Technological advancement is taking place at a greater scale. With this advancement, the software development industry is progressing forward, and so are the testing firms.
A few years back, software testing was only used for finding the errors in the product. With the new automation era, testing firms now have advanced tools for improving product quality. While talking about the latest software testing technology, automation testing is always the first consideration of the testing firms.
In this blog, we will discuss what automation testing is, why it is required, and list the top Automation Testing Tools that every professional tester must know.
What is automation testing?
Every software manufacturing company releases its products after testing, but still, some products often contain several defects. To remove all the defects from the product, the companies take the help of test engineers to catch all the errors before the product launch. The best method implied by testers for testing the software in recent times is automation testing.
Automation testing can be defined as the process to test and compare the software using some specialized testing software against expected results. The automation tools are those which provide automation solutions for testing the effectiveness and the efficiency of the web, desktop, and mobile-based applications.
This technique is not only helpful in testing the outcomes of the software but is also helpful in comparing the possible outcomes.
Why is automation testing required?
Before the invention of the automation testing tools, the test engineers used to test the software manually. In the manual process, the engineers carefully go through the software and test it for any kind of defect. Since in the manual process, there is human involvement and thus more scope of errors.
The automation testing technology uses specialized tools to test the effectiveness of the software. Since it involves fewer human dependencies, thus providing faster and accurate testing results.
The trend of automation testing tools has increased in testing firms because they are the best option to provide continuous testing in an accurate and better way. They can also help in accelerating the release cycles, ensuring the quality of the released software along with the increased test coverage.
Following are the benefits of the automation testing:
- Provides accurate software test results in less time and that too in less price.
- Increases the depth of the software test and thus improves its quality.
- Allows controlled testing of software with thousands of virtual users.
- Decreases the load on test engineers.
- Since the software testing process becomes automated, the team can focus more on rewarding and challenging projects.
By now, you must have understood what automation testing is and why it is needed. Now, let’s jump into the top automation testing tools that every tester must know.
Top Automation Testing Tools Every professional Tester must know
There are several commercial and open-source automation testing tools available in the market, but for your better understanding, we’ve listed the top 15 picks that every professional tester must know, along with their popular features, cost, and benefits.
- Tosca
- Selenium
- Testcomplete
- QMetry Automation Studio
- Kobiton
- Test Project
- Subject7
- Lambda Test
- Test architect
- QAwolf
- Avo Assure
- ZeuZ
- SilkTest
- IBM rational Functional tester.
- Katalon Studio
- Tosca
Tosca balances both the performance and speed. To be proficient in the Automation testing field, one must have strong knowledge and experience with the latest testing tools, and Tricentis Tosca is the one for you, which offers excellent features and benefits in testing the software.
Also, the tool provides configuration testing for business applications CRM and SAP. To gain in-depth knowledge on the approaches used for automation testing, you can undergo Tosca training which helps you in nurturing yourself.
Features
- Checks the data design and generation.
- Regular Updates.
- Provide detailed reports and system under test effect.
- Quality community support.
Benefits
- Integrated with multiple features in a single tool.
- Can be used without Scripting.
- Tosca supports multiple platforms.
- User-friendly interface.
- Supports quality vendors.
- Effective Testing strategy.
- Provides Quick Results.
Cost: Tosca offers a very reasonable price for testers at $3590 per workstation.
- TestComplete
TestComplete is a popular and advanced automated GUI testing tool. It is designed for repeatable and accurate automated scripts across multiple devices such as Mobile, web, desktop applications. TestComplete allows teams to test in multiple languages such as VBScript, JavaScript, and Python.
Features
- Keyword-driven testing.
- AI GUI functional System.
- Create automated UI tests.
Benefits
- Easy to access functional UI Tests.
- Store or reply scripts in multiple languages.
- Improves your test coverage.
- TestComplete provides parallel testing and Quick Results.
Cost: TestComplete costs between $1,000 to $3,000 which is cost-efficient.
- Selenium
Selenium is a leading and open-source web animation tool, which supports web-based automated testing, Multiple OS and Browser, multiple programming frameworks, and languages.
This tool reduces Test execution time because it is supported by parallel test Execution. The regrouping and refactoring can be easily accessible. For more information, Selenium Training is very effective for the aspirants to gain knowledge in this competitive field.
The latest platforms supported by selenium are Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Solaris. It supports many programming languages like NodeJS, PHP, C#, Python, and Java.
Selenium is considered the first choice and one of the most used tools for testers because selenium is an easy platform to generate test scripts, functionality authentication; the test scripts can be used in automated trail frameworks.
Features
- Reduces execution test timing.
- Multiple language support.
- High Speed and effective performance.
- Multi-browser capabilities and open-source availability.
