The majority of online sites nowadays use JavaScript. Consequently, it would make sense to develop tests in the same language. Front-end developers can run tests, run scripts, and interact with the website intuitively, but which JS framework is right for you? With various options and tools available in the market, this is a subject that many of you have undoubtedly considered. There are classic and well-known solutions that take a lot of configuration to get started, as well as new and flashy technologies that lure us with a five-minute setup and very good documentation.
In this blog, we will analyse the twenty most popular frameworks for JavaScript.
20 Best Web Automation Frameworks for JavaScript
JavaScript automation frameworks aid in the creation of JavaScript applications on both the frontend and backend. Furthermore, JavaScript and the tools it employs are constantly developing, making it critical to remain current. You would want to know about the frameworks that have created a buzz this year as an automated tester. It would be ideal if you could also find a JavaScript automation framework that is tailored to your specific requirements.
- Vue. Js
With the core library concentrating primarily on the display layer, Vue JS delivers an increasingly adaptable architecture that promotes component creation and declarative rendering. Even the most complicated projects may benefit from officially approved patches and libraries that provide support for advanced functions and features. Vue JS enables you to extend HTML using directives, which are HTML attributes. The directives are built-in or user-defined and offer functionality to HTML applications.The virtual DOM is used by Vue.js. In virtual DOM, the main DOM element is copied. Every DOM change is absorbed by the virtual DOM and displayed as JavaScript data structures, that are then compared to the initial data structure. The final adjustments that are represented in the actual DOM are visible to viewers. The process is both inventive and cost-effective, and the changes are made quickly. Using the v-bind binding directive, you may alter or assign values to HTML attributes, apply classes and change the style. CSS Animations and Transitions in Vue.js This offers numerous techniques for adding a transition to HTML elements when they are created, updated, or deleted from the DOM. It has an in-built component that encompasses the element that returns the transition effect.
- Angular.js
Google Inc. produced Angular.js, an open-source front-end framework. It is a front-end framework for creating unique single-page online applications, and it’s named after the extensively used JavaScript and JS. Google, as well as a vast open community of Angular.js developers, design and maintain Angular.js. This makes it easier to keep developing, improving, and adding new features. It has the ability to provide progressive web pages with good performance. You can also use Angular.js on a variety of OS systems. It has a user-friendly and progressive API and the error detection and feedback options are available right away.
- React
React is most developers’ first option for developing web applications. Instagram, the New York Times, Netflix, and Air are just a few of the well-known companies and trendy startups that have adopted it. Furthermore, react has considerably more sophisticated capabilities in Development, thereby making it a better alternative for front-end web development than competing frameworks and libraries. Developers may use React to build large web apps that can change data without needing to refresh the page. The fundamental goal of React is to make it faster, easier to use, and comprehend, as well as to boost scalability. React only works on the user interface (UI) or user experience (UX) of an application.
- Preact
Preact, a simplified version of React, provides the same API and strengths that React brings to UI configuration components. It is just 3 KB in size. Preact’s virtual DOM is similar to React’s, but it’s ‘diffing’ method is unique, making it one of the fastest virtual DOM frameworks. Preact’s adoption is distinct from React’s. It emphasizes on performance and is a viable alternative to React due of its modest size.
- Svelte
Svelte is an open-source, free-to-use front-end compiler. Svelte applications do not need a framework script. Svelte compiler translates app code to client-side JavaScript at build time. Despite the fact that it is written in TypeScript, Svelte, unlike other frameworks, transfers the bulk of the work into a compilation stage when an app is constructed. There is no virtual DOM and it transforms your code into Vanilla JavaScript. This JavaScript framework is very responsive.
- Backbone.js
A popular JS library, Backbone.js is easy to learn, use, and comprehend, even for complete novices. Developers are increasingly using Backbone.js to create Single Page Applications (SPAs). Backbone.js was designed with the main purpose of simplifying writing and attaining sophisticated functionality with fewer lines of code. As a result, the framework ensures that all server-side functionality is accessible through API. It is an open-source extension library with over 100 useful additions and its code is well-organized as well as easy to comprehend. It allows for accurate formatting in front-end web and mobile applications.
