FlaUI

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Introduction

FlaUI is a .NET library for automated UI testing of Windows applications, including Win32, WinForms, WPF and Store apps. It wraps Microsoft’s native UI Automation libraries, both UIA2 (managed) and UIA3 (COM), and exposes almost everything they offer while still giving access to the native objects.

The README explains that some ideas come from UIAComWrapper and TestStack.White, rewritten from scratch for a clean codebase. It positions FlaUI as a free alternative to commercial tools such as TestComplete and Ranorex for Windows desktop automation.

You launch or attach to an application, find elements by automation ID, name or control type, and interact with them through typed patterns such as buttons, text boxes and grids. FlaUInspect, a companion tool, helps find element properties.

In the quality loop FlaUI covers end-to-end tests of Windows desktop apps.

The source code is at FlaUI/FlaUI on GitHub under the MIT licence, with about 3,200 stars; the most recent commit was on 13 August 2026.

Features

1. UIA2 and UIA3: Choose the automation backend per app.
2. Typed controls: Buttons, combo boxes, grids, menus and more.
3. Find by conditions: Automation ID, name, class and control type.
4. Capture: Screenshots and video capture helpers.
5. Inspector tool: FlaUInspect for exploring element trees.

Pros

1. Free alternative: No licence cost for Windows desktop automation.
2. Free to use: Open source under the MIT licence, so the core tool costs nothing to use.
3. Actively maintained: The repository had commits as recent as 13 August 2026.
4. Community: About 3,200 GitHub stars.

Cons

1. Windows only: Cannot test macOS or Linux apps.
2. Infrequent releases: Last release v5.0.0 in February 2025, though commits continue.
3. Code-only: No recorder or codeless editor.

Usage and Links (Example)

using var app = Application.Launch("notepad.exe");
using var automation = new UIA3Automation();
var window = app.GetMainWindow(automation);
Assert.Contains("Notepad", window.Title);

Resources:

• FlaUI website

Pricing

FlaUI is free and open source under the MIT licence.

Recommended for?

1. .NET teams testing Windows desktop apps.
2. Not a fit for cross-platform desktop testing.

Conclusion

FlaUI is the leading open-source library for Windows desktop UI automation in .NET.

On CheckOps, FlaUI is filed under the End-to-end & functional stage. Related tools listed here include pywinauto, Robot Framework, TestComplete, Ranorex Studio, Squish and UFT One. Before choosing, compare them on licence, supported languages and platforms, hosting model, and how well each fits your existing CI pipeline. Facts on this page were checked against the official website, documentation and repository on 11 November 2026; statements the vendor makes about its own product are marked as vendor claims.