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Appium vs Apple Xcode comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Appium
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Regression Testing Tools (6th)
Apple Xcode
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of Appium is 3.1%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Apple Xcode is 3.0%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Appium3.1%
Apple Xcode3.0%
Other93.9%
Mobile Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

AS
Independent consultant, at OpenText
Efficient mobile testing with intuitive emulation capabilities and a user-friendly interface
Initial setup for Appium (especially for iOS) is not beginner-friendly.Consumes too much of your host machine's resources, potentially slowing down the machine.Appium Inspector often lacks deep insight or crashes with certain app builds. Improve test flakiness by intelligently selecting robust self-healing locators,simplified installers, better documentation, GUI-based config management,smart wait mechanisms and better failure logs.
Brajmohan Papneja - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Software Engineer at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Supports mobile development through advanced interface design and integrated testing tools
Apple Xcode needs a lot of main memory. Sometimes when you are working on two projects, it becomes tough to handle and the application hangs. Memory optimization could be improved because developers are working on two or three projects together, and at that time it becomes hard to handle when configurations are low. For example, if you have 8GB RAM or 16GB RAM, you need higher GB RAM capacity.In Apple Xcode, if we could connect our Jira stories and user stories that the team has worked on, developers could directly look at the user stories they have worked on and the pull request so they can see the changes done. Currently all these things are already there, but we just need to map it correctly and then we can see the code changes. When creating a larger application with many dependent frameworks, we have the Swift Package Manager which helps resolve dependencies. Sometimes it does not work, so that is an area that could be improved.Apple provides all the technical assistance and is very open about it. You just need to create a ticket and they follow up on those tickets.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"It's an open-source solution with a very large community and available documentation."
"What I like about Appium right now is that it's like Cypress in the sense that............. to test the components in the way I want them to be tested."
"The way Appium server interacts with mobile apps is fantastic. It provides all the information about the elements inside the app, Android as well as iOS. I can interact with the element quickly, just type some text or get some text values from the element - whether it's a drop-down, or web text, or a native element."
"The most valuable features of Appium are the in-built functionality, which we can use in our code. For example, move back, move front, navigate one page before, and navigate one page ahead. You can do this by using the in-built functions from Appium."
"We get a list that shows all devices that are connected to the system."
"It has great documentation and excellent community support."
"The interface is user-friendly, which is beneficial for users, even for those who are new to it."
"The automation part is extremely helpful in streamlining our processes."
"Xcode has quite a bit of code error checking built-in, which is great. It also goes a step further and suggests fixes."
"Apple Xcode is one of the most advanced tools which helps you write code and has integrated AI ability."
"The tool's most valuable features are debugging and code management."
"The most valuable feature of Apple Xcode is that it is up to date."
"It is stable and user-friendly."
"Xcode is pretty smart. It's easy to set up and works perfectly on Android."
"It is complete and relevant to the job at hand."
"We like the ease of access and navigation that this solution provides."
 

Cons

"The user interface needs improvement because there are issues when setting up environment variables."
"It breaks down."
"Configuring the project to be used in Appium is a little bit tedious."
"I rarely use Appium nowadays because I'm now at the managerial level, but the last time I used it, whenever I selected and clicked on an element, Appium was very slow. I tried to debug it, but I still couldn't find the problem, so this is an area for improvement in the solution. Another area for improvement lies with the connector and server. For example, the effort to get into the local machine sometimes causes the emulator to become slow, which then leads to failure in testing, and this is the usual issue I've encountered from Appium. An additional feature I'd like added to Appium in its next release is being able to do automation in iOS without using XPath and the name of the element. In Xcode, you can use previous UI tests for detecting elements, but in Appium, you have to use Xpath and the element name instead of being able to directly put the X-UiPath, which is what you can do in Xcode. In iOS as well, sometimes the element doesn't have a name or a path. Sometimes, there's also no element."
"Support-wise, it could be better."
"Stability is an area that needs some improvement."
"It needs to accommodate applications that use React.js and AngularJS."
"Appium could improve by enabling record and run techniques similar to what they have in other licensing tools, such as Micro Focus. We have to all write the code, and then we can proceed."
"It is a bit challenging to sign in."
"It consists of multiple components and needs a simplified process. This particular area could be more stable."
"Apple Xcode needs a lot of main memory. Sometimes when you are working on two projects, it becomes tough to handle and the application hangs."
"The size of Apple Xcode could improve. It is too large."
"There should be additional documentation on App Store deployment. In terms of features, they're pretty much on top of where they need to go. I've been happy with its progress so far. As things evolve, they need to evolve to match that need."
"As Apple has introduced more and more features on top of Xcode, it sometimes, but very rarely, hangs."
"There is a drag-and-drop visual system, but as soon as you do something dynamic, then you are unable to use it."
"We would like a 'light' version of this solution to be developed, as it currently uses a lot of memory space."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's completely 100% free, and there are no hidden fees."
"As far as I know, Appium is a free solution. It's not for commercial use."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"It's open source, so it's completely free."
"The solution is open source so it is free."
"Appian is open-source, which is not licensed."
"The solution is free."
"The solution is open-source."
"There are no licensing costs for Xcode and no hidden charges. You just download it."
"You can start off using Apple Xcode for free but if you start using some more of their enhanced features, it's going to be hundreds of dollars a month. There are corporate licenses but most individual users will not be worried about the corporate license, only your CFO will or the person in charge of the software department."
"We don't have to pay for Apple Xcode's licenses."
"It has an annual renewal."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Retailer
5%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend Appium?
I do recommend Appium. It is an open-source solution and completely free of charge. We use Appium and Appium Studio as our base for any type of mobile automation for testing. It has a great interfa...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Appium?
My experience with Appium from a pricing perspective is favorable due to it being open source, making it a cost-effective option.
What needs improvement with Appium?
The deployment process and configuration are quite complex and require improvement. Additionally, the wait time functionality could be enhanced as I experienced failures with longer wait times.
What do you like most about Apple Xcode?
The tool's most valuable features are debugging and code management.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apple Xcode?
Pricing for Apple Xcode is free. You just need to download Apple Xcode from the App Store.
What needs improvement with Apple Xcode?
Apple Xcode needs a lot of main memory. Sometimes when you are working on two projects, it becomes tough to handle and the application hangs. Memory optimization could be improved because developer...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nuvizz, Coupa Software, Eventbrite, Evernote
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Appium vs. Apple Xcode and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.