With a good software testing tool, QA teams can optimize their processes to achieve higher test coverage and eventually test efficiency. They can choose a tool that serves a dedicated purpose or go with a comprehensive testing tool with features supporting several stages of the testing process.
In this article, we will guide you through the process to select the right type of testing tool that best fits your strategy.
When it comes to any types of testing, testers always have 3 options:
Let’s have a look at each and see how they differ from each other.
The first option for the QA team is to find a suitable open-source library and build a testing framework on their own. The library is essentially a foundation that provides the features for testing activities, but the catch is that testers have to build everything from scratch by themselves.
To build a good testing framework, you need some brick and cement:
Testers need to know how to connect the “brick and cement” above into a functional framework that can simplify your testing activities. Of course, that is no easy work. Implementing your own test framework does take up quite a lot of time before you can truly do any testing.
The reward? You get to customize your framework in whatever way you see fit. This approach is also usually free, and therefore is great if you are working on a budget-conscious project. Make sure that you have the bandwidth to also shoulder the maintenance part, since automation test scripts are usually brittle when new updates are made to the codebase.
At this point, we are stepping in the domain of vendor-based automation tools. Instead of building a tool by themselves, testers invest in a tool developed by a third-party vendor to get access to the features.
The reward? They don’t have to build everything by themselves, while the maintenance of infrastructure and the tool itself is already handled by the vendor. As the name suggests, these tools are single-point i.e. they only support a specific purpose in the bigger testing picture. For example, these tools can be further categorized into these groups:
At the final stage we have a software quality management platform which essentially combines a wide range of features into one single workspace.
After all, the move to a comprehensive platform makes sense. Software testing is never a one-off activity; it involves up to six stages from Planning to Reporting. These stages are highly interconnected, and using separate tools for each stage often results in wasted time trying to consolidate insights and data for a “comprehensive” view. This approach usually leads to a fragmented understanding of software quality.
The key value of these testing platforms is that they offer software professionals a complete testing workspace with a diverse keyword library for web, API, and mobile-native apps testing. They provide utilities for mapping requirements to tests, authoring automation scripts, and gaining test coverage insights, all ready to use. There is no need to find or integrate multiple single-point tools since everything is available in one place.
However, because these platforms are built with scalability in mind, teams might not utilize all their features in the early stages of adoption. Therefore, these platforms generally offer flexible models, allowing teams to easily scale their usage up or down based on their organization’s requirements.
While the investment in automated software testing tools has proven clear-cut ROI, identifying the right candidates, scenarios and strategies to automate require teams to know the difference between manual and automated testing.
Manual testing is done by writing out test steps on some type of text editor, making manual testing tools and test management tools similar. The actions and procedures outlined are performed through interacting with an app's UI using one of these tools below:
Automated testing can be done in one or two ways: using a testing framework, or vendor testing solutions.
A testing framework is built using open-source libraries. It provides users with the ability to code and customize their own quality management engine to test applications.
Testing solutions are pre-built by a vendor and equipped with the testing essentials to plan, author, organize, execute and analyze. Automated software testing tool vendors commonly offer individual tools, a complete platform, or a mix. If a team is only testing a specific system-under-test or area, say web APIs, then single tools are preferred. A testing or software quality management platform is used more in instances where applications are interconnected and demand cross-compatibility between a multitude of application types.
The best bug tracking tools are those that let teams trace back defects to their original user story, requirements, and tests. Throughout the development process, developers and the entire software team can track the remaining defects, prioritize/de-prioritize them and assign them to a designated member to resolve.
Automated testing is the key enabler for continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD). For developers, software quality engineers and the rest of the team to have the confidence to release iterations frequently, testing needs to constantly happen. Given that automated testing sits at the core of CI/CD, integration with testing frameworks and tools is a must.
Messaging platforms in Agile development needs to be more than a day-to-day chat room. The entire team needs communicate and stay in sync at all stages of the software development process. Especially during times where hybrid working modes have become prevalent, communication across the engineering department needs to be solid. Tool suites including CI tools, testing platforms and the rest of the engineering techstack needs to be connected and provide instant quality feedback.
Type: All-purpose software testing tool
Katalon is a comprehensive software testing tool that supports a wide range of AUTs: web, desktop, mobile, API. All stages in one place: write your test cases without code, manage them in a dedicated system, execute across environments, generate rich reports, run UI tests, and even reuse test artifacts across test cases. It’s best for QA teams who want an all-in-one solution.
Key features:
Katalon also includes all the frameworks needed for comprehensive functional testing, including Data-driven testing (DDT), Behavior-driven development testing (BDD), and Keyword-driven testing. This means you get immediate access to essential frameworks and can start testing right away.
