head to head · open source
jest vs selenium
jest has 45,560 GitHub stars, 6,734 forks, 228 open issues and last shipped yesterday. selenium has 34,528 stars, 8,717 forks, 188 open issues and last shipped yesterday. jest leads on adoption by 32% (45,560 vs 34,528 stars). jest is written in TypeScript under MIT; selenium is written in Java under Apache-2.0. jest has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, selenium 25%. jest was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| jest | selenium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 35K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.7K | ⑂ 8.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick jest if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick selenium if
- You want the selenium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and selenium fits your workflow better
About jest
Jest is a delightful, developer ready JavaScript testing framework for writing and running tests in JavaScript and TypeScript projects.
About selenium
Selenium is a browser automation framework and ecosystem — an umbrella project providing infrastructure for the W3C WebDriver specification, a platform and language neutral coding interface for driving all major web browsers — aimed at developers and quality engineers who automate browser behaviour from Java, .NET, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, or Rust.
read the full selenium overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Testing & Quality Assurance projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Testing & Quality Assurance field.
Frequently asked questions
Is jest or selenium more popular?
jest has 45,560 GitHub stars and selenium has 34,528. jest has the larger community by that measure.
Are jest and selenium free?
Both are open source. jest is licensed under MIT and selenium under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between jest and selenium?
jest is written in TypeScript and selenium in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, jest or selenium?
Choose jest if you want the larger community (45,560 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose selenium if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.