Selenium Interview Questions 2025 are one of the most searched topics for automation testers. Whether you are preparing for your first testing job or an advanced role, Selenium remains the most popular automation testing tool.
In this blog, we’ll cover the Top 20 Selenium Interview Questions with detailed answers, explained in simple words and with Java + Python code snippets. By the end, you’ll have a clear idea of what to expect in your interviews and how to answer with confidence.
1. What is Selenium? What are its different components?
Answer:
Selenium is an open-source automation testing tool used for testing web applications across different browsers and platforms. It supports multiple programming languages like Java, Python, C#, and JavaScript.
Selenium IDE (Integrated Development Environment): A record-and-playback tool for creating simple scripts without programming.
Selenium WebDriver: The core API that allows you to create robust, browser-based automation scripts. It sends commands directly to the browser and retrieves results.
Selenium Grid: Allows you to run tests on multiple machines and different browsers in parallel, significantly speeding up test execution.
2. Explain different types of locators in Selenium.
Answer: Locators are strategies to identify web elements. The most common ones, in order of preference (where possible), are:
- ID (Most preferred – Unique)
- Name
- ClassName
- TagName
- Link Text & Partial Link Text (For hyperlinks)
- CSS Selector (Faster, powerful syntax)
- XPath (Most powerful, can traverse the entire DOM, but can be slower and brittle if absolute paths are used).
3. What are the advantages of Selenium?
Answer:
- Open-source and free to use.
- Supports multiple browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari).
- Works with many programming languages.
- Can be integrated with tools like TestNG, JUnit, and CI/CD pipelines.
4. What are the limitations of Selenium?
Answer:
- Cannot automate desktop applications.
- No in-built support for generating test reports.
- Requires external tools for image-based testing.
- Limited support for handling CAPTCHA and OTP.
5. What is the difference between Selenium WebDriver and Selenium RC?
Answer:
- WebDriver directly communicates with the browser using native methods.
- RC used a server as a middle layer to communicate with the browser.
- WebDriver is faster, more efficient, and widely used today.
6. What is the difference between findElement() and findElements()?
Answer:
- findElement(): Returns the first matching element. Throws an exception if not found.
- findElements(): Returns a list of all matching elements. Returns an empty list if not found.
7. How do you handle alerts and pop-ups in Selenium?
Answer:
By using the Alert interface:
Alert alert = driver.switchTo().alert();
alert.accept(); // Click OK
alert.dismiss(); // Click Cancel
alert.getText(); // Get alert text
alert.sendKeys("text"); // Enter text
8. How do you handle frames in Selenium?
Answer:
driver.switchTo().frame("frameName"); // Switch by name or ID
driver.switchTo().frame(0); // Switch by index
driver.switchTo().frame(frameElement); // Switch by WebElement
driver.switchTo().defaultContent(); // Switch back to main page
9. What are the different types of waits in Selenium?
Answer:
- Implicit Wait – Waits for a certain time before throwing exception.
- Explicit Wait – Waits until a specific condition is met.
- Fluent Wait – Waits with polling frequency and ignores exceptions.
10. How do you handle multiple windows in Selenium?
Answer:
String mainWindow = driver.getWindowHandle();
Set<String> allWindows = driver.getWindowHandles();
for (String window : allWindows) {
driver.switchTo().window(window);
}
driver.switchTo().window(mainWindow); // Back to main window
11. How do you perform mouse actions in Selenium?
Answer:
Using the Actions class:
Actions action = new Actions(driver);
action.moveToElement(element).click().build().perform();
action.doubleClick(element).perform();
action.contextClick(element).perform();
12. How do you handle dropdowns in Selenium?
Answer:
Using the Select class:
Select select = new Select(driver.findElement(By.id("dropdown")));
select.selectByVisibleText("Option 1");
select.selectByValue("option1");
select.selectByIndex(0);
13. How do you capture screenshots in Selenium?
Answer:
File src = ((TakesScreenshot)driver).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE);
FileUtils.copyFile(src, new File("screenshot.png"));
14. What is Page Object Model (POM)?
Answer:
Page Object Model is a design pattern where each web page of an application is represented as a class, and the elements of the page are defined as variables. Methods in the class perform actions on those elements.
15. What is the difference between driver.close() and driver.quit()?
Answer:
- driver.close(): Closes the current browser window.
- driver.quit(): Closes all browser windows and ends the WebDriver session.
16. What is TestNG and how is it used with Selenium?
Answer:
TestNG is a testing framework used with Selenium for:
- Test case management.
- Generating detailed reports.
- Parallel test execution.
- Using annotations like
@Test,@BeforeTest,@AfterTest.
17. How do you handle dynamic elements in Selenium?
Answer:
- Use XPath with contains() or starts-with().
- Use CSS selectors with partial attribute values.
- Example:
driver.findElement(By.xpath("//button[contains(text(),'Login')]"));
18. How do you run Selenium tests in parallel?
Answer:
- Using TestNG XML configuration.
- Using Selenium Grid to run tests on multiple machines and browsers.
19. How do you integrate Selenium with CI/CD tools?
Answer:
- Integrate with Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, or Azure DevOps.
- Configure test execution in pipelines.
- Generate reports and track failures automatically.
20. What’s new in Selenium 4 (latest version)?
Answer:
- W3C standardization for WebDriver.
- Relative Locators like
above(),below(),near(). - Improved Grid with a new UI.
- Better handling of multiple tabs and windows.
- Native support for Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP).
Final Thoughts
These top 20 Selenium interview questions and answers for 2025 will help you prepare for your next interview with confidence. Remember, along with theory, practice coding Selenium scripts regularly to improve your skills.