What is best tool to start with Automation testing?

Huy Duong's picture
Huy Duong asked on September 23, 2016 - 6:42am | Replies (39).

There are many tools available in the market for automation testing.But which is the best tool to start with who does not have experience in Automation testing but has worked on manual testing.

As I know, here's the list of some automation testing tools that i think they are the best at this moment:

1. Testcomplete https://smartbear.com (It's a paid automation tool. It's an little tricky to learn and use but quite similar to Selenium)

2. Katalon Studio: https://www.katalon.com (It's a free automation tool - enhances Selenium and Appium with a complete test automation framework that helps you start testing in no time)

3. Tosca Testsuit: www.tricentis.com (There are many more features that are useful for automation but there can really be a need for some coding effort to integrate with your application)

And anything else?

 

 

39 Answers

Justin Rohrman's picture

The record/playback type tools are probably the easiest place to start for a non-technical tester. I'd suggest you download trial versions and build a few proof-of-concept type tests in each tool to get a feel for them. Automation projects are software development projects, so I'd also suggest consulting your developers for some guidance. 

Pratik Patel's picture

As per my experience, one of the best tool to start with Automation testing is TestingWhiz. This is a code-less test automation tool, which provides multiple solutions related to web, API, database & mobile apps like web test automation, automated database testing, automated mobile testing, etc. This tool is mostly preferred by the begginers or those who are switching from manual testing to automation testing, because of its code-less scripting feature, i.e. test scripts are prepared using the inbuilt test commands, which makes the overall implementation faster, resulting in efficient test outputs. Also this tool has various integrations like integration with database, bug tracking tools, test management tools, etc. For better clarity, you can download its Free Enterprise version and start with automation testing.

Few other good tools for automation testing are Selenium, Testcomplete, etc.

Ulrich Becker's picture

It also depends on the amount of money You want to pay for a tool and it´s maintainance.

Tosca Testsuite is a testmanagement tool - with an automation engine which serves different technologies. You can perform manual tests and automated tests. You can transform manual testcases in automation. You don´t need to code. It isn´t a capture and replay tool.

My experience is: it is easy to use also for people who didn´t code at all. But a little technical comprehension is necessary. 

Venkata Rama Satish Nyayapati's picture

You are correct! There are lots of tools out there in the market, some free and some paid. Do you have any specific application in mind? for example: web, ERP etc. Knowing about your target application type, you could then choose your automation tool.

Selenium Web Driver is very commonly used for automating browser supported Web Applications these days. You may want to check it out at http://www.seleniumhq.org/

Cheryl Downes's picture

Before picking a tool it's more important to think about your requirements (what are you automating) and who is automating (skill level, preference). Personally I like many different open source tools - one reason is that commerical tools seem slower at adopting new technologies so sometimes it just wont do what you want.

 

Sorry it's not a complete answer to your question. Food for thought though hopefully.

Michael Tomara's picture

As mentioned above, tools such as Selenium and TestComplete are most commonly used for this purpose. However, it might be good to try some simple tool which does not require coding skills. For example, