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Appium vs Apple Xcode comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 4, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Appium
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Regression Testing Tools (6th)
Apple Xcode
Ranking in Mobile Development Platforms
12th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Mobile Development Platforms category, the mindshare of Appium is 3.9%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Apple Xcode is 2.4%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Mobile Development Platforms Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Appium3.9%
Apple Xcode2.4%
Other93.7%
Mobile Development Platforms
 

Featured Reviews

Luis Gerardo Meneses Hernandez - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows for direct interaction with an application's DOM but complex configuration
What I like about Appium right now is that it's like Cypress in the sense that I can get to the new DOM of the application and select the components and create the functions to test the components in the way I want them to be tested. That's why I like it right now.
Daniel Bell - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient, up-to-date, and straightforward installation
The scalability of Apple Xcode is good. It can scale to any engineer team size. I have worked at a company using this solution with 30 iOS engineers and the current company I work at has four engineers. Our numbers are growing and we will increase usage of the solution.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The way Appium server interacts with mobile apps is fantastic. It provides all the information about the elements inside the app, Android as well as iOS. I can interact with the element quickly, just type some text or get some text values from the element - whether it's a drop-down, or web text, or a native element."
"The library is extensive so the driver interacts with most functions or actions on mobile devices."
"The latest versions of the solution are stable."
"The interface is user-friendly, which is beneficial for users, even for those who are new to it."
"Obviously because of automation, it reduces manual testing efforts."
"Appium provides a record-and-play option, and the commands are the same as those that Selenium uses. So a person who has some exposure to Selenium will be able to write a piece of code in Appium."
"Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to."
"Appium's wide support of programming languages is valuable."
"It is stable and user-friendly."
"We like the ease of access and navigation that this solution provides."
"The tool's most valuable features are debugging and code management."
"Xcode is pretty smart. It's easy to set up and works perfectly on Android."
"Xcode has quite a bit of code error checking built-in, which is great. It also goes a step further and suggests fixes."
"It is complete and relevant to the job at hand."
"The most valuable feature of Apple Xcode is that it is up to date."
 

Cons

"We haven't been able to fully leverage Appium for multiple reasons. I think number one is just that the tests take a long time to run. We have had some issues around just the results themselves and how predictable they are, but those are not issues with Appium directly."
"Appium has problems with automated validations following iOS updates, causing us to have to validate manually."
"The tool needs to add a dependency manager."
"Support-wise, it could be better."
"I rarely use Appium nowadays because I'm now at the managerial level, but the last time I used it, whenever I selected and clicked on an element, Appium was very slow. I tried to debug it, but I still couldn't find the problem, so this is an area for improvement in the solution. Another area for improvement lies with the connector and server. For example, the effort to get into the local machine sometimes causes the emulator to become slow, which then leads to failure in testing, and this is the usual issue I've encountered from Appium. An additional feature I'd like added to Appium in its next release is being able to do automation in iOS without using XPath and the name of the element. In Xcode, you can use previous UI tests for detecting elements, but in Appium, you have to use Xpath and the element name instead of being able to directly put the X-UiPath, which is what you can do in Xcode. In iOS as well, sometimes the element doesn't have a name or a path. Sometimes, there's also no element."
"It needs to accommodate applications that use React.js and AngularJS."
"What needs improvement in Appium is its documentation. It needs to give more context on the libraries that Appium is using under the hood. For example, my team is using Appium for Android automation, and a lot of times, I feel that there's functionality that's available through the Appium interface, that exists within the UIAutomator, but there aren't a lot of useful or helpful resources on the internet to find that information, so it would be good to have some linkage with the underlying platform itself. Another room for improvement in Appium is that it's buggy sometimes. For example, at times, there's a bug in the inspector application that doesn't allow me to save my desired capability set, so it would be nice to get that bug fixed, but overall, Appium is a good tool. The Touch Actions functionality in Appium also needs improvement. For example, if I want to initiate a scroll on the device that I'm running Appium on, sometimes Swipe works, but in other situations, I have to explicitly use action chains, so I'm not too sure what's the better approach. What I'd like to see in the next version of Appium is a more intelligent and more intuitive AppiumLibrary, in terms of identifying menus and scroll bars, etc., because right now, I'm unsure if I have to do a lot of export reversals to get to the elements I'm looking for. It would be nice to have some functionality built in, which would allow me to easily get those exports."
"The challenging part with Appium is that installation can be a bit tricky. It can be challenging to set up in Android versus iOS environments."
"We would like a 'light' version of this solution to be developed, as it currently uses a lot of memory space."
"As Apple has introduced more and more features on top of Xcode, it sometimes, but very rarely, hangs."
"There should be additional documentation on App Store deployment. In terms of features, they're pretty much on top of where they need to go. I've been happy with its progress so far. As things evolve, they need to evolve to match that need."
"It is a bit challenging to sign in."
"It consists of multiple components and needs a simplified process. This particular area could be more stable."
"There is a drag-and-drop visual system, but as soon as you do something dynamic, then you are unable to use it."
"The size of Apple Xcode could improve. It is too large."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Appium is free and open-source."
"This is an open source solution so it does not cost anything for licensing or otherwise."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"As far as I know, Appium is a free solution. It's not for commercial use."
"The solution is open-source."
"The solution is open source."
"We found out that we could explore features of the solution for 30 days trial. We can switch to a permanent license later if we want."
"It's open source, so it's completely free."
"It has an annual renewal."
"You can start off using Apple Xcode for free but if you start using some more of their enhanced features, it's going to be hundreds of dollars a month. There are corporate licenses but most individual users will not be worried about the corporate license, only your CFO will or the person in charge of the software department."
"There are no licensing costs for Xcode and no hidden charges. You just download it."
"We don't have to pay for Apple Xcode's licenses."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend Appium?
I do recommend Appium. It is an open-source solution and completely free of charge. We use Appium and Appium Studio as our base for any type of mobile automation for testing. It has a great interfa...
What do you like most about Appium?
Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Appium?
My experience with Appium from a pricing perspective is favorable due to it being open source, making it a cost-effective option.
What do you like most about Apple Xcode?
The tool's most valuable features are debugging and code management.
What needs improvement with Apple Xcode?
Apple Xcode's usability for developers needs enhancement. It consists of multiple components and needs a simplified process. This particular area could be more stable.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nuvizz, Coupa Software, Eventbrite, Evernote
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Appium vs. Apple Xcode and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.