shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Selenium?

Selenium automates browsers. That's it! - selenium.dev

Depends. Buy if you have engineers to write and maintain browser test suites at scale — it's the free industry standard. Skip it if you lack coding resources; a modern managed tool will cost less overall.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~40 public sources; irrelevant mineral-supplement results were filtered out. No named customer companies were verifiable in the evidence.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Open source

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • QA teams with coding skills
  • Cross-browser regression suites
  • Distributed testing via Grid
  • Automating repetitive web admin tasks

Not for

  • Teams without engineers — tests are code and break constantly
  • Small startups wanting quick automation; use Playwright or Cypress
  • Buyers needing vendor support or SLAs; there is no company to call
  • Anyone unwilling to self-host and secure a Grid

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Free tool, expensive operation: you pay for Grid hosting, CI infrastructure, and engineers' time.

high

Exposed or misconfigured Grids get hijacked for cryptomining (SeleniumGreed attacks, Dec 2024).

high

Old Docker images carry critical CVEs; upgrade and never expose Grid publicly.

medium

No vendor support contract; you rely on a sponsorship-funded volunteer community.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license
  • WebDriver bindings for many languages drive browsers like real users
  • Grid scales and distributes tests across many environments
  • Rated 4.3/5 across 233 verified G2 reviews
  • Used by 84,379 tracked companies worldwide

Cons

  • High hidden costs: engineer time, infrastructure, maintenance
  • One 2026 estimate: $216K annual maintenance for 10 engineers
  • Tests are brittle and code-heavy versus modern rivals
  • QA community openly debates whether Selenium is becoming obsolete

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/20/2026 - 11 sources - Multiple CVEs, mostly Selenium Grid; a critical flaw in an old Docker hub image and in-the-wild cryptomining abuse of exposed Grids.

official x2review x2security x3news x4
  • CVE-2022-28109, Vulnerability affecting Selenium Grid 4.0.0.
  • CVE-2022-23219, Critical vulnerability in selenium/hub:3.141.59 Docker image.
  • CVE-2023-5590, High-severity vulnerability detected in selenium-webdriver 4.0.
  • SeleniumGreed campaign, Attackers exploited misconfigured, exposed Selenium Grids for cryptomining (Darktrace, Dec 2024).

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 11

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free, open source, no license fees
  • Ease of use: 2/5. Requires coding; steep learning curve
  • Feature depth: 4/5. WebDriver, Grid, IDE; scales across environments
  • Support quality: 2/5. Community and sponsorship only; no vendor support
  • Security posture: 2/5. Grid CVEs; exploited for cryptomining
  • 4.3/5 G2 rating 233 verified reviews
  • $0 Price Apache 2.0 open source
  • 84,379 Tracked users companies, per TheirStack
  • $216K/yr Est. maintenance (10 engineers) Autonoma 2026 estimate

Pricing

Open source

$0

  • WebDriver, IDE, Grid included
  • Apache 2.0 license
  • Self-hosted infrastructure

Security

Multiple CVEs, mostly Selenium Grid; a critical flaw in an old Docker hub image and in-the-wild cryptomining abuse of exposed Grids.

  • CVE-2022-28109Vulnerability affecting Selenium Grid 4.0.0.⁸
  • CVE-2022-23219Critical vulnerability in selenium/hub:3.141.59 Docker image.⁹
  • CVE-2023-5590High-severity vulnerability detected in selenium-webdriver 4.0.
  • SeleniumGreed campaignAttackers exploited misconfigured, exposed Selenium Grids for cryptomining (Darktrace, Dec 2024).⁷

What users say

Users value its free flexibility but consistently flag coding demands, brittle tests, and heavy maintenance.

“I do not have any Selenium coding experience, but I”
Reddit, r/selenium
“Traditionally, Selenium and Java dominated the QA automation lan”
Reddit, r/QualityAssurance
Full analysis

Based on ~40 public sources; irrelevant mineral-supplement results were filtered out. No named customer companies were verifiable in the evidence.

Free browser-automation standard, but the real cost is engineering time and test maintenance.

Methodology

Based on ~40 public sources; irrelevant mineral-supplement results were filtered out. No named customer companies were verifiable in the evidence.

Sources

  1. Selenium official siteselenium.dev
    official
  2. Is Selenium Free? How Much Does Selenium Cost?bugbug.io
    official
  3. Selenium Products | 233 G2 Reviewsg2.com
    review
  4. Is Selenium becoming obsolete? — r/QualityAssurancereddit.com
    review
  5. The Hidden Costs of Using Selenium for UI Test Automationtelerik.com
    news
  6. Playwright vs Selenium 2026: The $216K Maintenance Taxgetautonoma.com
    news
  7. Growing Misuse of Selenium Grid for Cryptomining (SeleniumGreed)darktrace.com
    security
  8. CVE-2022-28109 — Selenium Grid 4.0.0 (NVD)nvd.nist.gov
    security
  9. Known Vulnerabilities in selenium/hub:3.141.59 Docker imagesliplane.io
    security
  10. Selenium, Open Source Funding, and Community-Driven Developmentdev.to
    news
  11. Companies that use Selenium (84,379) — TheirStacktheirstack.com
    news

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