Appium vs XCUITest: Key differences highlighted.

The comparison made in this article will help QAs to evaluate the pros and cons of each, and help them choose the ideal framework to match their requirements.

What is Appium?

Appium is a widely used open-source test automation framework for mobile apps. QAs use Appium to test end-user scenarios on native, hybrid, and mobile web applications. The Appium server is written in Node.js and is compatible with leading client libraries like Java, Ruby, Python, and a few others. What makes Appium more popular is the fact that it covers cross-platform testing (Android and iOS) as well.

Key Benefits:
1. Appium is compatible with client libraries like Java, Python, C#, etc.
2. Appium allows maintaining a single codebase while testing both iOS and Android versions of the app. Thus boosting code reusability

Limitations :
1. As Appium operates on the client-server architecture, the test execution speed is comparatively slower.
2. Configuring the Appium server is tricky and hence requires an individual to be highly proficient in programming skills.

Now let’s talk about XCUITest:

What is XCUITest?

XCUITest is a User Interface (UI) testing framework launched by Apple in 2015 as a major update to enhance testing capabilities. It is built on top of XCTest — a test framework that is integrated within Apple’s Xcode IDE. XCUITest enables developers or QAs to test the user interface of native iOS apps using Swift or Objective C programming language.

Key Benefits of XCUITest

1. As the framework is dedicated to just UI testing of iOS apps, it ensures that the tests are performed faster.
2. As XCTest is embedded within the XCode IDE itself, creating UI tests for iOS apps becomes much simpler. It also allows teams to work on the app’s source code and test code in one place.

Limitations of XCUITest

1. XCUITest doesn’t support the testing of Android applications.
2. Limited support for programming languages, as XCUITest cases, can only be written in either Swift or Objective-C programming language.

After evaluating the above comparison on — XCUITest vs Appium , one can decide which framework aligns well with their test goals and skill sets of team members.