- Supports advanced QTP
Benefits
- You can easily download Selenium from the official website itself.
- The Selenium tool is highly resourceful and cost-effective.
Cost: Selenium is open-source.
- QMetry Automation Studio
QMetry Automation Studio (QAS) is a scalable test automation tool that makes the switch from manual to automated testing a breeze. It offers automated testing across several platforms, including the Web, web services/APIs, mobile, and Windows desktop. To provide structure, efficiency, and reusability, QAS employs open-source test automation frameworks such as Selenium and Appium.
Features
- Multi support and easy support
- Ensures reusability and shareability of test cases.
- Allows seamless integration
Benefits
- QMetry Automation Studio is Scalable, secure, and DevOps-friendly.
- Multiple platforms are supported, including Web, Native Mobile, Web Services, and Desktop.
- This Software Creates project code for automation programs automatically.
- QMetry Automation Studio supports numerous browsers, various frameworks, ALM Integrations, and plug-ins to leverage your automated testing.
- QAS allows you to test cases in self-healing mode
- The Command-Line (CLI) / Headless Execution feature of QAS allows for quicker test execution without using a User Interface (UI).
Cost: This Software is available for a free trial period of 31 days.
- Kobiton
Kobiton, Inc. has created a mobile testing and automation platform. In addition to offering device lab management software, the platform performs open-source Appium and Selenium test scripts on real devices.
Kobiton is being provided as a SaaS platform or as an on-premises installation. The platform’s main features include a cloud of real devices for testing, device lab management software to connect and access worldwide devices, and a scriptless automation solution. There is also an API available.
Appium is the major automation technology utilized by the Kobiton platform, and it can be accessed both through the Appium desktop client and directly through Katalon. NodeJS and Java are the two major languages utilized by Kobiton.
ElectronJS was used to create the Kobiton desktop application. Kobiton enables the connecting of local on-premises devices and hosts 350 machines for shared access.
Features
- Consolidates test platforms for Web, hybrid, and native mobile apps.
- Supports parallel automation execution with mobile testing tools.
- Boot devices and load apps faster than any other device platform.
Benefit
- One can scan and analyze the mobile application for any potential security concerns using App-Ray’s innovative security technology, safeguarding users from potentially harmful breaches.
- Cloud devices are housed in highly secure data centers that comply with SOC2, SOC3, and HIPPA.
Cost: Kobitan offers a free trial, and monthly subscription plans range between $50 to $1400.
- TestProject
TestProject is a sophisticated automation tool that strives to make your test automation experience as simple as possible. It also qualitatively allows for a whole-team approach by allowing for practical cooperation on test automation solutions.
TestProject is based on open source automation technologies such as Selenium and Appium. Still, it simplifies the process of managing and installing drivers for each platform and browser you need to test. One can utilize all browsers and devices on a computer after installing a single application, and you can start recording, designing, and executing tests right away.
TestProject is a community-driven tool with a fully featured free lifetime plan that you can get started with right now. The documentation for TestProject will provide you with all of the information you need to utilize TestProject to develop successful test automation for your whole team.
Features
- There are no complications in installations or settings.
- No prior coding knowledge is required.
- Addons may be shared and reused by your whole team and community.
- Dashboards with detailed reports are available.
- Integrations with your CI/CD workflow that are seamless
Benefits
- TestProject makes sharing tests between team members straightforward.
- A library of shared add-ons available to help you enhance TestProject’s default capabilities.
Cost: Free!
- Subject7
Subject7 has an outstanding capability for all types of Web testing. Test authoring is expedited using NextGen Recorder and Codeless online interface or Expert Mode, which uses an AI-enabled XPath generating engine. Subject7 uses Selenium behind the scenes to simplify and improve the capacity of overcoming anomalies and complexity, such as AJAX calls, timings, and widget definitions. Subject7 makes it simple to construct reliable and long-lasting test flows.
Subject7 provides a comprehensive library of mobile actions and gestures for Android and iOS devices, enabling codeless automation of native mobile apps. Subject7’s Unified Cloud can create virtual computers and emulators in a quarter of the time it takes others to complete comprehensive mobile testing.
Features
- Transition to Codeless.
- Subject7 accelerates and simplifies load testing.
- Support Functional testing for Web, mobile, and desktop.
- Enhances user’s Accessibility testing by offering built-in testing.
Benefits
- Promotes test case and data independence making it easy to create thousands of tests across teams.
- Users can create automated tests against web apps, native mobile apps, and desktop apps.
Cost: Subject7 provides monthly subscriptions ranging from $175 to $250 per user each month.
