My main use case for Selenium Grid in the Cloud is to run multiple devices and multiple OS browser combinations. I tested it on mobile devices as well as on laptops and systems. I wanted to specifically run certain sets of browser combinations or different versions of browsers, and we keep doing this because there are high chances that users directly use various browser configurations.
Selenium Grid in the Cloud
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Automated browser combinations have accelerated cross-device testing cycles and reduced manual effort
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The best features that Selenium Grid in the Cloud offers are scalability and parallel execution. The user interface is very simple. Selenium Grid in the Cloud has positively impacted my organization by enabling fast test cycles, and the setup was very smooth. We have obviously saved both people and money with Selenium Grid in the Cloud.
What needs improvement?
I believe the main feature that could improve Selenium Grid in the Cloud is providing an easier perspective. The main part is that sometimes the documentation is not clear, and we run into some problems. The UI features of Selenium Grid in the Cloud could be improved so that it will be easier to set up. The documentation side can also be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in my current field for almost 16 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In my experience, Selenium Grid in the Cloud is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Selenium Grid in the Cloud depends upon usage.
How are customer service and support?
Sometimes, I may have to reach out for customer support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The solution I previously used before Selenium Grid in the Cloud was a standalone solution which we had, and then we made it as a nightly batch run.
How was the initial setup?
Before choosing Selenium Grid in the Cloud, I evaluated many options available such as Sauce Labs, which are quite expensive and licensed. Selenium Grid in the Cloud is quite easy to set up.
What about the implementation team?
My company has a partnership with this vendor as we consume that.
What was our ROI?
My advice for others looking into using Selenium Grid in the Cloud is that it is a fantastic solution, especially if they already have a cloud setup with the vendor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Cost-wise depends on various factors.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Selenium Grid in the Cloud has positively impacted my organization by enabling fast test cycles, and the setup was very smooth.
What other advice do I have?
How it is being used depends on the execution. I found this interview very clean, but there were on and off lags, so I think it was because of my internet connectivity or another factor, but overall it was good. I think providing a short poem or haiku that summarizes my review would be really useful. My review rating for Selenium Grid in the Cloud is 8.
Cloud testing has improved parallel web and mobile validation with videos and logs for faster analysis
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Selenium Grid in the Cloud involves integrating Selenium and Appium tests together. We are integrating them in the same case, running parallel tests, and we are using the BrowserStack platform, which allows us to run in parallel and also access the video records of them.
A specific example of how I use Selenium Grid in the Cloud for one of my projects is when we run our Appium and Selenium tests on LambdaTest while using a video meeting platform in Astrak. For example, we start a video meeting web-to-web, using Selenium on both sides, but if it is web-to-app, we use Selenium with Appium. This setup ensures the video reaches both sides, and the voice can be transmitted, allowing users to chat and control their cameras and audio.
Generally, we can get the video records of the tests, obtain the logs, run parallel tests, and utilize different capabilities, such as starting browsers and accepting permissions like camera and microphone.
What is most valuable?
The best features Selenium Grid in the Cloud offers include access to different Selenium versions, various browser versions, and the ability to run parallel tests. These are important parts.
These features help my team significantly because we are able to run tests faster and cover more cases. When we run different browsers, we can cover more cases, and running parallel tests allows us to execute tests faster.
One important aspect of the features is that when we face any issues, we can open the video records and logs. This is the main use case for me.
Selenium Grid in the Cloud has had a positive impact on my organization as we are able to run in an isolated area. It helps us because we are not running locally; we are running on Selenium Grid in the Cloud, which allows us to obtain healthier results and find common usage examples when we want to implement anything.
What needs improvement?
To improve Selenium Grid in the Cloud, I think it is important to integrate desktop recording because we need to use Selenium Grid in the Cloud with desktop applications in some cases. There are limitations that could be addressed with this integration, as we have limitations in the browser offerings.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Selenium Grid in the Cloud for around five years. I used it before on LambdaTest for around three years, and now I am currently using it again for almost two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Selenium Grid in the Cloud is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Regarding scalability, we are able to run more tests easily.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't required customer support at this point. I talked with the BrowserStack team on the Appium side, but I didn't need any help on Selenium Grid in the Cloud side.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used LambdaTest, but not here. I worked directly for the LambdaTest company. I haven't used any other platform aside from LambdaTest and BrowserStack.
