BrowserStack vs. Sauce Labs

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
BrowserStack
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
BrowserStack is a test platform built for developers and QAs to expand test coverage, scale and optimize testing with cross-browser, real device cloud, accessibility, visual testing, test management, and test observability. BrowserStack states it currently powers over a billion tests a year for customers who include Amazon, Paypal, Well Fargo Bank, Nvidia, MongoDB, Pfizer, GE, Discovery, React JS, Apache, JQuery and several others rely on BrowserStack to test their web and mobile apps.
$0
per month Unlimited users and 5000 free screenshots
Sauce Labs
Score 6.3 out of 10
N/A
Sauce Labs is a cloud-based platform for automated testing of desktop and mobile applications. It is designed to be instantly scalable, since it is optimized for continuous integration workflows. (The vendor says that when tests are automated and run in parallel on multiple virtual machines across many different browser, platform and device combinations, testing time is reduced and developer time is freed up from managing infrastructure.) The Sauce Labs testing cloud is intended to be paired…
$19
per month
Pricing
BrowserStackSauce Labs
Editions & Modules
Percy - Free
$0
per month Unlimited users and 5000 free screenshots
App Percy - Free
$0
per month 5000 free screenshots and 100 minutes of infrastructure
Test Observability - Unlimited Free
$0
Accessibility Testing - Free
$0
Test Observability - Observability Pro
$0.01
per month per test execution
Percy - Desktop
$0.02
per month per screenshot
App Percy - Visual Core
$0.02
per month per screenshot
Percy - Desktop & Mobile
$0.02
per month per screenshot
App Percy - Visual Cloud
$0.03
per month per screenshot
Live - Desktop
$29
per month per user
Live - Desktop & Mobile
$39
per month per user
App Live - Individual
$39
per month per user
Automate - Desktop
$129
per month 1 parallel test
Live - Team
$150
per month 5 users
App Live - Team
$150
per month 5 users
Automate - Desktop & Mobile
$199
per month 1 parallel test
App Automate - Device Cloud
$199
per month 1 parallel test
App Live - Team Pro
$199
per month 5 users
Accessibility Testing - Team
$199
per month 5 users
App Automate - Device Cloud Pro
$249
per month 1 parallel test
Automate - Enterprise
Contact sales team
Percy - Enterprise
Contact Sales
App Automate - Enterprise
Contact Sales
App Live - Enterprise
Contact sales team
Live - Enterprise
Contact sales team
App Automate - Device Cloud Pro + Visual Cloud
Contact Sales
App Percy - Enterprise
Contact Sales
Test Observability - Enterprise
Contact Sales
Accessibility Testing - Enterprise
Contact Sales
Live Testing
$19.00
per month
Virtual Cloud
$149.00
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BrowserStackSauce Labs
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsFree service available for Open Source projects.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BrowserStackSauce Labs
TrustRadius Insights
BrowserStackSauce Labs
Highlights

TrustRadius
Research Team Insight
Published

BrowserStack and Saucelabs are web and mobile testing platforms that allow developers to test their applications on virtual and real-world devices before release. 

BrowserStack is a testing offering that uses exclusively real-world hardware via web connection without the need for virtual machines (VMs). Saucelabs is a fully integrated testing service which offers a larger number of browsers and devices to test applications on. BrowserStack is capable of supporting enterprise-scale businesses but may appeal more to smaller ones or individual creators due to its lower cost. Saucelabs is more likely to be used by medium to large-sized businesses due to its higher cost and greater number of features which may not be fully utilized by smaller creators. 

Features

BrowserStack is unique in that it only offers real-world machine testing which means that if you are running a program it must be running on physical (non-virtual) hardware. BrowserStack also offers a greater number of integrations than some of its competitors, such as Cypresss, Jenkins, and Selenium. It also offers a lower starting price and even the lowest pricing tiers allow unlimited testing minutes with no overage charges. 

Saucelabs is a more comprehensive testing solution and offers a large variety of machines and browsers because of its use of virtual machine testing. It also offers a  variety of add-on packages and better built-in analytics capabilities than the competition. 

Limitations

BrowserStack and Saucelabs are excellent choices in the testing space, but each has a few drawbacks. 

