Cross-Browser Testing With Cypress

While mobile applications are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in the way users interact with, well, everything, web applications are still important and have their place among how users consume information digitally. 

When teams are developing web applications, a key aspect of their testing strategy should be testing on the multiple browsers and versions of those browsers to ensure their app is functioning correctly. There are many frameworks for cross-browser testing — Selenium perhaps being the most popular. Yet another popular framework that gets compared frequently with Selenium is Cypress. Cross-browser testing with Cypress is a great way to test the frontend of your web application. 

In this blog, we will look at what specifically Cypress is and offers as a framework, some common challenges with using Cypress, and why Perfecto makes a great pairing for cross-browser testing with Cypress. 

What is Cypress?

Cypress is an end-to-end testing tool for web applications. It is an open-source test automation framework leveraging JavaScript/TypeScript to enable teams to perform integration, unit, and end-to-end tests. It is a popular browser testing tool because it is easy to use, fast, and reliable. 

The Cypress framework allows teams to build, test, and debug directly in a browser. It is faster than most other browser testing frameworks because it does not utilize a web driver. While it offers limited integrations, it does make up for that with plugins. 

Related Reading:Perfecto’s Test Coverage Guide 

Common Challenges of Cross-Browser Testing With Cypress

Though Cypress is a popular framework for cross-browser testing, it does not come without its challenges. 

The market often finds issues using Cypress if teams are attempting to accelerate the velocity of their tests — especially if they are wanting to scale rapidly and account for strong enterprise requirements. There can also be issues developing and maintaining code solutions for browser testing.  

Scalability, enterprise security, browser maintenance, and reporting and analytics are all major hangups for those using just Cypress for their cross-browser testing. But there is good news! Using a cloud-based platform to work with Cypress can help alleviate those hangups and accelerate testing. 

A cloud-based platform like Perfecto. 

How Perfecto Helps Cross-Browser Testing With Cypress

Perfecto integrates seamlessly with nearly all cross-browser testing tools, and Cypress is certainly one of them. Of those issues that can arise when cross-browser testing with Cypress, Perfecto’s cloud-based platform effectively solves those issues. Here’s how: 

Scalability

Traditional testing with Cypress is conducted sequentially. That means one test has to be executed before another can begin. With Perfecto, you can run tests in parallel — radically increasing test velocity. 35 minutes of regression reduces to 5 minutes of regression. 

Browser Maintenance

Browser maintenance can be cumbersome and time-consuming. If you are working solely with Cypress, there is no guarantee the browsers you are working with are up to date. Perfecto keeps infrastructure updated, so you do not have to worry about it. That also inherently speeds up testing times. 

Enterprise Security

Perfecto is one of the most trusted platforms on the market when it comes to data security at an enterprise scale. Our continuous security testing drives apps to release faster by meeting the most stringent security standards and requirements. 

Reporting & Analytics

You can take your pass/fail test results offered and convert them into actionable insights. Where before you simply seem a PASS or FAIL, test runtime, and other black-and-white statistics, Perfecto takes those results and brings them to life in a way they were not. 

Related Reading:Why Enterprises Choose Perfecto 

Bottom Line

Among all the cross-browser testing frameworks, Cypress is popular for a reason. It is developer-friendly and easy to use, and it is a great tool for developing web applications. Yet it cannot do everything. 

Leveraging Perfecto’s cloud-based platform when cross-browser testing with Cypress will elevate your testing and app development to another level. With these two complementary tools, you can overcome obstacles with scalability, browser maintenance, enterprise security, and reporting and analytics. 

That way, developers can get to work on creating and testing new features rather than being inundated with the backlog. Faster feedback with Perfecto means less downtime and increased testing velocity — a huge win in both resources allocated and money saved. 

Are you ready to elevate your cross-browser testing with Cypress? Get started with Perfecto for FREE with our 14-day trial. 

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Related Viewing: Scale Web Testing with Cypress & Perfecto