What is Manual Testing? A Comprehensive Guide (With Examples)

Manual testing is where everything begins in software testing. Testers start their career with manual testing. QA teams also start their sprint with some manual testing, then leverage automation testing to improve speed and efficiency.  

Let's learn more about this concept, its best practices, and top tools you can use.

What is Manual Testing?

Manual testing is the process of checking software for issues by manually using it, rather than using automated tools. A person (tester) interacts with the software, like a real user would, to identify bugs, errors, or areas that need improvement. It’s done to make sure the software works as expected before it’s released to users. 

To ensure that they fully cover everything that's needed to be tested, testers usually follow a test plan. This plan contains all information on what to test, where to test, and the specific steps to execute the tests. 

Its simplicity makes manual testing great for small-scale testing of personal projects. For large-scale testing where there are thousands and millions of items and features to test, manual testing is usually used in conjunction with automation testing to boost efficiency.
 

Example of Manual Testing

Let's do manual testing, right here, right now. 

Here, we have embedded a fantastic open-source e-commerce platform called OpenCart Demo. There are a variety of features for you to test, including product browsing, shopping cart management, checkout, and much more! 

Manual testing here means manually browsing through the website, using its features, and hopefully break it. When you breaks it, you've probably found a bug.
 

Have fun manual testing!

Types of Manual Testing

There are so many different types of test, but any tests can be manual tests if you're doing it manually.

In other words, manual testing is only an approach to testing. Its counterpart is automation testing, where testers write scripts to perform the test on their behalf.

However, there are some types of tests that can't be automated. They are:

• Usability Testing: This involves assessing the user experience, such as ease of navigation, design aesthetics, and intuitiveness. Automation tools can’t interpret subjective aspects like user satisfaction or emotional response, so human insight is essential.
• Exploratory Testing: In exploratory testing, testers investigate the application without predefined scripts, using intuition and experience to identify unusual behavior. Since it relies on spontaneous decision-making, automation can’t replicate this freeform approach.
• Ad-hoc Testing: Ad-hoc testing is informal, with no specific structure or script. Testers try out different scenarios on the fly to identify unexpected bugs. The random, unpredictable nature of ad-hoc testing makes it unsuitable for automation.
• Visual Testing: While some aspects of visual testing can be partially automated, verifying small visual inconsistencies, like alignment or color accuracy, often requires human judgment. Subtle design issues are usually best identified through manual inspection. Check out how you can do automated visual testing.
• Accessibility Testing: Although certain accessibility checks can be automated (e.g., checking for alt tags on images), a human tester is often needed to validate how well assistive technologies (like screen readers) interact with the site in practice.

Manual Testing vs Automation Testing

Manual testing and automation testing complements each other. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses. The choice between them depends on factors such as project size, complexity, frequency of testing, available resources, and the specific goals of testing. 

In practice, a combination of both approaches often yields the best results, with manual testing for exploratory and usability aspects and automation testing for repetitive and resource-intensive tasks. You can have a look at the table below to better understand the differences between the 2 approaches: 
 

Read More: Manual Testing vs Automation Testing: A Detailed Comparison

In the long run, automation brings good ROI. According to the State of Quality Report 2024, “the percentage of respondents reporting high to very high ROI increases from groups adopting automation for less than a year to those exceeding five years”. In other words, although initially automation testing requires a lot of investment and training as compared to manual testing, the benefit is totally worth it over time.

→ Check out the State of Software Quality Report 2024 to get the latest industry insights

How To Do Manual Testing?

No matter what approach testers choose, they all have to follow the Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC). The major difference lies in the execution step: either executing tests manually or automatically.

Manual testing begins with requirement analysis, which provides the QA team with a comprehensive understanding of the test objectives, serving as the foundation for the creation of a test plan by the QA manager. 

This test plan includes detailed instructions for test execution (what area to cover in the test, how to test, what technology is required, resources to be allocated, timeline, roadmap, contingency plans, and expected outcomes). 

These 2 initial steps align stakeholders with the overall vision of the project and prepares them for the real test activities later.

Read More: Key Differences Between a Test Plan and a Test Strategy Document
 

After the configuration of the test environment, testers proceed with manual execution of the test cases as outlined in the plan, then communicate bugs found to the development team for the troubleshooting process. 

Let’s take a look at a simple test scenario: Form Validation. 

The goal is to verify that form fields display appropriate messages and behave as expected. A manual tester should follow these steps to execute that test:

1. Open the form page
2. Navigate to the form
3. Type a random combination of characters in the email field
4. Submit the form

Expected results: the form displays an error message indicating that the input characters are not in the correct format of an email

This test case can get more complex depending on the business requirements. 

For example, a B2B company only wants to collect business emails and not personal emails, so they want to make sure that users type in emails without the “gmail.com” ending. 