BrowserStack users have reported some aspect ratio issues which can make looking for issues difficult. This has been reported when performing testing, such as testing mobile apps from a desktop or when running apps on older devices. Users may also experience difficulty in testing if their internet connection is not strong since the service is web-based. BrowserStack pricing can also jump quickly depending on needs since packages are a la carte. This is great for users who need focused capabilities, but may be more expensive compared to competitors who offer more comprehensive packages.  

Saucelabs users report a desire for better help and training features in the program. Some users also report issues with device availability after new releases. Some devices may be claimed by other users, meaning other testers may have to be placed in a queue. Some developers may also desire more descriptive log files so they don’t have to refer back to their own during testing.  

Pricing

BrowserStack offers a multitude of packages that vary in price depending on the user’s testing needs. Users can expect pricing to start around $29.99 per month for browser testing. For further pricing information consult the vendor’s pricing page. Saucelabs offers three pricing categories which each include pricing variables based on whether users need virtual machines, real devices, or number of testing minutes. Users should explore pricing options on the Saucelabs pricing page to determine which options are best for them. 

User Ratings
BrowserStackSauce Labs
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(0 ratings)
5.6
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.3
(0 ratings)
9.3
(0 ratings)
Usability
5.6
(0 ratings)
8.4
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.7
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
2.3
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.1
(0 ratings)
8.3
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
4.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.1
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Configurability
7.6
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.7
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BrowserStackSauce Labs
Likelihood to Recommend
Multiple real devices available for testing across different OS, platform and browsers for both website and mobile application testing. Automate help to integrate existing project and testing suite to run across different devices. This reduce testing timeline and allow us to quickly release new features to users. Also provide automated accessibility report.
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Access to specific devices is good, as well as access to a specific browser/platform. We are not able to connect our dev environments to Sauce Labs because the devices are put in our VPC. Some versions are not available like iPhone with iOS 12.1. With iOS, there is limited/no support for push notifications without real devices due to Apple's provisioning profiles.
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Pros
  • UI testing on different Devices like iOS, Android, MacOS, and Windows OS.
  • Automation testing with the help of Cypress gives automation access to different OS and devices.
  • Comparison with two devices how UI will look a like.
  • Bug Capture tool: Using this tool, a user can capture a bug while live recording it, and the tool captures action as well. This helps developers identify and fix the bug more easily.
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  • Gets good people to work for it. These guys and gals are freed and just want you to succeed.
  • Sauce Labs listens to what the customers want. (Though I could still use an AWS East-1, hint-hint.)
  • They come to us when we ask, so that is pretty cool.
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Cons
  • I wish it didn't time out so quickly. I often move back and forth between my native Mac OS system and browsers to BrowserStack for Windows browsers and it often times out so I have to start over.
  • I am not sure why, but when I've been testing in BrowserStack for a long period of time - maybe over a couple of hours, it sometimes gets buggy and unresponsive or slow to respond. It makes it hard to tell if I'm experiencing an issue with the site I'm testing or if it's an issue with BrowserStack.
  • If I'm wishing for the moon and stars, I'd ask for the ability to use BrowserStack to also test with JAWS screen reader. But I'm happy having NVDA.
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  • Cost: it's a little bit pricey, but I don't pay the bill so I'm not complaining too much there. Overall, I'd say the price isn't ridiculous but it's not inexpensive.
  • Logs: I don't find their logs very useful for front-end web tests, I usually refer to my own logs if I have a bug/issue/error that needs investigation.
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Likelihood to Renew
It's simply a must-have tool. As a designer, I have to ensure my work is at least functional in older browsers. I also have to ensure that, when I design for mobile devices, any differences between platforms aren't problematic. BrowserStack allows me to test my work in a fraction of the time, with a whole lot more accuracy.
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I love how it's super easy to use. Not only that but it ensures security and it always has great updates to ensure that it continues to be awesome. Also, I love how nice the people there are too. Their support tea is amazing. Anytime, I have a question, they are super speedy to answer.
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Usability
It integrates directly in internal networks and local development. The point and click interface of choosing your device, pick the browser/version and you have a working emulation of that exact environment. What else could you ask for? I've set our least computer savvy users up with BrowserStack for testing in minutes. It feels like it's just part of your local environemnt.
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I think Sauce Labs is great and I've been using them since late 2014. With that said, I'm very used to how their interface works and how to get what I need. I think if a brand new user would come in and use it, it would still be easy, but maybe not as easy as it is for me. That's why I rate this area a 9 instead of a 10. Still great though!
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Reliability and Availability
