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Selenium vs React Testing Library: open-source browser automation tools compared

Metrics as of , from the GitHub or GitLab API of each repository. Refreshed monthly.

Summary

Selenium: Browser automation project built on W3C WebDriver, with language bindings, a record-and-playback IDE and Grid.

React Testing Library: Utilities for testing React components through react-dom, focused on how the software is used.

Both are listed under Browser automation. The table gives repository metrics from the GitHub API with their fetch date, then the documented facts used for every comparison in this category, each linked to the README or docs page it comes from. A cell reads "not documented" when the fact was not found in the project's documentation (5 of 14 fact cells here); that does not mean the feature is absent.

Side by side

Selenium and React Testing Library: metrics and documented facts, in the fixed row order used for browser automation comparisons.
FactSeleniumReact Testing Library
Stars34,511119,6561
Forks8,71911,1691
Contributors94811821
Last release2026-09-0912026-08-271
Last commit2026-09-2212026-08-271
Commits in 90 days358111
LicenseApache-2.01MIT1
Primary languageJava1JavaScript1
Statusactive1active1
Languages for writing testsJava, Python, C#, Ruby, JavaScript, Kotlin source: Docs: The Selenium Browser Automation ProjectTypeScript, with types for react and react-dom source: Docs: React Testing Library Introduction
BrowsersChrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari source: Docs: Supported Browsersjsdom under Node (commonly with Jest), or a browser running a webpack (or similar) bundle source: Docs: Setup
Test authoring formatCode (WebDriver API in each language binding) source: Docs: The Selenium Browser Automation ProjectCode (utility functions built on react-dom and react-dom/test-utils) source: README
Parallel or distributed executionSelenium Grid routes WebDriver commands to browsers on remote machines source: Docs: Gridnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of
CI integrationnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of not documentednot found in the project's documentation as of
Report formatsnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of not documentednot found in the project's documentation as of
Install methodLanguage packages: Maven, pip install selenium, NuGet, gem install selenium-webdriver, npm install selenium-webdriver source: Docs: Install a Selenium librarynpm (npm install --save-dev @testing-library/react @testing-library/dom) or yarn source: README

1 Fetched from the GitHub or GitLab API on . Hover a value for its own date.

When each fits

Written from each project's documented scope, not from preference. Neither tool is ranked.

Selenium

Fits projects that automate web browsers through the W3C WebDriver interface; its README describes an umbrella project of tools and libraries for web browser automation. source: README

React Testing Library

Fits projects that test React components; its docs describe APIs for working with React components, added to DOM Testing Library. source: Docs: React Testing Library Introduction

More on these tools

Sources

  1. GitHub REST API: repository, read
  2. GitHub REST API: repository, read
  3. GitHub REST API: contributors, read
  4. GitHub REST API: contributors, read
  5. GitHub REST API: latest release, read
  6. GitHub REST API: latest release, read
  7. GitHub REST API: commits, read
  8. GitHub REST API: commits, read
  9. Docs: The Selenium Browser Automation Project, read
  10. Docs: React Testing Library Introduction, read
  11. Docs: Supported Browsers, read
  12. Docs: Setup, read
  13. README, read
  14. Docs: Grid, read
  15. Docs: Install a Selenium library, read
  16. README, read

Documented facts collected 2026-09-22. See the methodology for how metrics and facts are gathered.