Can performance testing be done by Selenium Webdriver?

There are a huge number of businesses that are online or are looking forward to going online. This means the user experience and the functionality of the web applications control the business success. Specific test automation activities need to be carried out on the web applications before it is being released into the market. Utilizing Selenium can be considered as one of the ideal options for this kind of testing activity. Web applications can be validated by incorporating selenium with performance testing activities in order to streamline the activities. However, there is also another perspective that says that if performance testing and selenium are incorporated and worked out then various issues may also crop up. Selenium is an open-source tool and hence can be easily leveraged across different platforms. In this article, you will get to know whether performance testing can be done by selenium web driver.

What is performance testing?

It is a testing method that evaluates the speed, responsiveness and stability of a software program, device and computer under a varying or specific workload. Performance tests are conducted to identify performance-related bottlenecks. Simulation of various possible user scenarios takes place through different types of performance tests in order to understand the application’s behaviour.

The objective of performance testing is to assess network bandwidth usage, maximum concurrent users, memory utilization, workload efficiency, command response times, application output, processing speed and data transfer velocity. It is also known as “perf testing” and is a subset of performance engineering.

What is Selenium WebDriver?

It can easily work with open-source APIs and is a browser automation framework. Commands are accepted and then those commands are sent to a browser along with interacting with applications. It supports browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari and based on requirements can execute cross-browser testing. Java, C#, Ruby, Perl, PHP, Python etc., are some of the popular programming languages supported by Selenium WebDriver. The selenium testing tool has different versions such as 2, 3 and 4.

Is there a possibility to conduct performance testing using Selenium WebDriver?

Yes, there is a possibility to conduct performance testing using Selenium WebDriver. But, it is not advisable to conduct performance test using Webdriver because it is not considered to be good practice and the results cannot be up to the mark or way too far from expectations.

Following are the key reasons that depict the disadvantage of conducting performance tests using Selenium Webdriver:

1. Time constraints: When functional tests or performance tests are carried out at the same time, then time needs to be saved. The objectives of functional and performance tests are opposed to each other. If the functionality needs to be tested, then the tester needs to wait for loading, which, will in turn affect the results of performance testing.

2. The performance factor: If the website’s performance has to be improved then the overall performance needs to be analyzed by the tester, which is independent of the performance breakdown of individual resources (i.e., JavaScript or CSS). Poor code practices need to be identified to know what needs to be improved. Analysis and reporting can be provided by specific performance testing tools and also make improvement suggestions.

3. Lot of instabilities involved: Performance tests can seem to be ideal from the user standpoint. But, many points of internal and external fragility are exposed by a suite of WebDriver tests, which is beyond one’s control.

For example, the response of third-party servers that hosts browser startup speed, CSS or JavaScript, speed of HTTP servers and implementation of WebDriver is checked. Variations in the results are caused by variation at any of these points. Separating the difference between website performance and the performance of external resources becomes really difficult.

Conclusion: If you are looking forward to implementing performance testing for your specific project, then do get connected with a professionally acclaimed software testing services company that will provide you with strategic testing solutions that are in line with your project specific requirements.

About the author: I am a technical content writer focused on writing technology specific articles. In this article, you will get to know why conducting performance testing by selenium webdriver is not a viable option to go for. I strive to provide well-researched information on the leading market savvy technologies.