I rated BrowserStack's availability a 10 because it is consistently reliable, with minimal to no downtime or unplanned outages. The platform is accessible whenever needed, ensuring uninterrupted testing. Its robust infrastructure and proactive monitoring ensure a seamless experience, allowing us to meet deadlines without delays caused by availability issues and all
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Yes, Sauce labs is always there, and it is easy to troubleshoot when you are having any connectivity issue, they always keep you informed when they plan to perform any type of maintenance window on their side in advance, so you can plan and will not affect your current work. I do not recall any outage.
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Performance
The tests are fast considering the fact that they're Appium tests. I've seen tests reliably pass or fail when they're supposed to, with next to zero issues on the BrowserStack side of things. Tests launch only seconds after I kick off them off from my CLI.
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The time where they acquired TestObject and were trying to integrate their services would probably be the most annoying time. Annoying as features were in two separate places (websites) for example. But since the introduction of their unified platform, we haven't run into any issues as of yet and we've used them for at least 5-6 years now.
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Support Rating
I'm saying a 10 for support for BrowserStack only based on feedback from the development team. I myself have never had to reach out to support for any questions or issues, but others in the company have. From my conversations with them, the support was fantastic and had been a pleasure working with the BrowserStack team.
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The support is good for Sauce Labs. It is hard to get an initial response but the support has cleared our issues with Sauce Labs. Sometimes we have to follow up and it's hard to get a hold of the team initially. Once we get a hold of the team, the issues are always resolved.
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In-Person Training
Yes, it was online training on meet, and trainer looks like skilled and technical strong, he has covered end to end all the features and he has answers all the queries. because of this trainings we are able to implement it by our own in the organization, thank you for support and training.
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
It was a quick training from the support of browserstack, it was nice and easy to understand, thanks again for the support given by the team. and regularly I used to receive mails for training from support for any new feature they launch, I was able to spread same training to all my team and dev.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
I rated the implementation satisfaction an 8 because while it went smoothly overall, there were some challenges during the initial learning phase and integration with existing tools. Key insights include the importance of providing sufficient training upfront and ensuring seamless integration with other systems to minimize disruptions and improve adoption speed.
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I am not sure if it's my company that makes getting Sauce Labs integrated into the team difficult or is it Sauce Labs. The process for getting Sauce Labs for a project is quite a tedious process and the information for using Sauce Labs initially is quite lacking. There is little support for getting started
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Alternatives Considered
N/A - BrowserStack was the first software I've tried to address these requirements. Previously we've been limited to testing on a handful of devices and browser combinations that our team has physical access to. We're also evaluating Litmus as a complementary service to BrowserStack for analysing our email templates and deliverability.
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Firebase is pay per use and so was difficult to work out the true costings, it also felt more developer focussed whereas Sauce Labs had better Appium support for our Automation team. AWS Device Farm appeared to require either Android or iOS and we wanted both, so that wasn't a great fit. It was also not possible to run Cucumber tests on Android in AWS but this may no longer be the case, but it was another unknown for us and not worth the risk. Sauce Labs explicitly mentioned Cucumber support.
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Scalability
I may not be the best person to answer this as I am only using it for 1 department and at 1 site but will still try my best As far as Scalability for Devices for Mobile Automation is concerned, it gets a Solid 10, as the users can run cases on upto 10 device parallel and also have the best choices of devices to choose
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With private devices, you have full reign over usage of them, so no complaints there. Public devices are available if no one else is using it, which is understandable. Browser VMs are based on number of open sessions and Saucelabs give you a certain number depending on what you need. If you need more, then you pay for more. It is as simple as that. You need more devices, then you can pay for more private ones too. A workaround for public devices is to pick the first available one and not be too picky, that's if you are able to of course.
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Return on Investment
  • It reduced the cost of buying multiple devices as we have multiple devices access in it
  • Easily accessible from anywhere due to it cloud availability
  • Introducing this to our client also helped us in building trust as well as winning their confidence during deliverables
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  • Provided an ability for us to run 55,000+ tests/month across all browsers.
  • Gave us an opportunity to showcase the great things we have done in quality using Sauce Labs. This was through a white paper and an opportunity to speak at Sauce Con. People in our company have a far better appreciation for the what we do and how far we have progressed in the quality space.
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ScreenShots

BrowserStack Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Sauce Labs Screenshots

Screenshot of Sauce Labs UI optimized for continuous integration workflows.