract multiple results.

Because Selenium also supports parallel test execution, I believe it is one of the best testing applications out there.

Beyond the many advantages that Selenium HQ brings, there are also several disadvantages. For example, there are some complex scripts which can make Selenium unreliable in some cases.

For email-based applications, we can't automate as we would like to, making it necessary to bring in a third-party product to do so. Eggplant, for example, offers email-based processing, like with the OCR engine, and for automation testing and reporting I would like to see a similar feature in Selenium.

I've been using Selenium HQ for at least one year now. 

I find it a reliable solution for the most part. But in some cases it is only as reliable as the third-party code it works alongside with. For example, Selenium doesn't have automated generation code, so we are dependent on other tools for this. And as I have mentioned, we also need to use third-party tools for things like email-based applications.

Selenium HQ can be scaled with the use of parallel test execution, and when it comes to expanding its use more generally, it's possible to add on to its automation functionality with third-party tools as well.

For our work with Selenium, we have a support team that helps us so we can go through them when we have problems. But for the small things, we generally solve problems ourselves. We are able to do self-study when it comes to support, and we also have a tech support architect who is able to help when needed.

The initial deployment was simple, as we are not doing anything too complex with it. We're using Azure DevOps for the deployment, so we test for that with a test plan and build up the pipeline accordingly, so we can execute and get the test execution report in order to find out what other test cases were impacted, and what other test cases we need to resolve. Doing it this way, we can easily find and fix any bugs in the deployment.

We have built up some custom implementation strategies when it comes to our daily use in Selenium HQ. For the test cases, we first verify which test cases we need to automate by coding some common functions, like logins and other common functions that are present in the application. After that, we look at the locators we will need to select using XPath, and then we start building the test cases according to the specific application, using code from all the common functions.

In the implementation team, we have six people who are using Selenium HQ for our current project. There are more people in other projects that I have running, but for this one there are only six of us. One or two are technical leads and the others are project engineers.

When it comes to maintenance of Selenium, we leave that up to others. We are mainly responsible for automating all the scripts that we deliver to the client.

Selenium HQ is open source and our use of it in our company is provided for free.

I would surely recommend others to use Selenium as we do, especially because while using Selenium we can use Java concepts as well. It's great that, through Java, anybody can use Selenium; even novice programmers. In today's market, automation is a big part of every organization, and Java programming skills can hugely enhance the use of tools like Selenium.

One of the biggest lessons I learned was during my time as part of the development team. I didn't want to work in the manual testing team and so when my development project was completed, I moved to the automation department because I wanted to carry on being productive. With this move, I realized that I could easily learn other tools and technologies that are useful in the market, by adapting my programming skills in Java, Python, or any other programming language, to working with tools such as Selenium. In addition to my Selenium work, I also now do Rapid Automation as an automation engineer.

I would rate Selenium HQ an eight out of ten.

• Automate test across several browsers such as IE, Chrome, Firefox and Safari
• Write automation scripts in any language of your choice Java, C#, PHP, Python and many more
• Ability to execute tests in parallel which provide time saving for testing
• Ability to take screenshots of every tests
• An open API that can be extended based on our needs
• A Recorder Tool to record tests and execute them for non-developers

We provide IT services and solutions, and this solution helped our clients reduce their manual testing efforts to greater level. Our clients have realized benefits by reducing their testing cycle from three days to three hours through Selenium.

They can improve test reporting, and more importantly on test scripts, by providing less constructs to automate more complex testing scenarios.

I've used it for the past nine years. We use it alongside Appium.

Deployment is little tricky but with good help from external vendors organizations, can implement a Selenium based test automation solution in a short period of time.

There have been no issues with the stability.

There have been no issues with the scalability.

There is great on-line support from the users community. External vendors have innovative solutions build using these tools where they provide tremendous support.

It was difficult to some extent, but with good documentation from the on-line community we where able to implement the tool.

We did it in-house. If you are implementing it for enterprise level its better to seek external vendor help.

We have seen ROI of more than 60%. It's open source.

I would say start lean, gain small wins and incrementally add more. Example: Start automating test cases for one browser and slow expand to multiple browsers.