How was the initial setup?
Before choosing Selenium Grid in the Cloud, I checked Sauce Labs, and I didn't explore any other options. I focused on LambdaTest.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment because it helps us save time. If we don't use the cloud, we need to set up Selenium Grid and other things ourselves, but in the cloud, everything is ready for us, which allows us to save our time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that I think the price can be improved. The value is high, but for now, we are using it, and our expectation is better.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to others looking into using Selenium Grid in the Cloud is that the logs and video records help us when some cases fail, and running in parallel allows us to save time and obtain results quicker. This is the most important part for me. I give this product a rating of 9.
Cloud automation has improved test productivity and optimizes on‑demand container resources
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Selenium Grid in the Cloud involves the company I work for, Telstra, which is a large-scale enterprise telecom company. Here we have many capability teams, and each team has its own automation suite. In order to effectively run this automation suite on their need-to-do basis, we use Selenium Grid in the Cloud using AWS Fargate instance, so that each team can use their own container to run their automation scripts without any interference.
I have something else to add about my main use case or something unique about how my team uses Selenium Grid in the Cloud, specifically for doing our automation runs to ensure that the regression suite is intact. The main reason that we use Amazon Fargate is because we feel the APIs are very good to understand the progress of the automation runs.
What is most valuable?
The best features Selenium Grid in the Cloud offers for my team include containerization, which isolates the run of one team from the other. The maintenance of the instances is pretty easier, so that the team doesn't have to focus more on the infrastructure point of view. Additionally, we ensure that we use resources only on the need-to-go basis, so we are not overusing any resources. When there is no automation run happening, there are no active instances running. This way, we control the cost as well.
Selenium Grid in the Cloud has positively impacted my organization, Telstra, because we provide more importance to security. All the environments in which our automation runs happen are thoroughly scanned by the internal audit team. Using a cloud service like AWS, where we have a proper security mechanism in place, has helped a lot. In terms of productivity, we feel creating images and other tasks on the go has improved the productivity of the run. Cost-wise, most of the resources are used only on our need basis, which has reduced the cost of our QA budget.
What needs improvement?
There are many improvement areas I feel that Selenium Grid in the Cloud can make.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Selenium Grid in the Cloud for the past one year, when I joined Telstra.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In my experience, Selenium Grid in the Cloud is stable and has been reliable for my team, as we noticed very few to minimal issues regarding its performance, making us quite satisfied about the tool.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Selenium Grid in the Cloud's scalability has handled increased demand and larger workloads smoothly. It auto-scales or auto-degrades based on the flow, which has definitely helped our costs effectively. There are no blockers during peak release days where the automation runs are effectively used by almost all the teams. It has managed to handle the releases on time without any complaints from teams about the non-availability of instances to run their automation scripts.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support for Selenium Grid in the Cloud has been good. There is a dedicated team that communicates with the cloud provider and they have provided a satisfactory experience.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Negative
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not had experience using a different solution before Selenium Grid in the Cloud during my time at Telstra. However, in a previous organization, we created a Jenkins agent node setup within the organization itself, using an in-house distribution with a node and agent connection, resembling a master-slave connection.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment, as at least 20% of work has been reduced effectively after going for Selenium Grid in the Cloud, which reduces the man-hours required to maintain and manage tasks. This increase in efficiency allows our team to focus on other aspects of automation, including effectively optimizing the CI/CD pipelines.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I did not evaluate other options before choosing Selenium Grid in the Cloud since I joined Telstra and the infrastructure was already in place, so I did not have the chance to explore other products.
What other advice do I have?
Easy maintenance and resource optimization have helped my team significantly, specifically because the automation is pretty less most of the time. We need to effectively use resources, and in that case, setting up our Selenium Grid in the Cloud becomes the best option since we do not run these regression suites on a daily basis. Teams use them on the need-to-go basis, so whenever there is no automation happening, there will not be any instances running, which definitely helped the cost as we do not use the resources. For debugging purposes, there are proper APIs in place that help to track the failures and get them distributed to the mail distribution list.
