SpecFlow vs Cucumber - Key Differences

SpecFlow and Cucumber help you to segregate test automation and requirements, as well as provide extra code structuring capabilities. Both tools are implemented for the.NET platform and Microsoft environment to write behaviours in your native language and display the results in an Excel table format. In this blog on SpecFlow Vs Cucumber, we will explain everything you need to know about how it's employed in test automation.

SpecFlow vs Cucumber - Table of Contents

1. What is SpecFlow?
2. What is Cucumber?
3. What companies use Cucumber?
4. What companies use SpecFlow?
5. What tools integrate with Cucumber?
6. What tools integrate with SpecFlow?
7. Pros of Cucumber
8. Pros of SpecFlow
9. Top Comparisons between Cucumber and SpecFlow
10. What are some alternatives to Cucumber and SpecFlow?

What is SpecFlow?

Specflow is a BDD-supporting testing tool for the.NET platform. It is an open-source framework that is hosted on GitHub. It aids in the creation of ATDD acceptance test drivers for.NET applications (Acceptance test driver development). Some of the tools for building tests under the BDD methodology include Cucumber/JBehave for Java, Lettuce for Python, Jasmine for Javascript, and Specflow for.NET.

SpecFlow supports the following frameworks:

• .Net framework
• Xamarin
• Mono

Check out SpecFlow Tutorial

What is Cucumber?

Cucumber is a behavior-driven development testing tool (BDD). It’s a software program used by testers to create test cases for software behaviour testing. Cucumber is a valuable tool for creating acceptance test cases for automation testing. It is mainly used to develop acceptance tests for web applications based on their features' behaviour. It is written in Gherkin, which is a simple English language. 

Cucumber was initially written in Ruby before being transferred to the Java framework. Both tools have native JUnit support. Cucumber, among other things, can be paired with Selenium, Watir, and Capybara. Java, Perl, PHP, Python, and.Net are among the programming languages supported by Cucumber.

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What companies use Cucumber?

Cucumber is most commonly used in the Computer Software business and by companies in the United States. 

• JPMorgan Chase
• AT&T
•  loanDepot
•  BrowserStack
•  Live Nation
•  CASH STORE 
• Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Inc.
• DATA Inc.
• Lorven Technologies
  

What companies use SpecFlow?

Below listed are the companies using SpecFlow:

• FM Global
•  Charles Schwab
•  Dell
• Nordstrom
• Flatiron
• Federal Home Loan Bank
• Immowelt Group
• Kingsmen Software
• Zoop Law
• Albelli 
• Gilmond
• Initial force AS
• DrDoctor
• Tatts Group
• Intelligent sensing anywhere
• TTC Technology
• Cash Converters New Zealand
• Give Penny
• Auction Tech
• NOT REAL
• Profilum
• Siteware
• Client Data Platform
• Travel Counsellors

What tools integrate with Cucumber?

Tools integrated with cucumber are as follows:

• BrowserStack
• Lambda Test
• Karate DSL
• CrossBrowserTesting
• qTest Management
• Experitest

What tools integrate with SpecFlow?

Tools integrated with SpecFlow are as follows:

• Lambda Test
• CrossBrowserTesting
• Allure Report
• Atata

Pros of Cucumber and Specflow

Pros of Cucumber

• Well-Structured and Universally Understandable Test Cases - Cucumber allows you to write primary English test cases. As a result, all actors participating in the development and testing of your web application will be able to understand your test cases.
• Test Cases Can Be Reused - Additionally, suppose you want to construct a new test case identical to one of the previously produced web application tests. In that case, all you have to do is locate its predecessor and reuse what has already been done.
• Coordination is simple - Cucumber's test code is easy to comprehend, which aids in bringing all stakeholders on board throughout development. Anyone can write behavior scenarios for the web application, from testers to developers to product owners and business analysts.
• Early Defects Detection - Cucumber's primary advantage is that it aids in the early detection of web application issues. Cucumber also assists developers and testers in determining which features are functional and which are not.
• Supports Various programming languages- Java, PHP, JavaScript, Python, Perl, and Ruby are just a few languages Cucumber supports. As a result, you won't need to learn a new programming language and will be able to continue working with your current one.

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Pros of SpecFlow

• Unit Testing - SpecFlow is based on behavior-driven development; developers no longer have to think about tests when building a program. Instead, they may think in terms of "behavior." This allows the developer to present more complex concepts with ease.
• Drive the Design - When business analysts, designers, programmers, and producers collaborate on SpecFlow, the design can be driven, making the software a location where team members can simply run tests and see for themselves how things are moving. 
• Tests are written in English Grammar - The tests performed on SpecFlow are written in simple English, allowing even the program's producers to provide feedback to the programmers on which sections they want to preserve and which parts they want to remove, resulting in productive cooperation.
• Low-Level Cost of Bugs - Because the developer can see what they're working on in real-time, testing tools like SpecFlow have a minor bug fixing cost. This makes it easy for the programmers visiting what they can modify as they write and code the program.
• Data Documentation in Real-Time - SpecFlow, unlike other software and data development systems, uses Behaviour Driven Development to enable the entire team to document their progress and mistakes while creating code and testing applications. As a result, it's an excellent addition to the arsenal.

Top Comparisons between Cucumber and SpecFlow

There are many differences between Cucumber and SpecFlow. A few of them are listed below:

What are some alternatives to Cucumber and SpecFlow?

Below listed are some of the tools that can be used as alternatives for Cucumber and Specflow:

• Selenium: Selenium is an automation tool for web browsers. The process comes to an end at this point. You have complete control over how you use that power. It's mainly used for testing web programs, but that's not all it can do. It is possible (and recommended!) to automate laborious web-based administration tasks.

• RSpec: RSpec is a behaviour-driven development framework for Ruby. TDD is both beneficial and pleasurable to do.

• TestNG: It's a framework for testing that includes unit, functional, end-to-end, integration, and other types of tests. Use arbitrary large thread pools with various policies to run your tests.

• JUnit: JUnit is a simple framework for creating test cases that can be repeated. It's a unit testing framework based on the xUnit architecture.

• Celery: Celery is a distributed message forwarding asynchronous task queue/job queue. It is primarily intended for real-time use, although it also allows for scheduling.

Conclusion

Now that you've seen the thorough comparison between Specflow and Cucumber, it's up to you to make your decision. There are minor distinctions between them, despite the fact that they are both capable of testing tools. We hope that the above information helps you to choose the best tool you require.