We mainly use HQ for UI automation and some of the main functions of test cases. We are customers of Selenium. 

The best thing about the product is that it is open-source and free, which is why we opted for it. It's also customizable which is great for us. There is a lot of online assistance available in forums and support on the Stack overflow. HQ is continually updated and supported by Selenium. You can write your own scripts without needing to depend on what's already there. The UI is automation friendly. When there's a slow network and an older application, the waves get very flaky and Selenium can handle that. Setting up and working with Chrome and Firefox is easy on Selenium.

The solution is intended for browser automation so it's not a support testing tool and there are no features. I'd like to see some flavors of test case management available that don't require any additions and there could be some improvement in the fluid-based area as well. Selenium is meant for developers but QA people cannot write test cases very easily on it. If you don't have a development background, it's tough. 

I've been using this solution for eight years. 

We had a few stability issues initially but it's very stable now.

The product is scalable. We have around 40 to 50 QA users in the company. 

We reported a few bugs on Selenium and they were resolved. The support was mediocre. Because it's open source there's not much support available.

The initial setup is easy but it requires certain development skills to set up. Without that, it's not easy. The difficulty is in creating a framework and that requires thinking about the maintainability and scalability aspects.

We went with Selenium for several reasons; it's open source and free, they provide a lot of support, and we can use Java technology which Selenium has available. Other tools generally don't provide perpetual licenses.

It's important to get hands-on experience with the program. I would also suggest getting your frame pyramid in order. You need to decide on the language you're going to use and have that programming language support in your organization and decide which other tools you're going to use. Also, think of your application and whether Selenium is the appropriate solution.  

This is the most widely used tool throughout the world in this space. It has so much support available and is a benchmark for other tools so I rate the solution eight out of 10.

I'm using Selenium for low-budget projects, small projects, and mostly medium projects. I don't use it for anything on a large scale because it has some limitations. I'm also restricted by the level of knowledge and technicality of the people I can find on the market.

The solution can be deployed on-premise or on a private cloud. We mostly do on-premise installations. We always use the latest version.

It's available open-source and free. To install it, I just have to download it. It also doesn't require too many hardware resources compared to Micro Focus. It's much lower in costs. I can do isolated projects or limited term projects. In projects where I have one shop testing, for example, government institutions or different kinds of projects where they test only once and then perhaps they continue or not, then Selenium is a good choice.

In projects where I don't have any budget and I need automation quickly, I will go to Selenium. Being free is an advantage, and it's almost at the level of professional end-license tools. It's like buying a very expensive car, like a Porsche, compared to an ordinary car. They both move forward, and you get to your destination.

I'm based in Romania, and we have a personal crisis. We do not have enough resources or enough people to employ and hire. So, I'm hiring whoever I find, and they don't always have enough technical knowledge to operate Selenium.

I've been using Selenium for about four years. 

I'm a partner and a reseller. I'm also a training provider for Selenium. We have a course which is internationally accredited and we deliver it regularly on Selenium.

It's extremely stable.

It's difficult to scale with Selenium. I would say, yes, but with a little bit of doubt, because I have to install many other products on top of it and that requires technical knowledge and time.

It is less scalable than Micro Focus. Micro Focus comes like an already made package to be scaled from a small company to an enterprise. For Selenium, I have to work on it and develop some additional things, configurations, integrations, etc.

It's an open-source tool, so there is no technical support. But there is a lot of documentation on the internet. If you study on your own, you can learn Selenium from top to bottom.

I have also worked with Micro Focus.

Unfortunately, I find it difficult. I am a nontechnical person and each time I set up Selenium, I need to read a little bit of documentation. There are too many integrations with different tools.

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.

My advice for those who want to start using this solution is to analyze the project very well and choose the right tool for the project. For small projects, choose Selenium. It's the best option.

We are still testing Selenium HQ.

The client is based in the U.S. They process the code checking, and we work on the script.

When we get storage or requirements for manual testing, we begin the automation once it is stabilized.

We work in the healthcare domain.

If for example, I get a diagnosis for a particular patient, it continuously changes as there are at least 100 sets of data. It's impossible to make that work for each and every build manually. The parameterization and parallelization have helped us with the inputting. 

