Katalon vs TestComplete: A Detailed Comparison

Testing is an essential part of any software development project to meet the ever-rising quality standards and deliver exceptional user experience. QA teams usually leverage automation testing tools with robust features to streamline this process and deliver quality faster. In this article, we compare 2 of the top candidates loved by QA professionals over the world: Katalon vs TestComplete.
 

What will we cover in this review?

We aim to provide the most comprehensive, unbiased, and objective review of both tools so that you can have a good starting point to do further research before making into the final decisions. Specifically, we will address the following concerns:

1. General overview of Katalon vs TestComplete
2. Key feature comparison of Katalon vs TestComplete
3. Actual user review of Katalon vs TestComplete
4. Case studies

You can also check out our tool review articles below. As always, make sure to do a comprehensive research before your final decision:

1. Postman Alternatives (for API testing)
2. Selenium Alternatives
3. Top Web Testing Tools
4. Top API Testing Tools
5. Top Functional Testing Tools
6. Top Integration Testing Tools
7. Top Cross-browser Testing Tools
8. Katalon vs Cypress
9. Katalon vs Selenium
    

Katalon vs TestComplete: A Detailed Comparison

You can have a look at this table to better understand the key differences between the 2 tools:
 

1. Katalon Overview

Katalon is a comprehensive testing platform, enabling QA teams of all sizes to write, manage, and execute tests for web, desktop, mobile, and API. This makes Katalon a truly unified, all-in-one solution for your team.
 

No matter if you are an individual user simply looking to write test cases for your development project faster or a global enterprise with a highly sophisticated testing project having hundreds of dependencies, you can always find some value in the comprehensive nature of Katalon.
 

As you can see here, within Katalon Studio, you can write and execute your tests on a rich array of environments, both locally, remotely, and even on-cloud. For mobile app testing, you can also upload your application to Katalon to achieve the highest level of realism.
 

Katalon Studio is also where you write tests. You have 3 modes to choose from:
 

1. No-code: enter the Record-and-Playback mode, then perform all of your test steps manually. Katalon records that sequence of actions and turns them into a test script that you can easily re-execute whenever you want.
2. Low-code: leverage Katalon’s library of Built-in Keywords. They are essentially also code snippets with customizable parameters that you can easily modify. Think of them as ready-to-use templates for your test scripts. If you build one such library by yourself, the effort to maintain it is not at all small. Katalon does that for you.
3. High-code: want even more customization? Enter the Scripting mode and write a full test script on your own, while simultaneously enjoying the low-code features. That is why even the most experienced tester can have quite a productivity boost when testing with Katalon Studio.
    

The best thing is that you get a bunch of AI-powered features to go along with this. For example, you have StudioAssist, which does two primary tasks: generate test scripts based on your GPT prompts, or explain test scripts in non-technical terms for all stakeholders to understand. You have a coder and business analyst straight in Katalon.
 

Katalon TrueTest™ is another revolutionizing feature built for regression testing. TrueTest™ analyzes the user activity in your product, then identifies the critical areas that need testing. After that, it generates all of the test cases you need, and all you have to do is choose which tests to run. Talking about offloading tasks!
 

Since TrueTest™ leverages Machine Learning technology, the more it “learns” about your system, the more tailored its recommendations can become. Over time, you can have an AI agent built specifically for your organization’s testing needs.
 

Katalon also takes care of the test management and test maintenance part. Traditionally, QA teams usually leverage a test case template, usually in Google Sheets, to help them note down test cases and track their execution status. However, this approach creates friction, since Google Sheets is not linked to your test execution activities. Testers have to manually update the test results. Katalon TestOps, built with Test Operations best practices in mind, handles all of those administrative tasks in the background so you can truly focus on the actual testing part.
 

Katalon TestOps also supports parallel testing, so you can schedule a test suite to automatically run at a predefined time. Finally, Katalon generates test reports with rich insights for you to make informed quality decisions.

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2. TestComplete Overview

TestComplete is an automated testing environment for a wide variety of application types, including (but not limited to) Windows, .NET, WPF, Visual C++, Visual Basic, Delphi, C++Builder, Java, web applications, and mobile. With TestComplete, you can build test cases using Keywords that simulate user actions with the Application Under Test, perform Record-and-Playback, then execute those test cases across environments. This makes TestComplete also a comprehensive choice for teams with a strong focus on functional testing and unit testing.
 

TestComplete is part of the SmartBear suite of software quality tools. The focus of TestComplete is on functional testing, so in order to access extended functionality (API testing, code review, performance testing, etc.), you need to integrate with other SmartBear products. However, whatever your choice, you can always benefit from a robust community and professional support of the company.
 

As you can see here, TestComplete also provides a comprehensive list of Keywords (called Operations in the product) for you to choose from. You can also modify the parameters of these keywords to make them perform the specific actions you want. 
 

TestComplete also provides a Record-and-Playback capability to help inexperienced users craft test cases more easily. These test cases can then be re-executed across environments. TestComplete comes with several features to assist the execution process, such as Test scheduling, Parallel testing, Batch test runs, Shut down after tests, and more.

TestComplete supports a vast ecosystem of integrations, including CI/CD integrations, source-control systems, Selenium, and even BitBar Cloud (a SmartBear platform to provide cloud-based mobile app testing). Check out the SmartBear TestComplete product page here!

Katalon vs TestComplete User Review

Listen to testimonials from real users! Check out the reviews of both tools here:

1. Katalon G2 Reviews
2. TestComplete G2 Reviews

Wrapping Up

In short, Katalon is a comprehensive testing platform supporting end-to-end web, desktop, mobile, and API testing. TestComplete is also a similar testing platform, and while it does not offer API testing, TestComplete still belongs to the SmartBear ecosystem with a lot of products catering to a wide variety of testing needs. The final decision of which tool to use depends a lot on your team's specific needs. Read More: How To Choose An Automation Testing Tool

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