Cypress

JavaScript end-to-end testing framework with browser-based runner and cloud service

As of 29 August 2026, Cypress has a free plan and paid plans start at $67/month. Cypress is an open-source testing framework for JavaScript applications featuring a browser-based test runner, AI-powered test generation, and Cypress Cloud for team collaboration and analytics. Softwr lists it under Testing. Cypress is available on macOS, Windows, Linux.

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Overview

What Cypress does

Cypress is a modern end-to-end testing framework designed specifically for web applications. Unlike older tools (Selenium) requiring separate browser drivers, Cypress runs directly inside the browser, providing direct access to the DOM, network events, and console during test execution. This architecture enables advanced debugging and faster feedback cycles. Key features include Test Replay, allowing developers to "rewind time" and inspect DOM state, network requests, and console logs from failed tests. Cypress Studio enables AI-powered test generation from natural language descriptions. Visual debugging integrates browser developer tools directly into the test runner. UI Coverage and Accessibility tools identify testing gaps and flag accessibility violations automatically. Cypress Cloud provides paid team collaboration features: test parallelisation, flake detection, test replay analytics, and integrations with Jira and GitHub. The open-source core remains free with 6 million weekly downloads and 50,000+ GitHub stars. Cypress competes with Playwright (broader language support) and older tools (Selenium, Puppeteer). Cypress differentiates through ease of use and visual debugging for JavaScript developers.

What people use it for

End-to-end testing for modern JavaScript web applications
Continuous integration pipelines with parallelised test execution
Visual regression testing and accessibility verification
Flaky test detection and elimination
Team collaboration on test maintenance and debugging

The honest half

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Cypress.

Limited to web applications; mobile and desktop app testing not supported
Free tier capped at 500 test results/month; insufficient for most development teams
Paid features (flake detection, analytics) not included in free tier
JavaScript/TypeScript focused; less suitable for polyglot organisations

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Cypress

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Cypressvs
Insomnia
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BrowserStack
BrowserStack: Real device cloud for web and mobile testing
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BugHerd
BugHerd: Visual feedback and bug tracking for websites
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CircleCI
CircleCI: The leading CI/CD platform

Pricing

What Cypress costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Starter (Free)

Free

500 test results/month
100 prompt executions/month
Parallelisation
Test replay
Project analytics
No credit card required

Team

$67 /mo

120k test results/year
9k prompt executions/year
Flake detection
Flaky test analytics
Jira integration
Billed annually at $799 (11% savings)

Business

$267 /mo

120k test results/year
24k prompt executions/year
Spec prioritisation
Auto-cancellation
Enterprise Git integrations
Billed annually at $3,199 (11% savings)

Enterprise

On request

1.8M test results/year
60k prompt executions/year
Unlimited users
Enterprise reporting
Data extract API
Premium support

Extra test results

$5 /per 1,000 results

Available on-demand for all paid tiers

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Is Cypress free?

Yes, Cypress offers a free Starter plan with 500 test results per month, 100 prompt executions monthly, 50 users, and 30-day data retention. No credit card is required.

Source

How much does Cypress Team cost?

Cypress Team costs $67 per month when billed monthly or $799 per year for annual billing (11% savings). It includes 120,000 annual test results, 9,000 yearly prompt executions, 50 users, 90-day data retention, flake detection, Jira integration, and email support.

Source

What is the difference between Cypress Team and Business?

Cypress Business costs $267 per month (or $3,199 annually) compared to Team's $67/month ($799/year). Business provides twice the prompt executions (24,000 vs. 9,000 yearly), spec prioritization, auto-cancellation, and enterprise GitHub/GitLab support.

Source

Can I purchase additional test results on Cypress?

Yes, Cypress allows purchasing bundled on-demand test results. Team costs $6 per 1,000 results, Business costs $5 per 1,000, and Enterprise pricing is custom. Open-source projects qualify for complimentary cloud services.

Source

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Cypress, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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Cypress

What Cypress does

What people use it for

Where it falls short

What people choose instead of Cypress

What Cypress costs

Questions people ask

Where to go from Cypress

Best Testing software for

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Other Testing software

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