Appearance
A BrowserStack alternative for testing on your own Android phones
In short: If you already own Android test phones, you can test on them instead of renting phones in a cloud device farm such as BrowserStack. BenchFleet runs on your computer and puts your own phones on one screen, for testing by hand or, on paid plans, with workflows and AI. Pro costs £12 a month + VAT.
Cloud device farms such as BrowserStack rent you time on phones in their data centres. If you test Android apps and already have test phones, or could buy a few, BenchFleet lets you test on them from your desktop instead: live control, workflows that run on every phone, and AI with your own model, for a flat monthly plan.
Free for up to 3 phones, with no account. Pro adds workflows, schedules and AI for up to 25 phones from £12 a month + VAT.
BenchFleet and cloud device farms side by side
| BenchFleet | Cloud device farms | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the phones are | On your desk or in your lab, connected to your computer | In the provider's data centre |
| Which phones | The Android phones you own | A wide range of Android and iOS models |
| iPhones | No | Yes |
| How you pay | A flat plan: Free for 3 phones, Pro £12 a month + VAT for up to 25 phones, Team per seat | Usually by the minute or hour, by the parallel session or by the seat |
| Your app builds and screenshots | Stay on your computer | Uploaded to the provider |
| Testing by hand | Your mouse and keyboard on the phone, over USB or your Wi-Fi | A phone streamed to your browser over the internet |
| Automated testing | Workflows (visual editor, YAML or recorded) on any number of your phones | Your Appium, Espresso or XCUITest suites |
| Who looks after the phones | You: charging, updates and replacing old ones | The provider |
When a cloud device farm is the better choice
A cloud device farm is the better tool when:
- you need iPhones, or many models you do not own for a check across brands;
- you run Appium, Espresso or XCUITest suites and do not want to change them;
- your testing comes in rare bursts, and paying by the minute costs less than owning phones.
Many teams use both: a cloud service for iPhones and rare models, and their own phones for the Android testing they do every day.
When your own phones win
- You test every day. A flat plan costs the same however many runs you do: no meter runs while you test.
- Your app must stay in-house. BenchFleet starts in Local mode: nothing leaves your computer and your network, and there is no telemetry.
- You need real conditions. Real SIM cards, your own networks and test accounts, and the exact phones your customers use.
- You also test by hand. Taking over a phone is instant over USB or Wi-Fi, with its files, apps, logcat and a terminal on the same page: see controlling many Android phones from one PC.
- You want automation without test code. Record a task once and run it on every phone, with a timeline of screenshots for every run.
Your own phones are not only for test runs. The same phones can be handed to AI agents such as Claude Code or Codex over MCP, on the phones you choose and with the access you choose, a person approving the sensitive steps and every call in an audit log, or watched and taken over by hand when something needs a person. See the Android MCP server for AI agents.
Moving your Android testing over
- Connect your test phones by USB or Wi-Fi. Each one appears on the Fleet page with its health.
- Record your main flows as workflows, such as signing in, checking out or changing a setting. Steps find screen elements by their text and role first, and fall back to text and image recognition on the screen.
- Run them on every phone after each build, from the app, on a schedule or from your CI pipeline through a signed webhook, and replay any failed run step by step.
- Keep a cloud service for iPhones if you also ship for iOS.
Android app testing on real phones shows how a test lab runs with BenchFleet day to day.
Other cloud device farms
The same comparison applies to the other big cloud services:
- Sauce Labs: real devices, emulators and simulators in the cloud.
- AWS Device Farm: Amazon's service for testing apps on real phones in AWS data centres.
- Firebase Test Lab: Google's service for running app tests on phones in Google's data centres. Google has deprecated it and will shut it down on 30 September 2027; it points users to its Developer Device Platform on Google Cloud. What moves to your own phones: Firebase Test Lab alternative.
For a free, self-hosted option there is DeviceFarmer (formerly OpenSTF), an open-source web app for controlling Android devices from a browser; you run and look after its servers yourself. See the OpenSTF and DeviceFarmer comparison.
BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, AWS Device Farm, Firebase Test Lab and DeviceFarmer are the names of their owners' products. BenchFleet is not affiliated with any of them.
Questions
Is BenchFleet a cloud device farm?
No. BenchFleet is a desktop app for Windows, macOS (Apple silicon) and Linux that runs on your own computer and works on the Android phones connected to it. Nothing is rented, and the phones stay with you.
Can I test iPhone apps with BenchFleet?
No, BenchFleet works with Android phones only. Teams that also ship for iPhone often keep a cloud service for iOS and test Android on their own phones.
Can I run my Appium or Espresso tests on BenchFleet?
No. BenchFleet runs its own workflows, which you build in a visual editor, write as YAML or record by doing the task once on a phone. With Pro or Team your CI pipeline can start them through a signed webhook.
How does the price compare?
Cloud device farms usually charge by the minute or hour, by the parallel session or by the seat. BenchFleet is a flat plan. Free covers 3 phones, Pro is £12 a month + VAT for up to 25 phones, and Team is £20 per seat a month + VAT with no limit on phones. You buy the phones once, or use the ones you have.
Where do my app builds and screenshots go?
They stay on your computer. BenchFleet starts in Local mode, where nothing leaves your computer and your network, and it sends no telemetry.
What about Sauce Labs, AWS Device Farm and Firebase Test Lab?
They are cloud device farms like BrowserStack, where you rent time on phones in the provider's data centre, so the comparison on this page applies to them too. Google has deprecated Firebase Test Lab and will shut it down on 30 September 2027.
Start with the Free plan
Free for up to 3 phones, with no account. Pro adds workflows, schedules and AI for up to 25 phones from £12 a month + VAT.
- A full refund within 14 days of your first payment
- Starts in Local mode, with no telemetry or analytics
- Made by WOODCOMMERCE LTD, a company registered in the UK