Every week we have reviews. We have automated the stabilized areas. It has helped us to add speed to our cycles.

Data parametrization and parallelization are the most important features in any automation tool.

Speed is very important for continuous integrations and deployments. The team gets more time to focus on other new areas.

The configuration of different data sets is also very important.

With Selenium, it is an open-line, I can integrate at any time, from anywhere.

There are some network issues, as the line is not very clear.

There are some areas that need improvement. I continuously see failures in threads when it  is running in parallel. 

I find that it fails, especially when I use APM automation on the mobile side. I have experienced these issues, and since the APM is also based on the Selenium pack.

It is a challenge to locate them, or knowing the location of the unique elements on the APM application. I don't see many issues with the Web applications but there are several with the APM.

As an open-source solution, there is no dedicated support.

Extending functions on the codes would be very helpful.

I have been working with Selenium WebDriver for four to five years but in the last year, it has been working mostly on the functional testing.

There are some issues with the stability of Selenium HQ.

In terms of scalability, we don't use many distributed systems. It is for a limited number of users. We have one lead architect and three senior QAs.

We don't deal with technical support. Our clients handle that on their end, but there is no direct technical support.

I have some experience with Selenium WebDriver and Rest Assured API automation. 

In regards to mobile automation, we use Appium.

Six months ago, I work on Selenium NUnit.

Clear instructions were provided to complete the installation. It was very straightforward. There were no issues when installing this solution.

APM setups are a bit more of a challenge. It takes longer to set up APM.

There were no issues in the installation of WebDriver. From the end-to-end process to deployment, to the automation code.

We have one dedicated assigned person for continuous integration and deployment. We check in with him before we complete any code. We provide him with our test and script, and the integration is done with him present to avoid any issues.

Selenium is open-source. There are no licensing fees with Selenium.

We are currently evaluating functional testing tools, both manual and automation testing.

We are looking for codeless automation with support for codeless automation.

In my evaluations, I have seen that some are tools are lacking.

I have worked full-fledged on Selenium WebDriver along with the multi-tenancy for the JavaScript framework.

I have hands-on experience with the Selenium framework, and I also worked on, API for APA automation Currently I am working in the healthcare domain.

In my opinion, it is a complete end-to-end solution.

As of now, it's for only web APIs. It provides a complete solution. 

I don't see that it's many disadvantages, except when doing the coding. A person should have perfect coding skill sets. If they don't have a coding skillset, it's a little difficult for them to get started. 

We had completed multiple POCs to present to our clients.

It was pretty straightforward for me. I didn't experience a lot of difficulties getting into Selenium. If your framework with Selenium is good, then it gives you the correct output.

I would rate Selenium an eight out of ten.

My customer previously validated every file and it would take almost 15-20 minutes for a document. They used to randomly select and test only 100 out of the thousands, maybe 85,000, files, to pick up sampling. Each file would take around 20 to 25 minutes, so we were not able to do it manually, but with the help of Selenium, we were able to test all the files in two days. It saves a lot of time.

Selenium HQ is open source, which is one thing that I like about it. Whatever you want to find, it's already there. If you'd like to add some features, you can. You can also contribute to it. Whatever problems we face, we can go and add. It is most like Eggplant, which is a paid tool, but here we don't have to pay for anything.

In terms of what could be improved, there are some glitches with it, but whenever you report it, the open source community works on it and fixes it. There is no support here. If I say in the user community that it's not working, I have to go and check Openstack and extract questions and answers from the community. There is not any company that is supporting it that could help me. There is no particular documentation about it that can help me in a technical way. I would have to see people's user experience and see what they have done in such and such scenarios.

Sometimes we face challenges with Selenium HQ. There are third party tools that we use, for example for reading the images. They are not easy to plug in. The third party add-ons are difficult to get good configuration and do not have good support. I would like to see better integration with other products.

In the next release, I would like OCR, image recognition, to be built-in. Sometimes there are no code elements that are detectable so finding x paths is tough. Whenever there are some challenges here, we could use OCR or something similar, with good image recognition.