- LambdaTest
LambdaTest is a scalable cloud-based cross-browser testing platform that caters to all of your website or web app testing needs. With support for manual, visual, and automated testing, the LambdaTest platform helps customers guarantee that their web app elements (such as JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, Video, and so on) appear flawlessly across all desktop and mobile web browsers. Users may access up to 2000+ combinations of desktop and mobile browsers in the cloud with LambdaTest.
LambdaTest also provides a developer-oriented tool, the LT browser, for evaluating the responsiveness of a user’s website. LT Browser has made mobile website testing much more accessible with over 25+ devices to select from, interactive dev tools. Users may even construct new machines and test localhost URLs without the need for extensions or tunnels.
Features
- Testing/QA Management.
- Task Scheduling.
- Supports Parallel Execution.
- Requirements-Based Testing.
- API For Continuous Testing.
- Continuous Testing with Continuous Integration tools.
Benefits
- LambaTest provides Selenium Web Testing Automation.
- Selenium Grid for Mobile Web-Automation Testing.
- This Software supports Live Interactive Browser Compatibility Testing.
- Faster Automated Screenshot Testing.
- Scroll Sync to test two devices simultaneously using the LT browser app.
Cost: LambdaTest provides subscription options ranging from $15/month to $158/month, each with a free trial.
- TestArchitect
TestArchitect is a codeless test automation solution that employs Keyword Driven Testing to increase automation coverage and efficiency. With TestArchitect, a small group of more technical testers may help a much larger population of less technical testers’ experts achieve 80 percent automated coverage.
Features
- Codeless automation.
- Integrations for CI/CD/DevOps Testing.
- Intelligent Out-of-the-Box Action Library.
- Multivariate Test Execution.
- Parallel Test Execution.
- Designed with Jenkins pipelines in mind.
Benefits
- Tests triggered from Zephyr will be issued to Zbot Agents, who in turn pass to TestArchitect Controllers.
- Test results will automatically be uploaded to TFS or TestArchitect Repository Server.
- TestArchitect leverages HP OTA (Open Test Architecture) to import and upload tests and publish test results to HP ALM.
Cost: Available with 30 days free trial
- QAwolf
QA Wolf is an end-to-end testing solution that is easy, fast, and free for the entire team. Users may write tests directly on their browser and interact with their team in real-time using QA Wolf. Testers may exchange test URLs, invite team members to their testing dashboard, and cooperate on test design and maintenance. QA Wolf produces Javascript code as users browse, making it easy for anybody to develop and execute tests on Netlify or Vercel deployments in parallel. Regardless of the number of tests running, test results arrive in minutes and may be sent to teams through email or Slack.
Features
- No downloads or installations are required.
- Supports Chrome, WebKit, Firefox, and Chromium are some of the most popular browsers available.
- Vercel and Netlify Integrations.
- Premises-based.
- OpenVPN connection.
- Failure logs and videos assist you in rapidly identifying problems.
Benefits
- There’s no need to execute code locally or wait for a CI build with QA Wolf.
- Users may use QA Wolf to fix and maintain tests straight in their browser.
Cost: Free version
- Avo Assure
Avo Assure is a cutting-edge test automation solution that is technology-neutral and extremely intelligent. Without creating a single line of code, it provides over 90% automated coverage. You can test across various platforms like online, mobile, desktop, ERP systems, mainframes, and more with Avo Assure by auto-generating test cases.
These features enable testing teams and business users to complete more tasks in less time while still delivering high-quality Software. Learn how to automatically create and execute test cases without writing a single line of code. With heterogeneous features that enable end-to-end test automation, users may add new capabilities to their applications. Clients have decreased testing time by 85%, produced applications with fewer than 2% errors in production, and are at least 3x more productive using Avo Assure.
Features
- It supports WCAG standards, Section 508, and ARIA.
- The Mindmaps tool allows users to quickly view their whole testing hierarchy, establish test strategies, and build test cases.
- Through intelligent reporting, you may get a video of the test execution as well as a screenshot of each step.
- With the Smart Scheduling and Execution functionality, one may run numerous scenarios in a single VM independently or simultaneously.
Benefits
- Avo Assure allows customers to test apps 85 percent faster than manual testing.
- Because all software testing tasks are simplified to a few button clicks, users can deploy apps 3x faster and be 2x more productive.
Cost: Avo Assure offers 14 days free trial for new users
- ZeuZ
ZeuZ is a cloud-based and on-premise test automation tool for mobile, Web, desktop, API, and cloud apps that is DevOps ready and AI-enabled. Using our scriptless and simple test creation method, anyone can design and test complicated single or multi-platform processes. In any browser, testers and developers may build automated tests and run them locally or remotely.
On iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, Safari, Firefox, Edge, and many more platforms can schedule or execute them in parallel. ZeuZ is also a comprehensive automated testing framework for managing human and computerized tests, problems, and feature requests. It includes detailed results, bug analysis, documentation, and a wide range of examples to get you up and to dash.
Features
- Predictive Intelligence (Auto Suggest test to execute).
- Business Analyst and Project Manager ready.
- Guider to migrate manual tests to automated.
- Supports Parallel Execution.
- Regional and multilingual test data.
- 3rd-Party Integration (JIRA, GIT, SVN, Jenkins Slack, MKS, QMC, etc).
Benefits
- ZeuZ provides a simple UI to create maintenance-free complex test workflows spanning across platforms.
- ZeuZ has powerful debugging tools, including recommendations to resolve issues.
- ZeuZ provides insights, various reports, and notifications.
- ZeuZ automated tests across many platforms.
Cost: ZeuZ offers 2 subscription plans; Starter- $50/month & Professional – $200/month
- Silk Test
Silk Test is the most acceptable automated testing solution for performing Regression and Functionality testing in the most efficient way possible. Object-based implementation is supported. This program may be used to test various technologies, including mobile, Java, DOM, Firefox, and many more. Silk Test caters to a wide range of customers:
Silk Test Workbench provides for automated visual testing (similar to TestPartner) as well as the use of VB.Net as a scripting language. For automated scripting, Silk Test Classic employs the domain-specific 4Test language. It’s a C++-like object-oriented programming language. It makes use of class, object, and inheritance principles. Silk4J, now known as UFT Developer, enables Eclipse automation using Java as a scripting language. UFT Developer, rebranded Silk4Net, allows you to do the same in Visual Studio using VB or C#.
Features
- Cross-platform and cross-browser testing.
- Collaborative test design.
- Silk Test supports an object-based implementation.
Benefits
- To identify and validate the pieces in the AUT, Silk Test offers both recording and descriptive programming approaches.
- Mobile (iOS, Android), .NET, SWT, DOM, IE, Firefox, Edge, Safari, SAP Windows GUI are all supported by Silk Test.
Cost: Micro Focus Silk Test has not supplied price information for this service. For software vendors and service providers, this is standard procedure. To get the most up-to-date price, contact Micro Focus Silk Test.
- IBM Rational Function Tester
IBM Rational Functional Tester is an automated functional and regression testing tool. This program allows for active, regression, GUI, and data-driven testing to be automated. Web-based, .Net, Siebel, SAP, terminal emulator-based apps, PowerBuilder, Ajax, Adobe Flex, Dojo Toolkit, zSeries, iSeries, and pSeries applications are all supported by Rational Function Tester.
Features
- Visual editing through screenshots.
- Advanced ScriptAssure technology.
- Integration with other Software.
- Automatically detects data entered during test recording and prepares the test for data-driven testing.
Benefits
- Using natural language and generated screenshots simplifies test visualization and modification.
- With ScriptAssure technology, testers may automate tests.
- Allows the user to repeat the same set of test activities with different test data.
Cost: A single-user license might cost anything from $10,000 to $30,000. There are no hidden fees, and customer service is included in the price. with a free trial
- Katalon Studio
Katalon Studio is a software application for automated testing created by Katalon, Inc. With a customized IDE interface for online, API, mobile, and desktop application testing. The program is developed on top of the open-source automation frameworks Selenium and Appium.
Katalon Studio’s test automation framework was built using a keyword-driven approach as the primary test writing technique and data-driven functionality for test execution. The user interface is an Eclipse-rich client platform-based integrated programming environment (IDE) (RCP). The keyword libraries are a collection of common online, API, and mobile testing actions. External libraries written in Java can be imported and utilized like native functions in a project. Groovy and Java are the two major programming languages used in Katalon Studio. Katalon Studio supports Selenium and Appium-based cross-environment testing.
Features
- Simple deployment.
- Cross-browser application.
- Built-in templates with clear tutorials help testers quickly build and run the automation test scripts.
- Testers can run their first test script quite quickly using its pre-built templates and test scripts.
Benefits
- Testers need not have much coding skills to run the scripts developed.
- Integration with Web, Mobile, API, and Desktop automation.
- Katalon Analytics is available to analyze script failures.
Cost: Katalon Studio provides two membership options with a free trial, ranging from $69/month to $1529/year.
Conclusion
A software tester’s work remains crucial even after deploying so many tools. Before selecting the proper software testing tool for their projects, the software testing team must consider Several factors like cross-browser and platform compatibility, ease of tool maintenance, customer support and update policies, cost of the license, and many more.
We hope our blog on “The Top Automation Testing Tools Every Professional Tester Must Know” helped you know all the essential information about the latest automation testing tools and decide which tool is best according to your requirements.
