As a web developer with over 10 years of experience testing applications on thousands of browser and device combinations, I put browser farms to work every day to catch compatibility issues. In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about browser farms, why cross-browser testing matters, how these services work, key capabilities to look for, and how to run tests on a cloud platform.
Let‘s get started!
What Exactly is a Browser Farm?
A browser farm refers to an extensive collection of desktop and mobile browsers running on various operating systems, platforms and devices. They provide instant, on-demand access to 1000+ browser versions across hundreds of endpoint configurations to test websites and applications for functionality, layout, performance and more.
By offering a simple way to validate sites against many user environments in one integrated platform, browser farms enable uncomplicated, comprehensive cross-browser testing – an absolute must for modern web development…
Why Cross Browser Testing is Critical
With Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge and other engines rendering content differently, testing across browsers identifies compatibility issues from subtle CSS bugs to JavaScript errors that crash entire experiences. Consider these browser market share stats across desktop and mobile:
Chrome – 63%
Safari – 22%
Samsung Internet – 8%
Firefox – 3%
Edge – 2%
Opera – 2%
Optimizing for only Chrome leaves issues for 37% of users. Regularly testing across browser engines ensures apps function reliably for all users. But with rapid releases, keeping pace means regularly checking:
- New browser versions
- Fresh OS updates
- Emerging devices/sizes
- Shifting user preferences
- Deprecated feature support
Manually installing every browser release on various operating systems would be extremely arduous. This is where browser farms provide major testing efficiency…
Key Benefits of Browser Farms
The primary capabilities offered by browser farm solutions include:
Instant Access to Major Browsers
Comprehensive browser access is critical for revealing compatibility issues. Leading options like BrowserStack and LambdaTest provide one-click access to 1000+ versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari and others – spanning both new releases and legacy ones still used by subsets of visitors.
This range covers all bases to mirror real user conditions.
Coverage of Both Desktop + Mobile
With mobile browsing topping 50% of traffic, testing needs to occur on both desktop and mobile browsers via real devices. Top solutions offer instant access to not just desktop Chrome, Firefox and Safari but iOS and Android versions as well – on actual phones and tablets via the cloud.
This combination enables testing websites and web apps under realistic mobile conditions.
Hundreds of Real Devices
In addition to virtual browsers, leading solutions offer live testing access to vast grids of real consumer devices from major manufacturers. For example, BrowserStack provides instant access to 3000+ unique iPhone, Android and tablet models – from flagship phones to entry level devices common across emerging markets.
This scale of device coverage provides assurance that UI is functional across displays, chipsets and form factors actually used by visitors.
Multiple Operating Systems
With browser behavior also varying across underlying operating systems, top solutions provide access not just to the browsers themselves but the OS environments they run on – Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and more.
This enables identifying issues triggered by specific OS versions – like browser crashes on iOS 15 or scrollbar defects on Windows 11.
Responsive Viewports
Testing responsiveness is simplified via controls to resize viewports to any dimension – allowing fluid checks across endless widths and heights to fine tune CSS breakpoints.
Viewport flexibility combined with vast device access accelerates optimizations for small tablets, folding phones emerging form factors.
Network Customization
To uncover performance regressions on slower networks, leading options provide network throttling to simulate 3G, 4G and flaky WiFi scenarios.
Testing under these constrained but common environments highlights speed opportunities not evident on corporate multi-gigabit connections.
Automated Testing
While manual testing is useful, running automated browser-device test suites is necessary for adequate coverage across endless permutations. Top solutions integrate with Selenium, Appium and other test frameworks to enable scripting regression test suites.
This test automation support facilitates scale from individual developers to entire CI/CD pipelines running full cross-browser test batteries on every commit.
Geographic Distribution
To assess geographic performance impacts, services like BrowserStack offer global test centers to execute tests from strategic locales across North America, Europe, Asia and more to simulate local users.
Identifying location-specific user experience lag early prevents disappointment at launch.
Comparing Leading Browser Farm Platforms
When evaluating browser testing solutions, compare options across these key dimensions:
| BrowserStack | LambdaTest | Sauce Labs | |
| Browser Versions | 1500+ | 1000+ | 800+ |
| Real Devices | 5000+ | 3000+ | 2000+ |
| Operating Systems | Windows, OS X, iOS, Android | Windows, OS X, iOS, Android | Windows, OS X, iOS, Android |
| Uptime % | 99.95% | 99.0% | 99.9% |
Focusing on platform stability, device breadth, and automation capabilities surfaces the best fits for simplified cross-testing at scale.
Running Website Tests on a Browser Farm
Let‘s walk through executing live website tests across a matrix of browsers on BrowserStack. We‘ll run sample tests on www.example.com:
Step 1) Configure Browser & Device Matrix
First, select the browsers, OS and devices to test across:
- Chrome, Safari, Firefox on OS X, iOS, Windows
- Edge on Windows 11
- iPhone 14 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S23 ultra
Mixing legacy, current and beta browsers with new devices provides broad coverage.
Step 2) Input Test URL
Next, enter the website URL to test:
www.example.com
Step 3) Execute Tests
Then click to begin testing example.com across the chosen browser-device matrix. As tests run, live views of the site on each configuration appear:
- Safari on iPad Pro 12" – Looks good!
- Chrome on Galaxy S23 – Layout needs work…
- Firefox on Windows 11 – JavaScript errors present!
Interactive testing makes inspecting behaviour and troubleshooting defects intuitive.
Step 4) Triage Issues
Now comparing results across environments reveals:
- JavaScript crashing Firefox on Windows
- Site width exceeding Galaxy S23‘s viewport
- Incorrect padding on iPad Safari
With problems documented, developers can begin addressing through fixes for each respective browser and OS.
And that‘s it! With browser farms enabling on-demand testing across endless configurations, engineers can catch compatibility defects instantly rather than find out the hard way at launch.
Go Forth and Test All The Things!
I hope this guide has armed you to start leveraging browser farms for simplified, scalable cross-browser testing. Catching layout discrepancies, JS errors and more early ultimately results in higher quality web experiences for every visitor.
If you have any other questions on multi-browser testing or want to chat emerging trends, feel free to reach out!