The other feature I would like to add about Selenium Grid in the Cloud is the availability of resources. Whenever there is a need for a run, there is a container or instance available for us, which ensures that there is no manual overhead required to maintain the resources. I feel we have an effective infrastructure.
I cannot share specific numbers or estimates about time or money saved, but I can definitely say that productivity has improved by at least 20%. We do not have to spend much of our man-hours to maintain the infrastructure of Selenium Grid in the Cloud, which has reduced the number of people in our R&D team who specifically work on infrastructure and instead focus on other areas including effectively creating a common framework and setting up our CI/CD pipeline using the same.
My advice for others looking into using Selenium Grid in the Cloud is to understand its purpose, grasp the concepts and logging mechanism it has, be aware of pricing, and ensure that it matches your requirements and the pricing policies of your organization.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Cloud testing has reduced execution time and now supports parallel browser runs
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Selenium Grid in the Cloud is to run tests in a way that is not dependent on any particular platform.
This approach has worked well, with the main benefit being that I can run tests in parallel. Since I have containerized the test with Java as the entry point, the image size is kept as small as possible for low-cost shipping to remote machines.
The entire CI/CD pipeline is configured in Jenkins, leveraging EC2 instances to run our tests.
What is most valuable?
The best features Selenium Grid in the Cloud offers are scalability and running tests in parallel.
The Docker-based approach allows me to spin up a specific Chrome version easily to run those tests, making it an adaptable solution for whatever versions of the browser I want.
Selenium Grid in the Cloud has positively impacted my organization by being more cost-friendly and providing better scaling and speed of execution than the legacy way of running things.
What needs improvement?
One way Selenium Grid in the Cloud can be improved is by having periodic releases or a ready-made Docker image with Selenium Grid in the Cloud to skip the manual setup.
I often see challenges in visibility, as sometimes I am unable to see the logs, which would be a point of improvement.
I think Selenium Grid in the Cloud can be refined and incorporate AI features, as AI could bring more intuitiveness to the grid and enhance its usability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Selenium Grid in the Cloud for close to three to four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I personally have not faced many issues with stability; there are occasional failures that can be attributed to either test case issues or infrastructure issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Selenium Grid in the Cloud is pretty good since I can spin up any number of containers with just one command.
How are customer service and support?
Overall, customer support is good; I have not encountered many issues that required direct interaction with customer support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we used the legacy way with around ten to fifteen VMs configured in our private network, facing many challenges that are now mitigated with the Dockerized approach and EC2's flexibility.
How was the initial setup?
Before choosing Selenium Grid in the Cloud, we ran tests locally to prove that the Dockerized-based approach worked as intended before extending to AWS.
What was our ROI?
I can definitely comment on time saved; earlier, tests took close to three to four hours when run sequentially, but now it is drastically cut down by more than fifty percent, making it about two hours for end-to-end tests.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise others to consider Selenium Grid in the Cloud as a great solution since it allows for hosting and scaling as needed. I give this review an overall rating of nine.
Automated browser testing has improved release confidence but setup and support still need work
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Selenium Grid in the Cloud is testing the applications that I'm developing in an integrated, user-facing sort of environment. I had set up Selenium Grid in the Cloud on which we were running our application, and we had automated some tests using a common framework. It was Node.js based and we used Selenium Grid in the Cloud to test that across various browsers and various versions of these browsers so that we could ensure compatibility for our end users and also ensure that our app worked as intended.
What is most valuable?
The best features Selenium Grid in the Cloud offers include being able to test the application from a user perspective. Testing from a user perspective stands out as a feature for me, and I find parallel execution and cross-browser support to be basic—not having those is a deal-breaker for me.
Selenium Grid in the Cloud by itself does not provide any reporting. Mostly it's the frameworks that do that for me. WebdriverIO was the one that we were using, and it allowed us to do reporting while keeping parallel execution and cross-browser support. It also allowed us to scale pretty effectively and gave us debuggability so that we could keep our tests stable.
