If you’re exploring functional test automation, two names you’ve likely encountered are Selenium and Cucumber. While they’re often mentioned in the same conversations—and even used together—they serve very different purposes. Selenium is the powerhouse for automating web browsers, while Cucumber brings clarity and collaboration through behavior-driven development (BDD). But how do you decide which one fits your team, or when to use both?
In this blog, we will break down the key differences, ideal use cases, and how combining BDD, the Selenium framework, and Cucumber can accelerate functional testing, automation, and alignment across technical and business teams.
Back to topWhat is Selenium vs. Cucumber?
What are Cucumber and Selenium? Is there a BDD framework for Selenium? Selenium is an automation tool for web apps, while Cucumber is an automation tool for behavior-driven development. Selenium executes UI tests while Cucumber does acceptance testing, plus Selenium script creation is more complex.
Here's more on the basic differences between Selenium and Cucumber:
- Selenium is a web browser automation tool. Cucumber is a behavior-driven development tool that can be used with Selenium (or Appium).
- Selenium is preferred by technical teams (SDETs/programmers). Cucumber is typically preferred by non-technical teams (business stakeholders and testers).
- Selenium is used for automated UI testing. Cucumber is used for acceptance testing.
- Selenium can work independently of Cucumber. Cucumber depends on Selenium or Appium for step-definition implementation. If you're evaluating tools and wondering whether Selenium is still the best fit, it’s worth exploring Selenium alternatives that may better align with your team’s needs or skill sets.
As you can see, the differences between Selenium and Cucumber are great. Whether you choose to use one or another, depends on your specific context, needs, and goals.
Back to topWhat Is Selenium?
Selenium automates browsers. It is a highly popular testing framework and set of tools for testing web-based applications.
Preferred by SDETs
If you have software development engineers in test (SDETs) on your team, they will prefer Selenium. They can use it to write test scripts in their programming language of choice — like Java, Javascript, C#, Ruby, Python, Perl, PHP, and Groovy — and execute those tests on multiple browsers.
Back to topWhat Is Cucumber?
Cucumber lets you write test scenarios using plain language.
It is a tool for behavior-driven development (BDD). BDD is a software development process that encourages cross-functional collaboration, in part, through use of a plain-English scripting language called “gherkin” that anyone, technical or not, can read, write, and understand.
Originally written in the Ruby programming language, Cucumber now supports a variety of different programming languages, including Java and JavaScript. The Cucumber framework is commonly used for acceptance tests.
Preferred by Business Testers
If you have business testers on the team, they would likely prefer to use Cucumber — or another BDD framework, like Quantum — since can be used without coding knowledge (which Selenium requires).
Cucumber uses a “given-when-then” framework for writing a test. After defining the feature and scenario under test, you provide the context (given), user action (when), and the expected outcome (then).
Cucumber BDD Example
Scenario: Login
Given: User navigates to perfecto.io
When: User logs in using Username as “tester” and Password “extraordinaire”
Then: Login should be successful
Back to topIs BDD Worth It?
Cucumber’s behavior-driven development (BDD) library for Java Script is downloaded over half a million times every month. But is BDD worth it?
Using Cucumber Within A Selenium Framework
Some organizations implement Cucumber within a Selenium framework to allow for reliable test automation that emphasizes plain language. By doing so, they can:
- Develop a shared understanding of how software should perform.
- Improve collaboration between testers, coders, and decision-makers.
- Automate web testing across browsers at scale.
Keep in mind, however, that in some cases the business side of the organization may not have input or opinions as to how the application behaves. It may also be true, depending on the size of your QA team or who is doing the automation work, that an extra layer of tooling to make tests more humanly readable (as with Cucumber) will not add value. In both cases, using Cucumber at the test creation phase may not be necessary.
For an alternative approach that simplifies code-first workflows and improves quality from the start, explore the fundamentals of test-driven development in modern testing strategies.
Back to topSelenium vs. Cucumber: Bottom Line
While Selenium and Cucumber have some overlap — both are open-source and used for functional testing — their similarities end there. Selenium is used to automate web browsers, whereas Cucumber is used for behavior-driven development. Finally, because Selenium requires coding knowledge, it is often picked by SDETs and developers. Cucumber is a go-to for business testers.
Use Perfecto For Selenium, Cucumber, & More
Automation is essential for your DevOps to be successful. The tool you use for it will help define how successful that journey is. Whether you decide to go with Cucumber, Selenium or other automation tools, you need support.
Perfecto supports both Cucumber and Selenium, and offers more BDD capabilities through the Quantum framework. With Perfecto, teams have a secure, scalable cloud environment for web and mobile testing that offers fast parallel executions and fast feedback via reporting.
See how Perfecto works across mobile, web, and desktop testing, scriptless automation, AI-driven execution, and analytics in these guided demos.