Comparison

Cypress vs Selenium

No clear leader: Selenium (71.7) and Cypress (70.6) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Cypress71
Selenium72
Score
vioscaleAI score
Cypress71 / 100high · 77%
Selenium72 / 100high · 76%
Pricing
Free tier
Cypress✓
Selenium✓
Model
Cypressfreemium
Seleniumopen_source
Price level
Cypresshigh
Seleniumfree
Starting price
Cypress$799
Selenium–
Transparent
Cypress✓
Selenium✓
Integrations
Count
Cypress4
Selenium5
Reliability
Status page
Cypress✓
Selenium✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Cypress126,733
Selenium98,124
Github stars
Cypress51,043
Selenium34,541
Package downloads weekly
Cypress5,949,802
Selenium6,935,447
Stackoverflow questions
Cypress30,000
Selenium–
Activity
Commits last 30d
Cypress100
Selenium100
Release
Cadence days
Cypress13
Selenium30
History
Cypress20 items
Selenium20 items
License
Spdx
CypressMIT
SeleniumApache-2.0
Language
Primary
CypressTypeScript
SeleniumJava
Content
Faq
Cypress8 items
Selenium6 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for testing tools. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Core
Test types
Cypress-
SeleniumUnit + integration + E2E
Browser automation
Cypress✓
Selenium✓
Built-in assertion library
Cypress✓
Selenium-
Languages
CypressJavaScript/TypeScript
SeleniumJava, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, .NET
Isolation
Mocking / stubbing
Cypress-
Selenium-
Techniques
Snapshot testing
Cypress-
Selenium-
Performance
Parallel execution
Cypress✓
Selenium✓
Insight
Code coverage
Cypress✓
Selenium-
DX
Watch mode
Cypress-
Selenium-
Ops
CI integration
Cypress✓
Selenium✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Cypress

A testing platform combining an open-source desktop application with a cloud service for managing test execution, scaling tests across CI environments, and providing real-time insights into test results and application quality.

Independently observed

Selenium

Selenium is an open-source testing framework that automates web browsers for testing applications and automating web-based administration tasks across multiple programming languages.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Cypress

from $799/yrHybridFree tier30-day trial

Free tier for open-source projects; paid plans from $799/year billed annually

  • FreeFree
    • Basic test execution and storage
  • Starter$799/year
  • Business$3,199/year
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Unlock all features
as of verify ↗

Selenium

Open source
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Cypress✓
Selenium✓
CLI
Cypress✓
Selenium✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Cypress✓
Selenium✗
Self-hosted
Cypress✗
Selenium✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Cypress

9 total
  • Jira
  • GitHub Enterprise
  • GitLab Enterprise
  • GitHub
  • GitLab
  • Okta
  • Azure AD
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
Independently observed

Selenium

5 total
  • Chrome
  • Firefox
  • Edge
  • Appium
  • Chrome for Testing (CfT)
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Cypress or Selenium: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.