Selenium Grid in the Cloud definitely saved a lot of time for my organization. We do not have a specific QA team that tested each and every release, so we followed test-driven development. We ensured that tests were written alongside development, and they helped guide our product lifecycle. It definitely reduced costs a lot. Additionally, being able to get the reliability of running the entire test suite at a whim and with each and every release gave us a lot of confidence in each and every release.
What needs improvement?
Selenium Grid in the Cloud can be improved by providing more ready-to-use solutions and one-click setup. Right now, I had to go through a lot of hoops just to get it set up in a dockerized, containerized environment. Having a single-click sort of solution right in the open-source projects would be a godsend feature.
Being previously in startups, support did not matter as much for Selenium Grid in the Cloud, but integration has definitely been done well because of the W3C standards and very standardized frameworks which implement that. Documentation has definitely been a strong suite for Selenium Grid in the Cloud. However, being open-source, support lacks a lot, which definitely stops a lot of organizations from picking up a solution such as an open-source Selenium Grid. Being open-source, there is no support.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Selenium Grid in the Cloud for more than six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Selenium Grid in the Cloud is as stable as you make it, but overall, we were able to make it pretty stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We were able to scale Selenium Grid in the Cloud as per our needs. We did not have to have anything specifically for our needs or do anything specifically. Selenium out of the box does not provide scalability, so because we used some open-source projects which allowed us to do that, we were able to scale it. However, out of the box, I would say it does not rank great on scalability by its own.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have dabbled in QTP before choosing Selenium Grid in the Cloud, but being a VB Script based and very old framework, it did not make sense to continue with it. Selenium was the perfect framework for our use since our application was web-based.
What was our ROI?
We saved about an entire team's worth of salaries with Selenium Grid in the Cloud, which came to about 100k per year. The release confidence is difficult to quantify, but the time saved was significant with each release. I would say at least three to four days were saved per release, and we were doing a release every week, if not every two or three days.
Having not had to hire an entire QA team to test each and every release with Selenium Grid in the Cloud definitely saved us about 100k per year in USD. Additionally, we saved a lot on release timelines. For each release, we saved up to two to three days of manual testing effort at the very least. While it is difficult to quantify that in money terms, this was definitely a huge return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing for Selenium Grid in the Cloud involved just the infrastructure cost, as being open-source, there was no licensing or setup cost.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I looked at Puppeteer for a while before choosing Selenium Grid in the Cloud, but the cross-browser support wasn't there. Selenium provided me the familiarity because I had worked with it before, so it was an obvious choice.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise others looking into using Selenium Grid in the Cloud to get someone who understands it at a grassroots level. You would be in good standing as long as you're testing a web-based application. It does have support for native apps as well, up to a certain extent, especially if you're also using something like React Native for testing across Android and iOS for cross-platform development. It could be great in that as well, but for web-based applications, I would say this is the best tool out there right now. I would rate this product seven out of ten overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Cloud testing has boosted parallel runs and reduced time while still needing better reliability
What is our primary use case?
I used Selenium Grid in the Cloud around five to six years ago, and I have more than four to five years of experience with it.
My main use case for Selenium Grid in the Cloud is running parallel execution, and I want to ensure that my test cases run smoothly on a headless browser on a Linux system.
I use Selenium Grid in the Cloud for running my test cases by managing multiple instances for 5,000 to 10,000 test cases that must run on multiple locales. Since the test case count is huge, execution was taking around one or two days. I addressed that challenge by dividing my load across multiple environments, specifically multiple instances of AWS, where I created multiple instances and ran all scripts on individual machines with the power of Linux. This ultimately reduced the execution time to two hours, which was a success story for our execution by using the cloud for parallel testing.
What is most valuable?
The best features Selenium Grid in the Cloud offers include the hub and nodes setup, where the hub controls everything on a single machine as the main execution center, and nodes act as supportive machines for distributing load. Running test cases in parallel is a major feature. I also explored another tool called Zelenium, which has very stable features for running tests in parallel without any hassle by providing easy-to-run access.
