Level Up Your Automation: Essential Websites for Hands-On Testing Practice

Tags: Test Automation Practice Sites Selenium Cypress Playwright UI Testing API Testing Mobile Testing QA Learning Resources Software Testing

Mastering test automation requires more than just understanding theory; it demands hands-on practice. Finding suitable, reliable “playgrounds” where you can experiment with different scenarios – from basic UI interactions to complex AJAX handling, modern frameworks, API calls, and mobile gestures – is crucial for skill development.

But where can you find these resources? Many live websites aren’t appropriate targets, and building complex test apps yourself takes time away from learning automation techniques. Fortunately, several excellent websites and applications are available, specifically designed or perfectly suited for automation practice.

Here’s a curated collection of valuable resources that can help you build a robust automation skill set, covering a wide spectrum of technologies and challenges.

Practice Grounds for Web UI & Full-Stack Automation

These platforms offer rich web interfaces, often mimicking real-world applications, providing ample opportunities to practice various UI automation techniques.

1. SauceDemo E-Commerce (SauceDemo.com)

  • Focus Areas: Login variations, core e-commerce workflows, data-driven testing, handling expected failures, debugging test scripts.
  • Why it’s valuable: A standout e-commerce simulation. Its genius lies in providing multiple user accounts: a standard_user for validating happy paths, and a problem_user that triggers various application issues, forcing you to build resilient tests that correctly identify failures. Other users (locked_out_user, performance_glitch_user) offer further specific scenarios.

2. Ultimate QA Practice Pages (ultimateqa.com/automation)

  • Focus Areas: Interaction with diverse HTML elements (simple & complex), form submission, automating dynamic applications.
  • Why it’s valuable: Purpose-built by Nikolay Advolodkin for learners. It features pages ranging from basic element interactions to large, complex layouts. A key feature is a section designed to evolve, challenging you to write maintainable automation scripts.

3. Cypress Real World App (github.com/cypress-io/cypress-realworld-app)

  • Focus Areas: End-to-end testing workflows, UI/backend interaction, authentication testing, Cypress framework practice.
  • Why it’s valuable: Developed by the Cypress team, this simulates a payment application, providing a realistic environment for practicing tests that involve user login, data manipulation, and backend communication, going beyond simple UI validation.

4. GitHub Users Search (Conceptual App)

  • Focus Areas: Combined UI and REST API automation, potentially CI/CD integration practice.
  • Why it’s valuable: Often used in tutorials, this type of application allows you to practice interacting with both the frontend presentation and the backend API that powers it. Access to source code (in many tutorial versions) enables a deeper understanding and potentially white-box testing. (Tip: Search online for tutorials building this app to find specific repositories).

5. Contact List Web App and API (thinkingtester.com/contact-list-app)

  • Focus Areas: Parallel UI and API automation, testing different application layers.
  • Why it’s valuable: Provided by Kristin Jackvony, this application neatly separates UI and API concerns for a contact list. It’s an excellent target for practicing how to automate effectively at different levels – validating core logic via the API and user flows via the UI.

6. RealWorld Example Apps (realworld.io)

  • Focus Areas: Automating specific frontend frameworks (React, Angular, Vue, etc.), comparing automation approaches across technologies.
  • Why it’s valuable: A fascinating project offering the exact same application (a Medium clone) built using numerous frontend/backend stacks. This allows you to practice automating against your framework of choice or even compare how automation scripts differ across frameworks for identical functionality.

7. Telerik Demo Components (demos.telerik.com)

  • Focus Areas: Handling complex/custom UI controls (grids, tree views, schedulers), automating specific component libraries (Kendo UI, ASP.NET controls).
  • Why it’s valuable: While a showcase for Telerik’s products, their demo site is a treasure trove for practicing automation against sophisticated UI widgets that go beyond standard HTML elements. If you need to automate intricate data grids or specialized components, this is a great place to experiment.

8. WebDriverUniversity.com (webdriveruniversity.com)

  • Focus Areas: Specific WebDriver challenges: AJAX waits, iFrames, popups, advanced clicks (hold, double-click), hovers, file uploads.
  • Why it’s valuable: Tailor-made for WebDriver practice. It breaks down common, tricky automation problems into isolated test pages, allowing you to focus on mastering specific techniques.

9. ACME Demo Banking (demo.applitools.com)

  • Focus Areas: Simple login validation, potentially visual regression testing.
  • Why it’s valuable: A straightforward banking application facade from Applitools. Good for practicing basic login scripts and potentially as a stable target for visual testing tools, even if deeper functionality is limited.