- Next.js
The React documentation lists Next.js as a “Recommended Toolchain,” offering it to developers as a way to “create a server-rendered website using Node.js.” React Apps have typically been shown on client-side browsers, however with next js, this can now be done on the server. It offers server rendering along with automatic routing. As compared with other frameworks, Next.js provides the best responsiveness. Pre-fetching of the pages is done automatically.
- Polymer.js
Polymer is a Google-created JavaScript library that is open-source. It enables web designers to construct stunning websites and apps. It is a front end framework that enables you to develop an all-encompassing application by supporting both one-way and two-way data binding. Furthermore, Polymer was created by Google to allow any online application to be built using current web components, thereby making it the core library’s USP. You may use Polymer.js to make your own components. It also allows you to create high-end user experiences. One-way as well as two-way data binding are supported and application layout components are used in a responsive design.
- Ember.js
Ember is a framework that was created with huge online applications in mind, but it can also be used for smaller projects. Ember is opinionated, which means that the developers have set tight criteria for how the framework’s components should be utilized. The app’s backbone is made up of URLs. Ember will create big code chunks for you. Some of the code may be tweaked to make an app behave in a certain way. Ember does this via the use of a naming strategy. This JavaScript framework allows developers to create scalable single-page apps based on the MVVM architecture. Ember has a reputation for having quick and regular release cycles. This enables Ember to make changes and come up with new ideas. However, developers find it difficult to keep up with changes and alterations because of its frequent revisions.
- Jest.js
One of the most widely used automation javaScript frameworks. It immediately goes to the top of the list based on its NPM and GitHub numbers. Facebook uses Jest to test all JavaScript code, including React apps. It’s simple to set up since they put a lot of effort into making it a zero-configuration experience. Jest has all of the features of a number of tools, so you don’t have to worry about integrating them.
- PhantomJs
One of the most popular javascript headless browser framework, PhantomJs has been archived owing to a lack of active development. As a result, it is probably not the ideal solution for new development. PhantomJS is a headless WebKit that supports JavaScript scripting. It’s mostly used for unit and front end testing, and it’s simple to run from the command line, so it works well with CI systems. PhantomJs is primarily used to run a battery of unit tests against code changes, allowing developers to rapidly acquire confidence that the code they’re verifying has no impact on the existing code base when they submit new code. The scripts run significantly quicker than a standard browser-based method since the testing is headless. This is a smart technique to use before running your functional test scripts, as it serves as a fast and dirty sanity check to discover any flaws before regression testing begins.
- Jasmine
Jasmine is a JavaScript framework. It is used for testing JavaScript programming that is behavior-driven. For many developers, this is the “go to” unit testing framework. Many developers continue to use it because of its long-term stability, simplicity and support. Because of its ease of use and ability to get things up and running, Jasmine is still the preferred JavaScript testing tool for many QA engineers. It has 11,087 stars on GitHub.
- Protractor
Protractor is a browser-based automated testing tool for AngularJS apps. It is also known as a framework that sits between between a unit testing and an end-to-end test tool, and is used by both QA testers on a regular basis. You may create JavaScript scripts in Protractor exactly as you would in any other Mocha or Jasmine test. Protractor is a layer that sits above Selenium. It runs Selenium in the background. Consequently, your Angular application gets all kinds of great hooks. This allows you to begin collecting your data bindings and use Angular features such as ng-repeats, etc. You can also use the Angular semantics to take those items and add to, read from, and validate that your page contains the correct data. It does so whether or not you are seated there.
- CasperJS
CasperJS is a JavaScript-based open-source navigation scripting and testing tool. CasperJS is often used on top of PhantomJS to execute screen scraping programs, automated screen capture scripts, and functional test suites. As a tool, it does an excellent job of abstracting away a lot of the difficult, asynchronous stuff that comes up while writing PhantomJS scripts. For developing functional tests, the code is also quite accessible, making it simple to use for those who do not have a strong expertise in technology.
