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Development Tools

What's the best tool for cross browser testing?

What's the most common way developers do cross browser testing? And are there any good free/cheap tools that could help in that process?

4 Answers

Brandi Jones
Brandi Jones
5,889 Points

Hey Josh, if you check out www.browserstack.com, they offer testing across all desktop and mobile browsers. They offer a free trial and have several pricing plans if you sign up. One of the cheapest plans they have is a "lite" version for $19/month. It's a pretty awesome site! Some developers also use a "virtual machine" which emulates a particular system. Good luck! =)

Jason Braun
Jason Braun
22,509 Points

I would second that, browserstack.com is the best - however it costs. A free alternative would be http://browsershots.org but they don't have Internet Explorer which is probably the one you have to test for the most.

Chris Shaw
Chris Shaw
26,676 Points

Hi Josh,

Both answers above are spot on, however if you need something more on the free side you can get a range of IE virtual machines from modern.ie which is run by the IE development team and updated monthly to ensure each OS has the latest security updates.

Of course this is much more of a bandwidth hog since you need to download GB/s worth of files but the end result is a much faster testing environments if your internet connection is sub-par which in Australia mine is.

Jason Braun
Jason Braun
22,509 Points

Chris - that's great, I didn't know about modern.ie - I will definitely set up a couple virtual machines! Best answer award goes to you.