Histoire + Lost-Pixel

Why Histoire & Lost Pixel

Histoire

• Zero-Config Stories: Write .story.vue in familiar Vue syntax.

• Built-in Controls & Docs: Automatic controls UI and Markdown docs.

• Performance: Instant feedback loops with Vite HMR.

Lost Pixel

• First-Class Histoire Support: Works directly with Histoire’s build output.

• Parallel & Multi-Browser: Test across browsers and viewports in parallel.

• Fine-Grained Thresholds & Masking: Per-screenshot thresholds, masking, and preprocessing.

• Free OSS: Unlimited tests without dashboard costs.

Histoire Limitations

• 1.

  Alpha-Stage: Histoire is still in the alpha phase, which means that configuration formats, CLI commands or plugin APIs may change without warning. Upgrading to a new minor version may already require adjustments to the histoire.config.* file or your story definitions, and since the stability guarantees of a beta or GA release are still missing, you should only use Histoire in critical production projects with a fixed version commitment.

• 2.

  Feature Gaps: Although Histoire is great at rendering components in isolation and providing screenshots for visual testing, it currently lacks features such as integrated interaction testing or a first-party mocking add-on. Play functions to drive complex user flows within stories and tools for runtime validation of accessibility or performance are not yet available, so you need separate testing frameworks or manually configured Vite plugins for each of these requirements.

• 3.

  Smaller Ecosystem: The ecosystem scope of Histoire is still manageable compared to Storybook: there are only a few official or community plugins, fewer tutorials and integrations with design tools such as Figma or UXPin are rare. If you are dependent on specialized add-ons for theme switching, design token sync or advanced CI workflows, you may have to do it yourself or fall back on third-party projects that are not yet mature.

Lost Pixel Limitations

• 1.

  Flakiness: Lost Pixel does not provide built-in strategies to automatically mitigate typical sources of flakiness such as dynamic content, asynchronous data or floating animations. Without embedded font subsetting mechanisms or network idle wait modes, snapshots in CI runs may show differences that have less to do with actual UI changes than with loading times or race conditions. Although fine adjustments can be made via masking options and manual threshold settings, this requires additional configuration effort and remains susceptible to environmental variations. However Lost Pixel provides a guide about how to handle flakiness .

• 2.

  GitHub first GitHub only: Another potential disadvantage of Lost Pixel is the close integration with GitHub - many of the convenient functions such as status checks, PR comments or automatic snapshot previews are primarily designed for GitHub workflows.If you use GitLab, Bitbucket or other CI platforms instead, you have to accept significantly more manual configuration and do without central features of the platform variant.This noticeably limits out-of-the-box usability outside the GitHub ecosystem.

Lost Pixel: OSS vs. Platform

• OSS: In OSS mode, Lost Pixel offers all the benefits of an open source engine without having to worry about costs or limits. You install the package, point it to your histoire build and can generate and compare as many screenshots as you like - without a dashboard, without subscriptions and without usage caps. This means you avoid vendor lock-in and retain full control over your baselines and test runs, both locally and in CI, without having to operate additional infrastructure. Using the OSS version, testing is truly unlimited—no quotas, no fees, and you can run as many viewports and browsers as you need. Just keep in mind that more tests will lengthen your overall run time.

• Platform: If you switch to the platform version, you also get a modern web app in which you can review all regression results centrally. Visual diffs are automatically displayed as GitHub status checks, comments and approvals can be added directly in the browser, and you always have an overview with team permissions, audit trails and performance metrics. The platform combines the open source core with a collaborative workflow for reviews, approvals and change management without you having to build your own dashboards or integrations first.

Conclusion

• Histoire offers minimal configuration and blazing-fast HMR but is still in alpha.

• Lost Pixel OSS enables unlimited, free snapshot testing; the Platform adds a robust review dashboard.

• Compared to Chromatic, Lost Pixel provides finer control and open-source freedom, while Chromatic boasts broader CI support and a larger user base.