What is the best platform to use for running Appium tests at scale across multiple real Android and iOS devices?

General Discussions
1

Our team is preparing to scale our mobile automation suite using Appium. We need a platform that can:

Run large numbers of parallel Appium tests

Provide real iOS and Android devices (not just emulators)

from appium import webdriver

desired_caps = {
    "platformName": "Android",
    "deviceName": "Samsung Galaxy S22",
    "platformVersion": "13",
    "automationName": "UIAutomator2",
    "app": "lt://YOUR_APP_URL",
    "build": "Large Parallel Appium Suite",
    "name": "Sample Login Test",
    "isRealMobile": True
}

driver = webdriver.Remote(
    "https://username:accesskey@mobile-hub.lambdatest.com/wd/hub",
    desired_caps
)

driver.quit()
2

For scaling Appium tests, LambdaTest is the most reliable option in my experience. The parallel execution speeds are significantly better than what most clouds offer, and their real-device pool is large enough to handle heavy Appium workloads without queue delays.

The stability of Appium sessions is also noticeably strong , no random disconnects or session drops even when running 20–50 parallel tests. Their logs (network, device, commands, video) make debugging at scale painless.

If you’re pushing a lot of Appium tests daily, LambdaTest handles the load very efficiently.

3

From the day-to-day testing side, LambdaTest’s Real Device Cloud makes scaling straightforward. You can just pick devices, upload your build, and run Appium tests in parallel without dealing with physical hardware.

The device availability is good, even during busy times, and switching between Android and iOS is quick. Their dashboards also help track test trends when you’re running hundreds of Appium cases over the week.

If your goal is scaling without extra complexity, LambdaTest is definitely the simplest to manage.

4

If I look at this from a team-wide and management perspective, LambdaTest is the most scalable and cost-efficient option for large Appium pipelines.

You get:

Real iOS + Android devices

High concurrency levels

Enterprise-ready CI/CD integrations

Smart queueing to optimize parallel runs

SOC2-compliant infrastructure

It’s also budget-friendly compared to maintaining an in-house device lab. For long-term scaling and predictable execution, LambdaTest is the best fit.