Best Cross Browser Testing Tools

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BY GAVIN
IN DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES
22 MAY, 2015

Every web developer today faces the challenge of checking website

compatibility across a large pool of browsers and browser versions in the
marketplace. Up and until now, either you could install every browser, verify the
website via a visual inspection or there are myriad of tools that let you
comprehensively test your websites, and check if it successfully displays across
various browsers, platforms and resolutions.
Below we have compiled a list of both free and premium cross-browser testing
tools, ranging from cloud platforms to desktop applications. These tools will help
you easily test everything from versions of Internet Explorer versions to more
than 300 modern browser combinations. Lets explore the list.

1. BrowserShots

Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different operating

systems and browsers. It is a free open-source online web application providing
developers a convenient way to test their websites browser compatibility in one
place. When you submit your web address, it will be added to the job queue. A
number of distributed computers will open your website in their browser. Then
they will make screenshots and upload them to our central dedicated server for
your review.

2. GhostLab

GhostLab offers synchronized testing for scrolls, clicks, reloads and form input
across all your connected devices, meaning you can test the entire user
experience, not just a simple page. Ghostlab is available for both Windows and
Mac OS X, with no setup required, as it can instantly connect to any JavaScriptenabled client. Using the Ghostlab server, you can sync pages from your local
directory, your localhost Apache setup or any server in the world, with
automatic reloading to keep track of file changes.

3. BrowseEmAll

BrowseEmAll is a desktop application which includes desktop browser and

mobile browser simulators, automated analytics, screenshots and side-by-side
compatibility testing. It is a downloadable program that runs off your local
machine. Once launched, users can select their resolution and their browser and

will then be able to live test their website within that environment without any
server side component. Developer tools can be launched alongside the website
to inspect elements and correct any layout issues.

4. BrowserStack

BrowserStack provides live, web-based browser testing with instant access to

every desktop and mobile browser (currently more than 300), with the ability to
test local and internal servers, providing a secure setup. The cloud-based access
means no installation is required, and the pre-installed developer tools
(including Firebug Lite, Microsoft Script Debugger and many more) are useful for
quick cross-browser testing and debugging.

5. Browserling

Browserling supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari (up
until 5.1). Developers load up their website and can immediately see how it will
look in their chosen browser version. Browserling does not use an emulator or
other form of simulation; instead, they run the selected browser in a virtual
machine. This makes their results very accurate. As a HTML5 solution which runs
directly in the browser, Browserling also works easily on any system. Testing can
be saved in screenshots and a video recording feature is being worked on.

6. Browsera

Browsera will notify you of possible cross-browser layout problems it finds while
testing your site. Instead of having to check out each screenshot on your own,
youll get a report detailing which pages have potential problems. You can
quickly see the problems indicated as each screenshot is highlighted in the

problematic areas. Browsera is like a tester, looking for visual discrepancies

between different browsers.

7. IE Netrenderer

IE NetRenderer allows you to check how a website is rendered by Internet

Explorer 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 or 5.5, as seen from a high speed datacenter located
in Germany. Just type in a URL in the field above and try it out its free! IE
NetRenderer is able to process a large number of requests in parallel and in real
time, so its an incredibly fast service, with no waiting time. A unique Mixed
Overlay and Difference Mode helps to identify subtle positioning differences
between IE6 and IE7.

8. Litmus

Litmus offers one-stop email and cross-browser testing. Once you enter your
URL, Litmus will show how it appears in the most popular web browsers. Link
validation means you can verify all of your links and also make sure the URLs
youre linking to arent blacklisted. The flexible setup allows you to add team
members, clients and partners to a testing project, without limits on users or
tests and unlimited access to all the features available.

9. Multi Browser Viewer

Multi-Browser Viewer is the leading secure Cross Browser Compatibility Testing

software application to test in your local development environment without the
use of tunnels or VPNs into 3rd party networks. MultiBrowserViewer also offers a
variety of development tools, such as HTML validation, auto-correction, and spell

check. It is available in five languages and is one of the few cross browser
compatibility programs that can be used offline.

10. Testing Bot

TestingBot provides easy cross-browser testing with Selenium, either manually

or automated, with more than 100 browser and OS combinations. The live,
manual testing allows you to control any browser in the cloud interactively from
your own browser. You can run automated tests in the cloud by specifying which
browsers you want to test, when the test should run and for how long.

11. Spoon

Spoon is a platform for building, testing and deploying Windows applications and
services in isolated containers. Once an application or service is put into a
container, that image can be distributed to testers, Beta users or any Spoon
user by pushing the image to the Hub. This sections describes some of the
building blocks of the Spoon platform starting with the virtual machine. The
runtime environment of Spoon containers is supplied by the Spoon Virtual
Machine or SVM, a lightweight implementation of core operating system APIs,
including the filesystem, registry, process, and threading subsystems.
Applications executing within a container interact with a virtualized filesystem,
registry, and process environment supplied by the SVM, rather than directly with
the host machine.

12. Cross Browser Testing

CrossBrowserTesting supports automated screenshots, testing pages hosted on

localhost, a variety of mobile platforms and the ability to retain snapshots and
video. Through its authentication services, CrossBrowserTesting can be used to
test websites that are behind login gateways, making it easier for developers to
test areas of their site that may not be open to other cross-browser testing
solutions. CrossBrowserTesting supports all the major browsers and mobile
operating systems.