I have been using Selenium HQ for the last couple of months.

Selenium HQ's scalability depends on the modularity of the product. Our product was more modular. When we made the product testable for one document, we were able to test 20,000 documents with it. So the scalability was quite impressive.

We have three people in the testing team who are using it.

We are considering expanding usage. Since it has reduced the business time, there are new scenarios that other business teams were using it for. So they asked us to include those scenarios as well, reducing the time.

There is no tech support because it's open source in Selenium.

You just have to raise the bugs in the community and if someone has time, they can fix it. So it's not so quick.

The initial setup was straight forward. We don't use it in deployment, we just use Selenium for testing in our organization. The code which was deployed was tested before.

There are four developers in my team who are working on it.

It was not a Selenium deployment because the deployment was of code, and we only use Selenium for testing purposes. We did not deploy with Selenium code anywhere on production.

In terms of pricing, it is open source, so we don't have to pay anything for Selenium.

My advice to anyone considering using Selenium is that using their libraries is good but the focus should be on finding the elements. Element location is a tough part. There are plugins that are available so don't waste time creating your own locators. You can use ready-made built-in solutions that would reduce your time a lot.

On a scale of one to ten, I would give Selenium HQ a six.

We primarily have been using Selenium WebDriver for functional and regression testing of our business management platform. 

Our technology stack includes Apache HTTP, Tomcat, PostgreSQL, CentOS, Java, J2EE, JavaScript, and Eclipse. Plus, we are using Selenium WebDrivers and TestNG for testing with Firefox and Chrome. 

Our platform runs into several thousand screens and a few thousand test cases, something which would typically take months to test manually. However, we have been using Selenium to automate our testing process since day one. As of today, the entire process takes a little over two days to run. We plan to further optimize it and bring this duration down to about 12 hours.

We plan to integrate Selenium with JMeter for performance testing, too. 

WebDriver and Grid: Without these, we would have been nowhere so far. The shear size of team/software license required to accomplish this humongous task would have thrown us out of business. 

Improvement in Selenium's ability to identify and wait for the page/element to load would be a big plus. This would ensure that our failed test cases will drop by 60%. Introduction of FluentWait has improved things, but it does not work in all scenarios 

In the beginning, we had issues with several test cases failing during regression. Over a period of time, we built our own framework around Selenium which helped us overcome of these issues. 

I have had experience with Rational tools in the past, but with DWA Commerce, we wanted to go the open source route. 

We have had extensive experience in testing and have pretty much worked with most testing solutions. Therefore, we did not have to go in for a re-evaluation. Our choice was clear. 

Just go for it. 

We primarily use the solution for browser compatibility testing and web-based applications.

The most valuable aspect of Selenium is that it gives you the flexibility to customize or write your own code, your own features, etc. It's not restricted by licensing.

The solution is an open-source tool. They should also build other features and tools to assist in further capabilities. 

A drawback of Selenium is that it only focuses on web applications. If it could be integrated into one application together with APM, it would be in peer competition with other players. Developers tend to bundle both in one, but Selenium is just in a silo.

The solution's UI path needs to be modernized.

The solution needs to offer a mobile platform.

Considering that a lot of corporations are using it, it has obviously gained quite a lot of trust from a lot of Fortune 500 companies that use it. It's considered very stable.

It depends on the server you place the solution on, but the application itself is quite scalable.

The technical support is good in the sense that, although is more of an open-source community, there's quite a lot of resources online that are available for troubleshooting issues.

The initial set up requires a bit of research because it's not straightforward. You need to be a developer to be aware of how to set it up. As an open-source tool, you do need to have some kind of background knowledge on how to implement it. Basic deployment takes about a week or two.

Selenium is open-source so it is free to use the solution. You only pay for whoever is implementing and/or the server that you are deploying on.

We use the on-premises deployment model.

I'd recommend Selenium, but it depends on the client's use case. As it is a free solution, users are able to cut a lot of costs. They can bring in developers that are experienced with Selenium, and those developers can build it up, scale it up and then, later on, you just need a few people to maintain it. It's a great option that allows companies to refrain from paying all sorts of license subscriptions that are quite exorbitant.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.