In this scenario, testers will perform the test above once again, but they’ll type in a personal email (for example: john@gmail.com) then a business email (john@amazon.com) to see how the form behaves. 

A really interesting YouTuber that really knows how to “manual test” a game is Josh from Let’s Game It Out. 

Josh pushes games he plays to their absolute limits in ways that developers could never have intended. He really knows how to mess with the system, which is essentially what a manual tester (more accurately exploratory tester) should be doing on a daily basis. 

If you’re a tester, you should watch his channel to see how he does error guessing and essentially breaks the game Raft:
 

Unsure of how to start? Check out our lists of test cases:

1. Test Cases For API Testing
2. Test Cases For Login Page
3. Test Cases For Registration Page
4. Test Cases For Banking Application
5. Test Cases For E-commerce website
6. Test Cases For Search Functionality

Why Do We Need Manual Testing?

The recent decade has witnessed a tremendous shift in the Software Testing industry from manual testing to automation testing. Many people claim that manual testing belongs to the past, and manual testers will be replaced by automation testing tools, especially now that AI, Machine Learning, and many other disruptive technologies are on the rise.
 

In reality, that will not happen, at least not in many years to come. Manual testing plays an essential role in the software development life cycle, and will continue to do so, for several reasons:

1. Manual testing allows for more human input

To be human is to be creative and intuitive, and in certain types of testing those 2 factors are a must-have. For example, in exploratory testing, testers have to actively explore and interact with the software to “get to know” the application before deep-diving into the details. It is proven that this approach allows testers to uncover bugs that they don't even know of in the first place.

It is a free-style approach with no rules, no specifications, no documentation, only the tester simultaneously learning about the product and pinpointing potential areas for further testing. Manual testing allows us to ask questions like “What if I do it this way?” - and this liberty of experimentation is something automation testing just won’t be able to deliver. 
 

2. Manual testing leaves room for changing requirements

Software development is dynamic, with requirements often evolving, and manual testers can quickly adjust their approach to meet these changes.

For example, initially, testers might only need to verify the login functionality using valid usernames and passwords. But if the requirement shifts to include password strength checks, manual testers can easily try different password combinations—such as adding capital letters, special characters, or meeting a length requirement—to see how the system reacts.

In contrast, automation testing requires updating scripts, adjusting test data, re-running tests, and analyzing results, which can be time-consuming and technically challenging.

3. Manual testing has lower learning curve than automated testing

To do manual testing is to experience the application in the same way an end user would, and almost anyone can become an end user. 

Manual testers, of course, must have enough technical knowledge and experience to know how to best “break” the app, but other than that they don’t need programming skills or engineering expertise to create test scripts like an automation tester. The low learning curve of this approach allows teams to start testing quickly at limited resources. 
 

4. Manual testing allows QA team to go beyond the happy path

The happy path is the ideal route through an application where everything works as expected, without errors. Automation testing often focuses on this path to confirm that the system functions correctly as designed. 

However, manual testing explores the “unhappy path” by triggering errors and testing limits. QA teams use manual testing to simulate unexpected scenarios, like malformed data, missing fields, or system overloads, to ensure the application handles these situations gracefully.

5. Low maintenance cost

A huge roadblock to many automation testing adopters is the maintenance cost and effort. 

Many companies cut automation out of their techstack to escape the need for constantly revising their automation test scripts when their code changes, or else their test scripts become obsolete and no longer reliable. 
 

On the other hand, manual testing does not require any test maintenance: when a code update occurs, testers can adapt immediately.

Read More: AI Testing: The Future of Software Testing 
 

Challenges Of Manual Testing

Despite all of the benefits mentioned above, manual testing still presents its own challenges. It is simple to see how manual execution of tasks gets progressively more resource-intensive as the project scales.
 

1. Time-consuming

Manual testing means going through each test step-by-step. Unlike machines, humans are slower and can make mistakes or get tired, which takes extra time to fix. 

Regression testing is especially slow because testers need to check that everything still works after every code update. Imagine re-testing a simple login feature every time the code changes—it’s repetitive and tiring. 

Testing across different devices, browsers, and operating systems adds even more work. Over time, testers may skip less important features to save time, which can mean some bugs go undetected. 
 

2. Limited Test Reusability

Manual testers have to perform the same steps for the same tests over and over. In contrast, in automation testing, they can just click the Run button, sit back, and watch the machines do the work. They can even schedule the tests to automatically run at a certain time. 

Not being able to reuse tests causes two problems:

1. Inconsistency: Manual testing depends on personal judgment, so testers may handle scenarios differently, leading to varied results.
2. Limited Scalability: More tests require more testers. While manual testing works well for small projects, larger projects benefit from a mix of manual and automated testing, where repetitive tests are automated and reused across runs.
    