Additionally, Katalon pioneers the testing industry with built-in, homegrown AI features to supercharge your functional testing. You can autonomously generate test scripts from plain language input, or select a code snippet and use the Explain Code feature to quickly comment on it for all stakeholders and team members to understand.
Katalon can also integrate with JIRA, read ticket descriptions, extract relevant information about software testing requirements, and output a set of comprehensive manual test cases tailored to the described test scenario.
Type: Cloud-based cross-browser testing tool
LambdaTest is a cloud-based platform that offers automated testing solutions designed to help teams scale and improve their software testing processes. With a focus on providing efficient and comprehensive testing capabilities, LambdaTest enables businesses to perform parallel, cross-browser, and cross-device testing on a vast array of environments.
Key features:
Pricing: flexible pricing for starters and custom pricing for Enterprise plan
Website: LambdaTest
Type: API Testing Tool
Postman is a powerful API (Application Programming Interface) development tool that simplifies the process of building, testing, and managing APIs. Originally introduced as a Chrome browser plugin, it has grown into a comprehensive on-premise solution compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms.
Key features:
Pricing: Free – $12/user/month
Website: Postman
Read More: Top 16 Postman Alternatives For API Testing
BrowserStack is a highly regarded web and mobile application testing platform that offers a comprehensive suite of tools for developers and quality assurance teams. It provides a cloud-based environment that supports over 20,000 real devices and browsers for extensive cross-browser testing.
With BrowserStack, you can easily test and debug your websites on desktop, real iOS, and Android devices. It supports Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, Puppeteer, JS Testing API, and more, allowing QA teams to choose the frameworks that best suit their needs.
Website: BrowserStack
Pricing: BrowserStack offers specific pricing for various testing needs, ranging from $29/month to $2,999/month for the Large Grid plan.
Documentation: BrowserStack Docs
Ranorex Studio is a comprehensive tool designed to automate GUI testing for web, mobile, and desktop applications. With its combination of low-code automation capabilities and a full-featured Integrated Development Environment (IDE), Ranorex Studio caters to both beginners and experienced testers.
Key feature:
Website: Ranorex
Documentation: Ranorex User Guide
TestComplete is a versatile automated testing environment designed to support a wide range of application types, including Windows, .NET, WPF, Visual C++, Visual Basic, Delphi, C++Builder, Java, web applications, and mobile. It allows you to build test cases using Keywords that simulate user actions with the Application Under Test, perform Record-and-Playback, and execute those test cases across different environments.
Key features:
Website: TestComplete
Documentation: SmartBear TestComplete Documentation
SoapUI is often recognized as a leading choice for API testing. This headless functional testing tool is specifically designed for API testing and supports both REST and SOAP services. API automation testers can opt for either the open-source version or the pro version. The pro edition offers a user-friendly interface and advanced features such as an assertion wizard, form editor, and SQL query builder. SoapUI is part of the ReadyAPI suite, provided by SmartBear.
Key features:
Website: SoapUI
Documentation: SoapUI Doc
Type: Performance testing tool
Apache JMeter, an Apache project, is a versatile performance testing tool designed to evaluate and measure the performance of several services, with a primary focus on web applications.
Key features:
Website: JMeter
User Manual: Apache JMeter User Manual
Type: Performance testing tool
LoadRunner, developed by Micro Focus, is a popular performance testing tool used for load testing, stress testing, and performance testing of software. It supports a wide range of protocols and technologies suitable for various applications.
Key Features:
Website: LoadRunner
Pricing: LoadRunner starts from $0.15/user/hour at Dev Virtual User Hours tier, $0.3/user/hour and $1.5/user/hour for Web and GUI User Hours tier.
Checkmarx SAST (Static Application Security Testing) is a leading tool in the field of application security, designed to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in the source code of applications. It integrates seamlessly into the development lifecycle, providing developers with the tools they need to detect and fix security issues early in the process.
Key features:
Website: Checkmarx SAST
Documentation: Checkmarx Doc
Type: Test management tool
TestRail is a comprehensive test management tool designed to support the planning, tracking, and reporting of software testing efforts. Developed by Gurock, TestRail is widely used by QA teams to streamline their testing processes, improve collaboration, and enhance overall productivity. It integrates seamlessly with various development and testing tools, making it a versatile solution for teams of all sizes.
Key features:
Website: TestRail
Documentation: TestRail Documentation
Type: AI-powered testing tool
Mabl is a cloud-based test automation tool designed to simplify and enhance the process of software testing. It integrates advanced machine learning techniques to provide robust and reliable testing solutions without the need for extensive coding knowledge.
Mabl supports the entire testing lifecycle, from test creation and execution to monitoring and maintenance, making it a powerful tool for modern software development teams.
Key features:
Website: Mabl
Documentation: Mabl help