When it comes to automating software testing, two popular tools often stand out: Selenium and Cucumber are both very popular tools in the current market scenario of the testing field.
Technicians love these tools because they are efficient in testing and also in making certain that software products being developed conform to required standards.
However, which of the two is more favourable to your project?
In this article, you will learn more details about Selenium vs Cucumber to understand what tools they provide, how they can differ, and where it is better to use them.
Whether you’re an experienced developer or a PM who knows nothing about programming but wants to pick the perfect tool for the team, this post will come in handy.
What is Selenium?
First, selenium is one of the most used tools to automate web browsers.
In other words, it provides a way for developers to write scripts which can perform set actions in the browser; this includes clicking buttons, inputting data into the forms and even moving from one page to the next.
Selenium has the added advantage of accommodating other programming languages including Java, C#, Python and Ruby among others.
What is Cucumber?
I discovered that Cucumber is in contrast more specifically for Behavior Driven Development (BDD).
In BDD, the tests are written using plain and naive English language using Gherkin which makes it accessible to business analysts or product owners.
The primary broad purpose of Cucumber is to provide a way for the various members of a project or at least the developers and those who are not developers to comprehend and participate in the test cases.
Selenium V/s Cucumber
Also, it is crucial to mention before we discuss what Cucumber vs Selenium is; Cucumber is for BDD and Selenium is for automation testing.
Let’s take a closer look at the key differences:
- Purpose
Selenium: Selenium mainly comes under the category of Web Automated testing tool. Its main intention is to facilitate the handling of browser-related processes.
It is smooth for purposes such as browsing through a Website, interacting with elements, or completing forms.
Cucumber: On the other hand Cucumber is a tool for Behavior Driven Development. It is mainly used to foster the interaction between technical and non-technical rows, in that one can write tests in plain English.
- Syntax
Selenium: Scripts for Selenium are coded in conventional programming languages of Java, Python C #, etc.
This can be done by some task delegation to another department but there must be some technical knowledge.
Cucumber: The cucumber tool utilizes Gherkin which is written in simple English hence not requiring coding and programming knowledge. This makes it more friendly for non-developers.
- Testing Focus
Selenium: Selenium is designed to function by automating the same browser as users, thus, it specializes in UI testing.
It is best utilized for confirming if the front end of a Web Application responds to an intended input in a specific manner.
Cucumber: Cucumber emphasizes behaviour-driven testing to make sure that the application required meets business needs.
It assists in providing better and proper software functions as per the set standards by the stakeholders.
- Collaboration
Selenium: Selenium does not support script-less testing and hence it can only be used by developers and testers as they are the ones who have adequate coding knowledge.
More difficulty may be met while working with other members of the organization who may not possess technical skills.
Cucumber: Not only technical personnel can participate in the activity this is one of Cucumber’s strong sides because it is the tool that involves the team in testing procedures.
Making use of simple English when writing test cases ensures that all the parties involved including the developers, takers, business individuals, etc.
- Test Report Generation
Selenium: Selenium does not come with its reporting mechanism; although, it can be intertwined with other testing frameworks which include JUnit, and TestNG, and can generate comprehensive reports.
Cucumber: Finally, cucumber offers full descriptive test reports which makes it even easier to assess the test case status as well as share reports with other members of the team who are not so technical in the computer field.
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When Should You Use Selenium?
An increasing number of people choose Selenium as it is a perfect tool to use if you need to automate a web browser in your project.
Here are some situations where Selenium would be a perfect fit:
- Automating Repetitive Browser Tasks
- Cross-Browser Testing
- UI Testing
- Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD)
When Should You Use Cucumber?
As discussed, cucumber is most appropriate to use in projects where there is much focus on collaboration between business and technical stakeholders.
Here are scenarios where Cucumber would shine:
- Behavior Driven Development (BDD)
- Improving Communication
- End-to-End Testing
- Collaborative Teams
Can Selenium and Cucumber be used together?
So, the question which has been asked more than once is ‘Can Selenium and Cucumber be used together’?
However, it is quite fascinating to note that Cucumber vs Selenium are not two competing products. You can use both to take the best of each tool, which will make your programming much easier.
For instance, Selenium can be used to drive a browser at runtime, while Cucumber gives a simple and business-like way of writing a test case.
In this combination:
- Test scenarios in cucumber are described in Gherkin language The Gherkin language is used to describe the Cucumber test scenarios.
- Selenium performs browser automation in such situations.
However, this combination is especially effective when BDD is used but in addition, browser interactions have to be automated.
Conclusion: Which of the Two Is the Best Fit for Your Project?
When comparing Selenium vs Cucumber or Cucumber vs Selenium each method can be the best for your project depending on the requirements of your team and the testing method you want to use.
Selenium testing should be used where there is a need to perform complex UI interactions, testing on multiple browsers, or where the tool needs to be integrated into the software development lifecycle.
It is best suited for developers and testers as it serves as a flexible powerful tool for carrying out web automation.
Use Cucumber if you are using BDD, required to improve the communication between the technical team and other team members, or if you want to do behaviour-driven testing.
Lastly, the decision to use a particular tool, which is Cucumber or Selenium depends on the process that is followed by the team or the project being developed.
So, depending on the requirements of your project, you can pick the tool – or several tools – that would be most beneficial for your software testing.