3. Difficulty In Test Management

Without test management tools, manual testing can get disorganized, as there’s no consistent place to track test cases or scenarios, and results rely on each tester’s experience. 

Some testers use Google Sheets for this. It works well because each row can represent a test step, with columns for pass/fail status, testing environment (browser + OS), and other details. Google Sheets also allows teams to easily collaborate on test plans and customize the sheet as needed. 

In fact, Google Sheet has a default template for test management that everyone can immediately gain access to.

It was good, at first, for basic needs. But once again, when the project scales, managing everything on a single spreadsheet gets unnecessarily complicated, and having dozens of testers simultaneously tampering with the spreadsheet is just a hassle, especially when a function gets modified and all cells return an error. By this point, you would wish you have a more dedicated system designed for test management.  

A good test management goes beyond what Google Sheet offers:

• Test case versioning
• Traceability 
• Text execution tracking
• Test report capabilities
• Lack of native integration with other testing tools and systems
• JIRA integration for advanced test management (Agile boards, issue history, issue dependencies, change tracking, comprehensive dashboard view, facilitated communication between stakeholders, etc.)
• Large test suite management
• Advanced access control (role-based access control, test suite or module-level permissions, workflow-based access control)

How To Improve Your Manual Testing With Katalon?

Katalon Platform is a comprehensive quality management platform supporting test management for both manual testing and automation testing on web, API, mobile across a wide variety of environments, all in 1 place, with minimal engineering and programming skill requirements. 

Katalon is a great addition to your manual testing techstack, helping you manage your day-to-day testing activities such as preparing test cases, executing them, storing results, robust report generation for analytics, bug tracking, import/export test cases, and even JIRA integration for project management. It gives you the capabilities of all of the tools you use everyday with specific customization for testing. 
 

For example, for test planning, once you have activated Katalon TestOps, you can create a test project and schedule a test release, with detailed information on test case status, start date, and release date. If you have a JIRA integration, you can click the “Populate JIRA release” button to import your existing JIRA test plan.

This integration allows for seamless synchronization of manual testing activities with bug tracking, project management, and other related tools, enabling better alignment between testing and development teams.

You can easily add your test cases in Katalon TestOps. The folders are displayed in a tree view in the left sidebar. Below is the Project Dashboard for the Web UI Tests Project for an eCommerce website, and in the Test Cases folder you can find the Order and check out a single product test case. 

You can click on the test case to edit its details. 
 

For reports on your manual testing efforts, Katalon highlights your testing activities with real-time data, which is categorized into 3 components: profile coverage (categorized by test profiles), execution trend (number of tests executed/passed/failed by day/week/month), and platform coverage (Mac, OS). These reports can all be shared automatically via email to the relevant stakeholders of your choice.

In addition to all of that, Katalon has a Slack - Microsoft Teams integration to allow you to send test reports to a Slack/Teams channel for enhanced collaboration and communication, resulting in a unified testing approach. 
 

If you want to experience the Katalon Platform, there is a Free Forever version and 30-day Free Trial that allows you to fully enjoy its capabilities.

Start Testing With Katalon Platform Free Trial 
 

FAQs

1. How do you prioritize manual vs automation testing?

The decision to prioritize manual or automation testing is based on factors like:

• Project complexity
• Testing goals and objectives
• Repetitive testing tasks
• Available resources and expertise
• Time constraints

A general rule of thumb is that test cases with higher complexity and low repetitiveness should be conducted manually to ensure that there is human input to the test, while repetitive test cases are generally automated so that testers can focus on other value-generating activities 
 

2. Does manual testing require coding?

Manual testing does not require coding skills. Testers manually execute test cases and validate software functionality without writing code.

3. What is test scenarios in manual testing?

Test scenarios in manual testing are detailed descriptions of possible interactions, conditions, and actions that users might undertake with the software. They guide testers in conducting tests, ensuring various functionalities are adequately validated.

4. What is user story in manual testing?

A user story in manual testing is a concise, informal description of a feature's functionality from an end user's perspective. It helps testers understand the context and purpose of testing, enabling effective test case creation.

5. How to test a website using manual testing?

To test a website manually, testers navigate through its various pages, functionalities, and features. They validate links, forms, user interactions, responsiveness, and visual aspects. Additionally, they perform boundary tests, input validations, and compatibility checks across browsers and devices.

Read More: A Complete Web QA Checklist

6. What are the tools required for manual testing?

1. Web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, etc.) for website testing. 
2. Defect tracking tools (JIRA, Bugzilla) for issue management. 
3. Document tools (Excel, Word) for test case documentation. 
4. Collaboration tools for communication within testing teams.