What is Phantomjs?
PhantomJS is an open-source headless web browser based on WebKit. It is scriptable with JavaScript and used primarily for automating web page interactions, testing web applications, web scraping, and capturing website screenshots.
As a headless browser, PhantomJS implements web standards and runs the latest web technologies, but does not require loading a visible interface. It was created for supporting web development workflows that require a browser without needing a visual rendering.
Some key features and use cases of PhantomJS include:
- Automating interactions with websites for testing or any task that requires simulating clicks, scrolls, form submissions etc.
- Web scraping - extract data or content from websites in an automated manner
- Capturing website screenshots across different resolutions, states and scenarios
- Testing and monitoring webpage loading performance
- Programmatic PDF generation from web content
PhantomJS is scriptable with JavaScript through an API for controlling browser interactions. It uses the WebKit layout and JavaScript engine from Qt WebKit for rendering web content internally. As PhantomJS is headless and lightweight compared to a full browser, it requires fewer computing resources for automation and testing scenarios.
While development on PhantomJS has ceased since 2018, there are forks like PhantomJS-Prebuilt available with security fixes and updates for continuing its use where applicable.
iMacros, Selenium, UI.Vision RPA, PhantomBuster, CasperJS, Cypress.io, puppeteer, Katalon Studio, httest, ActivIT Automatron, DalekJS, SlimerJS are some alternatives to Phantomjs.