Test Your Site Across Devices (No Need to Buy Them All)
Testing your website’s responsive design is critical to making sure it looks and works exactly how you want it to on every device. Any modern web designer knows the basics of responsive web design—its whole goal is to make sure sites display perfectly, no matter the device or screen size. (If you need a quick refresh, check out our pro guide to responsive web design.)
But theory only gets you so far—practice is what counts. To confirm your site is fully responsive, you need to test it on different devices. Most of us don’t have the budget to buy hundreds of physical devices for real-world testing, but luckily, there are workarounds. The tools below let you test responsive design in a virtual setup, so you can skip the hardware splurge.
01. Google Chrome Inspect
One of the fastest, easiest ways to test responsiveness is built right into the Chrome browser. The Chrome Inspect tool does more than just let you look at code—it also lets you preview a site on different screen sizes. Simply right-click anywhere on a website and select “Inspect.” When the tool window opens, look for the device icon to the left of the “Elements” button. You can either type in a specific screen size or drag the window’s corner to manually set your own breakpoints.
02. Responsinator
Responsinator’s biggest strength is its simplicity. This free, browser-based tool only requires you to enter your webpage’s URL—and then it shows you how your page looks on the most popular screen shapes and sizes. Even better, you can interact with the page directly: click links, type into search bars, and navigate just like you would on a real device. Just note that it uses generic device profiles, not specific makes or models.
03. Google DevTools Device Mode
For developers, Google DevTools’ Device Mode is a straightforward way to simulate mobile devices right in Chrome. You can use it to see how your site appears on different screen sizes and resolutions—including Retina displays. It even lets you mimic mobile-specific inputs, like touch gestures, geolocation data, and device orientation, all within the emulator.
04. BrowserStack
BrowserStack is one of the most advanced, feature-packed testing tools out there. This paid tool gives you access to over 1,000 mobile and desktop browsers for testing—and the list gets updated regularly based on market trends and usage data from its 36,000 customers. Counting Twitter, Microsoft, Airbnb, and Mastercard among its users, it’s clear this tool delivers on what it promises.
05. CrossBrowserTesting
CrossBrowserTesting is BrowserStack’s top competitor in the testing space, offering over 1,500 browsers and devices to test your responsive site. Its all-in-one platform lets you run automated tests in parallel, compare screenshots side-by-side for visual checks, swipe and interact with your site on real devices, and even debug code remotely as you go. It also offers a free trial, so you can try it out before committing.
06. Testsigma
Last but not least, Testsigma is another paid, browser-based option. This cross-browser and responsiveness tool handles automated testing for over 1,000 browser operating systems and 2,000 iOS and Android devices. It highlights features like no-code automation testing, parallel testing for large test suites, detailed drill-down reports, and integrations with popular CI/CD and bug-tracking tools. Users also report strong customer support—and like CrossBrowserTesting, it offers a free trial.
Keep in mind that virtual tools can’t simulate every aspect of mobile devices, like the inner workings of a mobile CPU. If you’re unsure about how your site performs, it’s still a good idea to test it on a physical mobile device if you can. You can also use remote debugging: this lets you view, edit, debug, and profile your page’s code from a laptop or desktop while the page runs on a mobile device. For more helpful tools, check out our roundup of the best web design software.
