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These are guidelines, not universal bans. Use Selenium when proving a real browser interaction matters; choose a more direct test or a manual check when it answers the question more reliably or economically.
CAPTCHA challenges
Selenium discourages automating CAPTCHA challenges. A test should not become an attempt to defeat an anti-automation control. If the application flow needs coverage, agree on a controlled test approach with the product and security teams.
- Solving a CAPTCHA during account creation: the test would depend on bypassing or solving a challenge intended to distinguish people from automation.
- Retrying a CAPTCHA after a failed answer: challenge behavior can vary, making the test a check of the anti-bot mechanism rather than the application behavior you mean to verify.
- Completing a CAPTCHA in a protected action: avoid making a browser test depend on defeating a challenge before submitting a form or performing another restricted action.
File downloads
Selenium’s discouraged list includes file downloads. Decide first whether the requirement concerns the browser’s download interaction or whether the application generated and returned the right file. For the latter, a direct check of the application or file behavior may be a better fit; that is a practical alternative, not a Selenium-prescribed recipe.
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- Checking a downloaded report’s contents: validate the report-generation behavior and resulting file directly where possible, rather than relying on a browser download as the evidence.
- Checking that an export endpoint returns a file: use a direct interface-level check if the requirement is the returned file, not the browser’s handling of it.
- Repeatedly downloading files to verify a batch export: avoid turning bulk file validation into a long browser workflow when a more direct check can cover the output.
HTTP response codes
Selenium discourages checking HTTP response codes through browser automation. A user-visible page may be relevant to a browser test, but transport status is more directly checked at the HTTP level.
- Asserting that an API returns a particular status: make an HTTP-level check when the status code itself is the requirement.
- Checking whether a page endpoint returns an error status: test the response directly rather than inferring it from what the browser renders.
- Verifying status codes across many URLs: use an HTTP-oriented check for the response inventory; reserve browser tests for important user interactions.
Gmail, email, and Facebook logins
Selenium groups Gmail, email, and Facebook logins as discouraged behaviors. When the target is your own application, a live third-party login flow adds an external dependency that may fail independently of your app.
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- Logging into Gmail to retrieve a test message: avoid making an application test rely on a live Gmail login when the behavior under test belongs to your application.
- Logging into an email provider to confirm a message: separate the application’s email-triggering behavior from the third-party provider’s login and interface.
- Logging in through Facebook to reach your application: isolate your application’s own behavior from a live social-login service when possible; if the third-party integration itself is in scope, design a controlled test for that integration.
Dependent tests
Selenium discourages tests that depend on one another and encourages test independence. A test should not require a previous test to pass or leave behind state. Independent tests are easier to run selectively and to diagnose when one fails.
- Test B requires Test A to create its account: give each test the setup it needs instead of relying on execution order.
- A checkout test relies on a cart left by a previous test: establish the required state for that test so a failure points to the behavior being checked.
- A test suite shares mutable data or session state: isolate or reset state rather than letting one test’s changes affect another’s result.
Performance testing
Selenium lists performance testing as discouraged. Browser automation is not the right primary method for measuring system load or response performance; select a performance-focused method suited to the question. The Selenium guidance does not prescribe a particular alternative product.
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- Measuring response time under concurrent load: use a method designed to generate and measure load, rather than treating a browser workflow as a load test.
- Comparing endpoint latency across repeated requests: measure at the relevant interface instead of adding browser rendering and interaction to the measurement.
- Estimating capacity by running many browser sessions: do not use Selenium sessions as a substitute for a performance-testing approach designed for capacity and load questions.
Link spidering
Selenium discourages link spidering. Crawling a site to inventory links is a different task from verifying that a user-critical browser journey works.
- Visiting every link on every page: use a link-oriented check for site-wide inventory instead of expanding a focused browser test into a crawler.
- Following links recursively across the whole site: keep Selenium tests focused on a defined user behavior rather than an open-ended crawl.
- Checking a large set of URLs for broken destinations: use a direct URL or response check where that answers the question; use Selenium when the link’s browser interaction itself matters.
Two-factor authentication
Selenium lists two-factor authentication as discouraged. A fragile test that waits on a live second-factor challenge or delivery can fail for reasons unrelated to the application behavior. If your application’s authentication behavior is in scope, work with security stakeholders on a controlled test setup; do not disable protections in production for test convenience.
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- Waiting for a one-time code delivered to a phone: the test depends on live delivery and timing in addition to the application flow.
- Retrieving an authentication code from an external email account: avoid coupling the test to a separate provider’s inbox and login.
- Completing a live authenticator challenge in every end-to-end run: use a security-approved controlled setup when the app’s authentication behavior needs automated coverage.
Choose the lightest test that proves the requirement
Selenium’s Overview of Test Automation says, “It is not always advantageous to automate test cases.” The overview recommends first asking whether browser testing is needed and whether a unit test or lower-level test can answer the question. Browser functional tests are relatively expensive to run and require supporting infrastructure.
| Question | Prefer a lighter or manual check when… | Use Selenium when… |
|---|---|---|
| Does this require a real browser interaction? | The requirement can be verified at a unit, application, or HTTP level. | The browser interaction itself is the behavior that must be proved. |
| What will execution and infrastructure cost? | A browser adds time and setup without adding meaningful evidence. | The added browser coverage justifies the runtime and infrastructure. |
| How stable is the interface or external dependency? | The interface is about to change substantially, or a third-party service would dominate failures. | The UI behavior is important and stable enough to maintain a focused test. |
| How easy will a failure be to diagnose? | A direct check isolates the suspected behavior more clearly. | A browser-level failure is necessary to identify a user-visible problem. |
| Is there time to build and maintain automation? | A pressing deadline or major near-term UI change makes automation a poor short-term investment. | The test can be built and maintained in time to provide useful, repeatable coverage. |
Manual testing can be a reasonable short-term choice when an interface will change considerably or a deadline leaves insufficient time to build automation. That is a trade-off, not a claim that manual testing is always better.
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Keep browser tests short and independent
Once a browser test is justified, give it a discrete action and evaluation. Selenium’s official overview warns against one long script that creates an account, configures an item, checks out, pays, and gives feedback: it takes longer, risks page-rendering timing problems, and makes failures harder to diagnose.
- Give each test one clear reason to exist.
- Set up the data and state the test needs instead of relying on another test.
- Keep actions and evaluation focused so a failure points to a smaller part of the journey.
When the task is a screenshot rather than a browser test
A screenshot can document a page, but it does not prove the full user interaction that a Selenium test is meant to exercise. If you need a screenshot artifact rather than a browser test, ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server for developers. Its one-call API can return an image or PDF; it is an alternative for capture, not a replacement for Selenium functional tests.
Or skip the browser setup
One GET request captures a page. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webp- Cookie banners are accepted and removed before capture; newsletter popups and chat widgets are also removed. Each step can be turned off.
- Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits cost nothing; response headers identify the page verdict and whether the request was billed.
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The eight discouraged categories and the test-practice guidance above reflect Selenium Project documentation: “Discouraged behaviors,” “Overview of Test Automation,” and “Encouraged behaviors.” Those pages report a last-modified date of September 16, 2026, and were accessed October 3, 2026. Selenium frames its practices as contextual guidelines; the individual examples in this article are editorial applications of those categories.
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