The fastest way to get good at Selenium is to automate real pages: forms, tables, frames, pop-ups and elements that load late. These free practice websites are built for exactly that, so you can practise without needing access to a company's application. Below is what each one is best for, plus the exercises to do on it.
Etiquette: these sites are shared, free resources. Use them for functional practice only: never load-test them, and don't run hundreds of parallel sessions against them. Sites also change over time, so if one is down, move to the next.
Quick Comparison
| Website | Best for | Level |
|---|---|---|
| the-internet.herokuapp.com | One page per tricky element: frames, alerts, dynamic loading, file upload | Beginner–intermediate |
| saucedemo.com | A small e-commerce flow for end-to-end tests and page objects | Beginner |
| demoqa.com | Forms, widgets, drag and drop, tables, a book-store app | Beginner–intermediate |
| uitestingplayground.com | Deliberately flaky UI: dynamic IDs, AJAX delays, hidden layers | Intermediate |
| automationexercise.com | A full shop with sign-up, cart, checkout, plus a public API list | Intermediate |
| practicetestautomation.com | Clear login and exception practice pages with written test cases | Beginner |
| parabank.parasoft.com | A realistic banking app with transfers and statements | Intermediate–advanced |
| Public e-commerce demos (nopCommerce, OpenCart) | Large real-world stores for framework and regression practice | Advanced |
1. The Internet (the-internet.herokuapp.com)
A collection of small pages, each showing one automation problem. It's the best place to learn how Selenium handles a specific element in isolation.
- Exercises: JavaScript alerts, nested frames, multiple windows, file upload and download, dynamic loading (practise explicit waits), hovers, drag and drop, dropdowns, checkboxes, broken images, basic auth.
- Good for: building a reusable helper for each element type before you need it at work.
2. Swag Labs (saucedemo.com)
A small shop with login, product list, cart and checkout. The login page lists test users that behave differently, such as standard_user, locked_out_user (login error), problem_user (broken images and fields) and performance_glitch_user (slow responses).
- Exercises: data-driven login tests for every user, sorting products by price and name and asserting the order, a full checkout with page objects, verifying the cart badge.
- Good for: your first Page Object Model framework and portfolio project.
3. DemoQA (demoqa.com)
Grouped practice sections for elements, forms, alerts and windows, widgets (date pickers, sliders, auto-complete, tabs) and interactions (drag and drop, resizing, sorting).
- Exercises: the student registration form with every input type, web tables (add, edit, delete, search), date pickers, the book-store app with login.
- Note: the site shows ads that can overlap elements, which is realistic practice for
ElementClickInterceptedException.
4. UI Test Automation Playground (uitestingplayground.com)
Each page reproduces a problem that makes real tests flaky: dynamic IDs, class attributes in odd order, AJAX data that arrives late, buttons hidden behind overlays, progress bars, visibility tricks and non-breaking spaces in text.
- Exercises: write a stable locator and a correct wait for every page, then run each test 20 times to prove it's not flaky.
- Good for: interview stories about fixing flaky tests.
5. Automation Exercise (automationexercise.com)
A complete e-commerce site with registration, login, product search, cart, checkout, contact form with file upload and subscription. It also publishes a list of test cases and a set of API endpoints for the same data.
- Exercises: automate the published test cases, then verify the same data through the API with REST Assured.
- Good for: combining UI and API tests in one framework.
6. Practice Test Automation (practicetestautomation.com)
Simple, well-documented practice pages, including a login page with written positive and negative test cases and a page designed to trigger common Selenium exceptions.
- Exercises: implement the written test cases exactly, then reproduce and fix each exception on the exceptions page.
7. ParaBank (parabank.parasoft.com)
A demo online bank with registration, account overview, fund transfers, bill payment and loan requests, plus web service endpoints.
- Exercises: register a user, transfer money between accounts and verify both balances, data-driven bill payments.
- Good for: domain-style test scenarios that interviewers at banks and fintech firms like.
8. Large E-commerce Demo Stores
Open-source shop platforms such as nopCommerce and OpenCart run public demo stores with categories, filters, product variants, wish lists and admin panels. They're closer to the size of real applications, so they're good for practising a full regression suite, parallel execution and reporting. Data on public demos is reset regularly, so create your own test data in each run.
Practise on navtutorial.com
The Practice Hub has guided exercises with tasks and expected results, and these tutorials pair with it: locator exercises, dropdown exercises and frames and iframes exercises.
A 4-Week Practice Plan
- Week 1: the-internet, one element type per day, with explicit waits.
- Week 2: saucedemo end to end with page objects and TestNG data providers.
- Week 3: uitestingplayground; make every test pass 20 runs in a row.
- Week 4: automationexercise UI plus API tests, run from Jenkins or GitHub Actions, and publish the project on GitHub for your resume.
FAQs
Which website is best for practising Selenium?
Start with the-internet.herokuapp.com to learn each element type, then build a framework on saucedemo.com. For flaky-test practice, use uitestingplayground.com.
Is it legal to automate these practice websites?
Yes, they are published for practice. Use them for functional tests only, don't load-test them or run heavy parallel suites against them, and respect any terms on the site.
Where can I practise API testing for free?
Public practice APIs include JSONPlaceholder, Restful Booker, the Swagger Petstore and the API list on automationexercise.com. Some public APIs now require a free key, so check each site's instructions.
Can I put practice-site projects on my resume?
Yes. A well-structured GitHub project on saucedemo or automationexercise with page objects, data-driven tests, reports and CI shows interviewers what you can build, especially when you don't have automation experience at work.
