Testim vs Cucumber

Quote on request

Free tier available

Quote-based beyond the free tier; priced by annual test runs.

Open source core. SmartBear sells CucumberStudio for collaborative scenario authoring, priced per user on request.

Free plan with a limited monthly run allowance.

The Cucumber libraries are open source and free.

Established

Tricentis · since 2014

Widely used

Smartbear · since 2008

• Smart locators handle everyday UI churn well.
• The escape hatch to real JavaScript keeps complex cases possible.
• Reusable shared steps keep large recorded suites maintainable.

• Shared vocabulary between product, QA and engineering when the practice is actually followed.
• Scenarios double as living documentation that stays honest because it executes.
• Available in every major language.

• Test logic lives in the vendor's cloud rather than your repository, which complicates review and branching.
• Run-based pricing punishes running the full suite on every commit.
• Post-acquisition roadmap is bound to the wider Tricentis strategy.

• Almost always adopted as a syntax rather than a collaboration practice, at which point it is pure overhead on top of your real tests.
• The step-definition layer is a second codebase to maintain and refactor.
• Gherkin obscures technical detail that developers need when a test fails.

Teams with fast-changing UIs that need maintenance to stay low.

Teams genuinely practising BDD with three-amigos sessions, not teams who just want prettier test names.