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Katalon Studio vs Selenium HQ comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
7.2
Katalon Studio is easy to adopt, saving 30%-40% costs, improving efficiency, and enhancing speed to market.
Sentiment score
7.6
Selenium HQ reduces testing time, achieves 60% ROI, requires Java developers, and improves efficiency up to 55% in a week.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.9
Katalon Studio's customer service is praised for its responsiveness, with improvements at enterprise-level, but has limitations for free versions.
Sentiment score
6.2
Selenium HQ offers no direct support; users rely on community forums and online resources for assistance with issues.
I encountered a couple of issues during the initial setup, but customer care resolved them quickly.
Katalon's support is not very strong unless you opt for the enterprise version.
Documentation is good.
The marketplace community and forums are what we browse and look after, and we have found solutions whenever we tried to find anything.
I have not had the need to escalate questions to Selenium HQ tech support recently, as open community support is widely available and has been sufficient for our needs.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Katalon Studio is cost-effective and scalable for small teams but less optimal for large-scale load testing.
Sentiment score
7.5
Selenium HQ is scalable with technical expertise, enabling parallel testing, but scalability varies by framework design.
It allows me to develop, run, and deploy test cases extensively.
We can execute thousands of test cases weekly, and our automation coverage using Selenium HQ is approximately eighty-five percent.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
Katalon Studio is stable for most users, but complex projects and updates can cause crashes and integration issues.
Sentiment score
7.2
Selenium HQ is generally stable but faces issues with Internet Explorer and new browsers needing maintenance and proper test architecture.
It needs more stability when test cases are executed.
Stability is important as it saves time and provides valuable reports to higher management for decision-making.
Selenium HQ is a scalable solution; it has been in production for the last two years, but I have been working on it for the last six years, so it is definitely scalable.
 

Room For Improvement

Katalon Studio faces scripting limitations, unreliable Object Spy, slow testing, stability issues, and lacks integration and support features.
Users want better browser support, integration, simplified setup, clearer documentation, auto-healing, AJAX improvement, and frequent updates.
Parallel execution is available, but not with the free version.
There is significant competition, so providing a good offer with extra features could be beneficial.
Providing clearer guidance during the trial period for certification and training modules would also help.
An automatic update mechanism for Selenium HQ would be beneficial, eliminating the need for manual downloads and updates of browser drivers when new versions are released.
I don't know if we have that capability to provide different data sources such as SQL Server, CSV, or maybe some other databases, so that kind of capability would be great.
 

Setup Cost

Katalon Studio is cost-effective and competitive, though some advanced features may require costly licenses compared to alternatives.
Selenium is open-source and free, but setup and maintenance may require investment in developer skills and expertise.
The approximate cost is around $8,000.
I recommend optimizing the pricing, as a moderate value around five would be preferred.
The pricing of Katalon Studio is affordable, making it a sensible option for those looking for an affordable range.
 

Valuable Features

Katalon Studio simplifies automated testing with versatile features, platform support, and user-friendly tools, favored for comprehensive test management.
Selenium HQ offers cost-free, open-source cross-browser testing, supports multiple languages, frameworks, and facilitates integration with CI tools.
Additionally, it is easy to learn, quick to automate, and anyone can start automating test cases.
The browser compatibility and self-healing capabilities are excellent, which helps keep the code updated.
Katalon Studio has the highest number of integrations compared to other tools at a similar price point, such as Jira, Brokerstack, and Jenkins.
Selenium HQ supports multiple browsers via grid hosting and offers dynamic configuration setup for testing across Chrome, Edge, and Internet Explorer.
When we were doing these tests manually, it took several hours of effort, and those hours, when counted on the basis of person days, used to be maybe six or seven months of effort, which we can now do every day by running the pipeline.
 

Categories and Ranking

Katalon Studio
Ranking in Regression Testing Tools
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
API Testing Tools (5th), Test Automation Tools (2nd)
Selenium HQ
Ranking in Regression Testing Tools
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
112
Ranking in other categories
Functional Testing Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Regression Testing Tools category, the mindshare of Katalon Studio is 16.7%, up from 16.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Selenium HQ is 5.6%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Regression Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Anuradha.Kapoor Kapoor - PeerSpot reviewer
Functional automation features and the recording functionality saves time but the performance and script execution is slow
I would like to see improvements in how Katalon Studio works with iOS applications, especially with React Native applications. The speed is very slow. It takes time. Katalon Studio also takes my laptop memory, and execution becomes slow for the script. There are parallel execution options. I'm sure their online cloud version must be very fast, but as a service-based company, we are under NDA with our clients and can't run their code on our servers. I would like to see iOS improve and see a more capable recording feature. Katalon Studio has released an AI version, and I have a demo scheduled to see the new features.
Sujata Sujata Ghadage - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation in testing processes sees improvement with multi-browser support and easier website interactions
Selenium HQ could improve by including a robust reporting framework, eliminating the need for external frameworks. The tool could simplify object identification, enabling users to generate XPaths without requiring detailed DOM understanding. Additionally, an automatic update mechanism for Selenium HQ would be beneficial, eliminating the need for manual downloads and updates of browser drivers when new versions are released.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
28%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Katalon Studio?
I used the trial version of Katalon Studio, which I got for free. For TestComplete, I used an internal license as my organization was partnered with them.
What needs improvement with Katalon Studio?
Extending the certification validity, especially after the trial period, would be beneficial. Providing clearer guidance during the trial period for certification and training modules would also he...
How do I choose between Selenium HQ and Eggplant Digital Automation Intelligence?
Selenium HQ’s biggest advantage is that it is customizable. Its other most valuable feature is that the driver interface is really helpful and user-friendly; Selenium HQ makes it easy to navigate t...
What do you like most about Selenium HQ?
Selenium's open-source nature is a key advantage. Its extensive support for diverse web technologies.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Selenium HQ?
Selenium is easy to install and mostly free, so there's no need for a license. This lack of costs makes it an attractive option.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
SeleniumHQ
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Coca-Cola Tesla Black Board TaTa Consultancy Services Sony
BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, experitest, Tricentis GmbH, SmartBear Software
Find out what your peers are saying about Katalon Studio vs. Selenium HQ and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.