Today, most organizations automate their testing efforts to save time and costs. When automating their software testing efforts, each company has the option of choosing from a variety of testing tools available on the market. Some of these tools are open source and free, while others are licensed. Also, the features and functionality of the individual test automation tools also differ. That is why; It becomes essential for companies to choose the right testing tools based on key criteria such as testing needs, budget, availability of specialized resources, and test management.
Both HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT) and Selenium are very popular test automation tools. But the testing tools completely differ from each other in terms of features, performance, and popularity. As highlighted in several recent reports, the popularity of UFT is gradually declining, while Selenium has become the pioneer in the software testing space. The data clearly indicates the growing popularity of Selenium among QA professionals and independent software testing service providers around the world. There are several reasons why selenium is considered a real threat to HP UFT.
Why is Selenium Affecting HP UFT’s Market Share?
Open source
Every organization wants to develop and test its software applications without spending a lot of money. That is why; Licensed software testing tools are gradually declining in popularity. UFT is currently available as a commercial and licensed test automation tool from HP’s Software Division. But Selenium is available as free and open source software. Therefore, users can take advantage of the portable software trial framework without increasing project overhead. At the same time, the QA professional can also count on the support of an extremely active community to resolve all Selenium related issues and queries.
Web browser support
The choice of web browser varies from user to user. For the web application to be popular, the manufacturer must ensure that it runs on all major web browsers without any glitches or defects. Then go for a testing tool that supports different web browsers. Despite being a commercial product, HP UFT does not support different types and versions of web browsers. Therefore, it is difficult for QA professionals to evaluate the look, feel, and performance of the application in many web browsers. Unlike UFT, Selenium is compatible with all major web browsers, including Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari. This is why most web developers today opt for Selenium to test their websites thoroughly and efficiently.
Platform support
The operating systems supported by these two software testing frameworks also differ. HP UFT is designed for testing software applications only in the Windows environment. Therefore, it is compatible with a single operating system, that is, Microsoft Windows. On the other hand, Selenium is compatible with the main operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The cross-platform functionality makes it easy for QA professionals to use Selenium to test web applications in various environments.
Programming language support
When using UFT, testers have the option of writing test scripts in VBScript only. As a scripting version of the VB programming language, VBScript is simple and easy to learn. It allows testers to write test scripts easily and quickly. But the programming language lacks the advanced features that other modern object-oriented programming languages offer. Selenium supports several object-oriented programming languages, including C #, Java, PHP, Ruby, and Python. Thus, the framework makes it easy for QA professionals to take an object-oriented approach to testing automation. At the same time, it also allows testers to write test scripts in the programming language of their choice.
Support for IDE and test frameworks
Today, QA professionals use IDEs to perform and accelerate test script development. But the choice of the IDE differs from tester to tester. HP UFT does not allow test professionals to use their preferred IDE. They must develop test cases using a single IDE, that is, the UFT IDE. Selenium, on the other hand, allows testing professionals to choose from several widely used IDEs such as Eclipse, Netbeans, and Visual Studio. They also have the option of using a variety of testing frameworks with Selenium, depending on their choice of programming language. These IDEs and testing frameworks make it easy for QA professionals to significantly reduce the time and effort required to test large and complex web applications.
Reduced execution time
To complete all tests within a stipulated time frame, QA professionals explore ways to quickly write and run test scripts. UFT uses VBScript scripting time. But it dramatically increases runtime by taking all the load on RAM and CPU. Also, it lacks the ability to run multiple instances or threads of the application simultaneously. On the other hand, Selenium runs test scripts at a faster rate. Furthermore, it allows users to run different instances or threads of the web application simultaneously in different web browsers. The shorter runtime and the option to run multiple instances make Selenium very popular with developers and web testers around the world.
Option to create a complete test automation suite
HP UFT enables users to automate all types of functional tests using a single GUI interface. The interface allows them to test the functionality of the application GUI and the business logic or back-end services. On the other hand, Selenium allows users to create a complete test automation suite for web applications by combining Selenium IDE and Selenium WebDriver. The Selenium IDE can be used to create quick bug replay scripts, while the Selenium IDE performs the development of browser-based regression automation suites and tests. The different variants also make Selenium score over UFT.
When comparing Selenium and HP UFT, the user should focus on the features of each test automation tool. Despite being considered the pioneer in the software testing space, Selenium testing can only be used for web-based applications. Therefore, the great popularity of the portable web application testing framework can be attributed to the massive popularity of websites and web applications. On the other hand, a business can use HP UFT to automate desktop and web applications. That is why; it becomes essential for the user to choose Selenium or HP UFT according to their testing needs.