Selenium Grid in the Cloud has positively impacted my organization by significantly reducing execution time. Previously it was taking around 30 to 35 hours, but now it is reduced to two to three hours, which allows more time for decision-making. The ability to collect reports from individual machines and execution data easily is very good, making it a proud moment for us with respect to speed and efficiency improvements.
What needs improvement?
There are several areas where Selenium Grid in the Cloud can be improved, particularly regarding connectivity issues. There are challenges with scripts getting stuck, which causes nodes to become unresponsive. Exploring features that Playwright has would be beneficial, such as threading of execution and load balancing, which would enhance performance. Furthermore, good integration with the latest tools and AI capabilities is needed for better functionality.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in my current field for 15 years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
When considering scalability, having a good Kubernetes cluster with an open-source cloud like AWS has fantastic scalability, but a physical structure for execution can be risky and labor-intensive.
How are customer service and support?
I have never tried the customer support. For customer support, I would rate it a six.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before choosing Selenium Grid in the Cloud, I created my own solution for my execution needs.
While Selenium Grid in the Cloud had many problems during development, I eventually stopped using it and created a customized solution, which yielded a good percentage of success.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a good return on investment, especially when skilled employees tackle real business problems. A skilled employee knows the business well. The importance of having skilled resources over generic tools is evident since tooling might not always yield a high success rate.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
In my experience, many organizations prioritize open-source technology over pricing or initial setup costs to customize their systems based on needs. There are challenges with existing setups that can introduce rigidity, which makes businesses struggle.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for others looking into using Selenium Grid in the Cloud is to first understand your business scenario and custom needs. Conducting a trial period or proof of concept is essential before fully committing, as it may pose challenges for new businesses.
I always recommend using stable and open-source solutions. Skilled employees are beneficial for reducing costs, but if resources are lacking, investing in initial tools to solve business problems is critical, as finding skilled labor can pose challenges. I would rate this review overall a six.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Cloud-based test grid has reduced execution time and now delivers faster parallel runs
What is our primary use case?
I run Selenium Grid in the Cloud test cases using Selenium Grid in the Cloud in AWS to increase parallelization in automation test cases.
I have four nodes set up with Selenium Grid in the Cloud in AWS, which gives us a total of around 12 parallel Chrome Edge browsers. We trigger our Selenium Grid in the Cloud test cases from Jenkins in those grids, which executes our test cases.
Execution time depends on how many test cases we have. If our number of test cases is higher, we increase the nodes.
What is most valuable?
Selenium Grid in the Cloud reduces our execution time by providing more Chrome browsers.
It gives more control over how we want to execute and how many nodes we want to add. We don't have any higher number of limits and can add as much capacity as needed in terms of execution frequency. It provides more flexibility towards the grid on our premises, so we don't have to rely on third-party providers.
Selenium Grid in the Cloud helps us reduce execution time for automation and gives us the ability to deliver faster.
What needs improvement?
We should have support from AWS or other cloud providers which can help us integrate Selenium Grid in the Cloud more easily.
Selenium should introduce some setting configurations at the grid level with Selenium Grid in the Cloud, which we can configure for increasing or decreasing nodes.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Selenium Grid in the Cloud for around two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Selenium Grid in the Cloud is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We can scale very fast with Selenium Grid in the Cloud by adding a number of nodes. If we have a single requirement, we can still operate using Selenium Grid in the Cloud. If we have a large-scale requirement, we can add a number of nodes, which gives large scalability to Selenium Grid in the Cloud.
How was the initial setup?
Selenium Grid in the Cloud is easy to set up and easy to scale. We have full control over the tool and can configure it as we require.
What was our ROI?
We have seen return on investment as Selenium Grid in the Cloud reduces execution time.
We don't have rough numbers, but it saved 90% of time with Selenium Grid in the Cloud.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is no pricing for Selenium Grid in the Cloud, as it is open source.
What other advice do I have?
Selenium Grid in the Cloud is open source, so documentation is good and we don't face any issues. The overall review rating for this solution is 8.