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Appium vs SmartBear TestComplete comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.2
Users saw over 60% ROI with Appium's cost-saving, productivity boost, scalability, and faster market time benefits.
Sentiment score
6.8
SmartBear TestComplete automation saves time, enhances client satisfaction, and boosts efficiency, with annual savings of approximately $10,000.
With the introduction of Appium MCP, productivity has increased to 10x, meaning very few QA personnel are now needed to write automation.
Staff Engineer at Stryker
Once set up, only one person is needed to handle all tasks, reducing the requirement for multiple personnel.
QA Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Appium relies on a strong online community and forums rather than formal support to assist users with issues.
Sentiment score
6.9
SmartBear TestComplete's customer support is knowledgeable but inconsistent, with delays and unresolved issues needing faster escalation and responses.
Since Appium is open-source, I do not observe any formal customer support.
Staff Engineer at Stryker
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Appium offers scalable automation with integration potential but faces challenges with setup complexity and real device scalability.
Sentiment score
7.4
SmartBear TestComplete is scalable and adaptable, with flexible scripting, but may require licensing for wider deployment.
Appium's scalability for my projects has significantly increased our speed of execution and delivery, achieving up to 10x faster results.
Staff Engineer at Stryker
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Appium shows improved stability and reliability despite some resource issues, with notable documentation and community support improvements.
Sentiment score
6.9
SmartBear TestComplete generally stable, but users report crashes, memory leaks, and HTML5 testing delays in certain scenarios.
Appium is much more stable now compared to the 1.0 version.
Staff Engineer at Stryker
 

Room For Improvement

Appium requires enhancements in setup, stability, documentation, support, integrations, and features to improve overall usability and performance.
SmartBear TestComplete faces challenges in object recognition, integrations, licensing, performance, and support across browsers and mobile devices.
A community needs to emerge, driven by a set of industry leaders who can help people and contribute to the community, especially since platforms like Stack Overflow have diminished in relevance due to the rise of AI.
Staff Engineer at Stryker
While using SmartBear TestComplete, we are fine with the current capabilities, however, it would be beneficial to improve some performance aspects, especially the image comparison feature.
QA Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Appium is a cost-effective open-source tool favored for its free availability compared to costly commercial alternatives.
SmartBear TestComplete's pricing and licensing receive mixed reviews, seen as both reasonable and costly depending on usage and modules.
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Appium is straightforward since it is open-source, and I currently have no concerns about using it.
Staff Engineer at Stryker
 

Valuable Features

Appium excels in flexible, robust mobile app automation across platforms, supporting multiple languages and seamless CI/CD integration.
SmartBear TestComplete excels in cross-platform automation, integration, and support for multiple languages, enhancing automated testing efficiency and maintenance.
Appium's open-source nature provides a level of support unmatched by competitors in the market, and its capability to support all types of mobile applications means no other tool in the market comes close to what Appium provides.
Staff Engineer at Stryker
The most valuable feature of SmartBear TestComplete for me is the image comparison functionality.
QA Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Appium
Ranking in Regression Testing Tools
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
31
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Development Platforms (9th)
SmartBear TestComplete
Ranking in Regression Testing Tools
5th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
76
Ranking in other categories
Functional Testing Tools (6th), Test Automation Tools (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Regression Testing Tools category, the mindshare of Appium is 2.0%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SmartBear TestComplete is 8.5%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Regression Testing Tools Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SmartBear TestComplete8.5%
Appium2.0%
Other89.5%
Regression Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Ramanagowda Hullur - PeerSpot reviewer
Staff Engineer at Stryker
Automation has transformed mobile testing workflows and delivers reliable end-to-end coverage
One painful point that still exists with Appium, especially in iOS mobile application testing, is its reliance on WebDriverAgent, which creates a lot of stress during setup for beginners. Although many improvements have been made since MCP, that area still needs attention. Additionally, improvements in the locator strategies are needed to adapt to modern technologies for locating mobile applications developed outside traditional Apple or core scripting technologies like Swift, Java, or Kotlin. A community needs to emerge, driven by a set of industry leaders who can help people and contribute to the community, especially since platforms like Stack Overflow have diminished in relevance due to the rise of AI. If I could change or improve one thing about Appium, I would focus on enhancing Appium MCP to ensure it delivers what it promises reliably.
Prakhar Goel - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Test Lead at Emerson
Used for integration automation, user-based automation, and web automation
The solution's most valuable features are the drag-and-drop feature, keyword-driven approach, and reusability of the scripts. The solution has introduced a new feature that helps us identify objects we cannot normally identify. It gives you a fair idea of objects, resolving the object recognition issue. The solution can be used to perform different tests on different machines.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Regression Testing Tools solutions are best for your needs.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise20
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise32
 

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 pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Appium is straightforward since it is open-source, and I currently have no concerns about using it.
What needs improvement with Appium?
One painful point that still exists with Appium, especially in iOS mobile application testing, is its reliance on WebDriverAgent, which creates a lot of stress during setup for beginners. Although ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SmartBear TestComplete?
I am not involved in pricing or licensing; our management team handles these aspects.
What needs improvement with SmartBear TestComplete?
While using SmartBear TestComplete, we are fine with the current capabilities, however, it would be beneficial to improve some performance aspects, especially the image comparison feature. Occasion...
What is your primary use case for SmartBear TestComplete?
We are using SmartBear TestComplete ( /products/smartbear-testcomplete-reviews ) for automation over applications.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nuvizz, Coupa Software, Eventbrite, Evernote
Cisco, J.P. Morgan, Boeing, McAfee, EMC, Intuit, and Thomson Reuters.
Find out what your peers are saying about Appium vs. SmartBear TestComplete and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.