- Cypress.io
Cypress.io is another application that is fast rising in popularity if you need help with JavaScript UI automation. And, unlike Selenium, Cypress is a developer-centric test automation framework. It focuses on enabling developers to adopt test-driven development (TDD). One of its design concepts was to be able to package and bundle everything in order to make the complete end-to-end testing process pleasant and straightforward.
- Playwright
Playwright offers testing in.NET C#, Java, and Python in addition to JavaScript, making it useful for developers that need to deal with many languages. Playwright supports all major current browsers, with the exception of Internet Explorer, and it may be used for both desktop and mobile testing. Playwright’s major disadvantage right now is that, since it’s still young, it’s continuously growing, and it doesn’t have as many integrations as more established frameworks. The absence of compatibility for Internet Explorer, as well as the fact that Playwright needs an unique browser that must be downloaded each time you wish to run a test, are also drawbacks. This takes time out of testing and prevents you from testing on the browser that your users are using.
- Puppeteer
If you like Playwright but wish it was more stable and mature, try Puppeteer, which has been available in a stable version since 2018. Playwright’s principal developers used to work on Puppeteer, and the two frameworks have a lot in common: they’re both easy-to-use, JavaScript-first browser automation tools for desktop app testing. Puppeteer’s biggest drawback is that it only fully supports Chromium and Chrome preventing it from becoming a genuine cross-browser testing solution. However, owing to cooperation between the Mozilla and Puppeteer engineers, the Firefox nightly versions are now compatible with Puppeteer as well. Support for Puppeteer in stable Firefox versions is in the pipeline. To summarize, Puppeteer is the preferred test automation framework for Chrome and Chromium developers. Frameworks like Playwright give a comparable experience for cross-browser testing.
- TestCafe
TestCafe, like Cypress, is simple to set up and use. It also has the benefit of supporting both TypeScript and JavaScript as scripting languages for testing. Developers that favor heavily typed languages may find TypeScript appealing. All of the main desktop browsers, including Internet Explorer, Chrome, Edge, and Safari, are supported by TestCafe. Although it offers some limited support for browser-based mobile applications, it is not meant for mobile testing in general. The fact that TestCafe only supports client-side programs is a disadvantage. It’s also mainly intended to be an end-to-end and regression testing framework, and it’s not well suited to unit or integration testing. To summarize, TestCafe is a good solution for testing any client-side JavaScript programs on a desktop or mobile device. Look elsewhere if you want server-side or mobile testing assistance.
- WebdriverIO
WebdriverIO is a test automation framework that supports both browser and native mobile testing. It is not to be confused with Selenium WebDriver, which only supports browser testing. It’s very adaptable, allowing it to automate testing for a broad range of applications operating on any modern browser or mobile OS. WebdriverIO’s ability to serve a wide range of testing demands makes it an excellent framework for those who create a variety of applications and want a single framework to test them all. WebdriverIO is pre-installed with Puppeteer. It also integrates with Mocha, Jasmine, and Cucumber, and the whole setup takes just a few npm instructions. To summarize, utilize WebdriverIO if you have a lot of testing requirements that go beyond standard JavaScript tests.
- Cycle.js
One of the most current JavaScript frameworks is Cycle.js. It is based on the concepts of fully functional programming and streams. It makes use of drivers to control the code’s ‘effects.’ These impacts are akin to HTML modifications. It’s the most recent version of the Javascript Framework. Cycle.js comes with a lot of jargon. It might be hard for some developers to comprehend what it accomplishes. It has a sophisticated implementation and design.
We’ve included frameworks for testing particular framework-based web applications, as well as generic apps for testing any JavaScript-based online application. Which one you should choose is largely dependent on your needs. Assess characteristics such as cross-browser compatibility, development framework, and development technique to find the best fit for your requirements. You can also leverage cloud-based platforms in order to perform automation testing. LambdaTest supports all of the above-mentioned JavaScripts based frameworks. With their team of experts and professionals, you can easily perform automation testing on 3000+ browsers and operating systems.