10. “The Internet” by Dave Haeffner (the-internet.herokuapp.com)

  • Focus Areas: A wide array of specific, challenging UI scenarios (A/B testing, authentication types, dynamic/shifting content, hovers, iFrames, file uploads, slow responses, difficult DOM structures).
  • Why it’s valuable: A classic and highly recommended resource. It contains dozens of dedicated pages, each designed to test your ability to automate a specific, often tricky, real-world scenario.

11. ParaBank Banking Software (parabank.parasoft.com)

  • Focus Areas: Combined UI and Web Services (REST/SOAP) automation, implementing layered testing strategies (Test Automation Pyramid).
  • Why it’s valuable: This demo application from Parasoft offers both a web interface and corresponding APIs. It’s perfect for practicing a balanced automation strategy – testing core business logic via the faster, more stable API layer and reserving UI tests for critical user workflows.

12. Sample E-Commerce Platform (automationpractice.com) - Note: Check availability

  • Focus Areas: Common e-commerce user journeys (product search, cart management, checkout forms), validation rules.
  • Why it’s valuable: Provides a typical online store layout useful for practicing standard e-commerce automation scripts, including adding items, viewing the cart, and navigating checkout steps.

13. DemoQA (demoqa.com)

  • Focus Areas: Interacting with diverse HTML elements and interactive widgets (sliders, progress bars, accordions, drag-and-drop, sortable lists, modals).
  • Why it’s valuable: Offers dedicated pages for practicing automation against a broad spectrum of web controls, helping solidify foundational interaction skills.

14. Compendium Developments Practice Pages (compendiumdev.co.uk/selenium/)

  • Focus Areas: Drag-and-drop, list manipulation, basic interactions, potentially canvas automation.
  • Why it’s valuable: Alan Richardson provides several targeted practice areas, including unique challenges like interacting with an HTML canvas element via automation.

15. React Shopping Cart (react-shopping-cart-67954.firebaseapp.com/)

  • Focus Areas: Automating ReactJS applications, handling component state and rendering.
  • Why it’s valuable: A good example of a modern JavaScript frontend application, useful for practicing techniques specific to automating SPAs (Single Page Applications) built with frameworks like React.

Dedicated API Testing Playgrounds

Need to focus purely on API automation? These endpoints are designed for exactly that.

16. Restful-Booker (restful-booker.herokuapp.com)

  • Focus Areas: API CRUD operations (POST, GET, PUT, DELETE), API authentication, testing error handling/buggy endpoints.
  • Why it’s valuable: A purpose-built practice API with clear documentation. It includes authentication and known bugs, allowing for both positive and negative testing practice. The periodic reset ensures a consistent test environment.

17. JSONPlaceholder (jsonplaceholder.typicode.com)

  • Focus Areas: Basic REST operations, mocking API responses, quick prototyping.
  • Why it’s valuable: Delivers fake JSON data instantly via a RESTful interface. Invaluable for quickly testing API clients or mocking dependencies without needing a real backend.

18. HTTPBin.org (httpbin.org)

  • Focus Areas: Testing HTTP methods, headers, status codes, authentication, redirects, response formats, cookies.
  • Why it’s valuable: A powerful request/response service. Send it HTTP requests, and it echoes back details about the request, allowing you to precisely test how your code handles various HTTP scenarios.

19. PetStore API (petstore.swagger.io)

  • Focus Areas: Interacting with APIs defined by OpenAPI/Swagger specifications, standard RESTful patterns.
  • Why it’s valuable: The canonical Swagger demo API. Useful for practicing automation against a well-defined API contract and working with tools that integrate with OpenAPI specifications.

Mobile App Practice Targets

Don’t forget mobile! Here are apps you can use for mobile automation practice.

20. Sample E-commerce Mobile App (Sauce Labs) (github.com/saucelabs/my-demo-app-android & iOS version)

  • Focus Areas: Native mobile app automation (Android/iOS), using frameworks like Appium, Espresso, XCUITest, handling mobile gestures and elements.
  • Why it’s valuable: Provided by Sauce Labs, these are fully functional native apps installable on emulators, simulators, or real devices. They offer a realistic target for practicing mobile-specific automation techniques.

Your Turn

This collection offers a solid starting point for practicing diverse test automation skills across web, API, and mobile platforms. Consistent practice on varied targets like these is key to becoming a proficient automation engineer.