After Firebase Test Lab.What Ramus covers, and what it does not.
Google will shut Firebase Test Lab down on September 30, 2027, and points teams to its Developer Device Platform on Google Cloud.1,2 Ramus is not a test-matrix runner. It covers the interactive part: run your APK, check the flow yourself or with your coding agent, and read the logs.
Checked October 29, 2026. Other products change their plans and features; each claim about one links to its source.
In short.
Ramus fits if
- You run a build to check a flow, by hand or with your coding agent, and read the screen and the device log.
- Your agent should run a smoke check on each build over MCP or the CLI, and fail when the expected text is missing.
- Someone else should see the running build from a link, with no account.
- One Android 17 emulator is enough for the check.
Side by side.
| Ramus | Firebase Test Lab | Developer Device Platform | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Ramus:Available | Firebase Test Lab:Deprecated; shuts down September 30, 20271 | Developer Device Platform:Preview on Google Cloud2 |
| What it does | Ramus:Live Android emulators that you, your agent and the people you share with use | Firebase Test Lab:Runs Robo, instrumentation and Game Loop tests and reports logs, screenshots and video1,4 | Developer Device Platform:Runs instrumentation tests and streams devices8 |
| Devices | Ramus:Android 17 emulator (x86_64) | Firebase Test Lab:Physical and virtual Android devices, and iOS devices1 | Developer Device Platform:Physical devices and emulators8 |
| Use a device live | Ramus:In the browser, or over MCP and the CLI | Firebase Test Lab:Through Android Device Streaming, a separate feature, in Android Studio or over adb7 | Developer Device Platform:Device Streaming, in Android Studio, the Android CLI or over adb7,2 |
| Price | Ramus:30 free minutes a month. Pro: $10 a month for unlimited minutes. | Firebase Test Lab:Spark: up to 15 test runs a day. Blaze: $1 a device-hour virtual, $5 physical, after free daily minutes.3 | Developer Device Platform:Emulators: $0.017 a minute in preview, $0.06 from April 2027, or $200 a device slot a month.8 |
| Length | Ramus:A session ends after 10 minutes without input | Firebase Test Lab:Tests run up to 60 minutes on virtual devices and 45 on physical5 | Developer Device Platform:Test shards run up to 3 hours9 |
| Agents | Ramus:Remote MCP server and CLI: the agent reads the screen, taps and checks the result step by step | Firebase Test Lab:App Testing agent, in preview: AI-guided tests from goals you write6 | Developer Device Platform:An agent skill that reserves devices and runs adb10 |
| Billing setup | Ramus:Free plan without a card | Firebase Test Lab:Spark has no-cost quotas3 | Developer Device Platform:Requires billing on the project2 |
What moves to Ramus.
Robo-style checks. A Robo test crawls your app's screens and records what it finds.4 On Ramus your coding agent does the same job on purpose: it installs the build, walks the flow you describe, waits for the text it expects, and returns screenshots and the device log when a step fails.
Looking at a failure. When a check fails you can open the same device in your browser, or send its link to a teammate, and pick up where the agent stopped.
What does not move. Instrumentation suites across many device models, physical devices and sharded CI runs. Ramus runs one emulator configuration and has no test-matrix service; Google's migration guide covers moving those to the Developer Device Platform.9
A smoke check from CI.
With RAMUS_API_KEY set in the job:
npx ramus-cli session start --apk app-debug.apk --wait npx ramus-cli wait --text "Sign in" npx ramus-cli screenshot --out home.jpg npx ramus-cli logcat --limit 200 npx ramus-cli session end
Questions.
When does Firebase Test Lab shut down?
Google's documentation says Firebase Test Lab will be fully shut down on September 30, 2027, and names the Developer Device Platform on Google Cloud as the place to move.
Is Ramus a replacement for Firebase Test Lab?
For part of it. Ramus replaces running a build on an emulator to check a flow and collect screenshots and logs, by hand or with a coding agent. It does not run instrumentation suites across a matrix of devices.
Can Ramus run my Espresso tests?
Ramus has no service that runs instrumentation tests for you. It gives you and your agent a live Android emulator, over MCP, the CLI or adb.
Does Ramus have physical devices?
No. Ramus runs Android emulators only.
Sources.
- Firebase docs, Test Lab Checked October 29, 2026.
- Firebase docs, Test Lab migration FAQ Checked October 29, 2026.
- Firebase docs, Test Lab usage, quotas and pricing Checked October 29, 2026.
- Firebase docs, Robo tests Checked October 29, 2026.
- gcloud reference, firebase test android run Checked October 29, 2026.
- Firebase docs, App Testing agent Checked October 29, 2026.
- Android Developers, Android Device Streaming Checked October 29, 2026.
- Google Cloud, Developer Device Platform Checked October 29, 2026.
- Google Cloud docs, migrating from Firebase Test Lab Checked October 29, 2026.
- Google Cloud docs, Developer Device Platform agent skill Checked October 29, 2026.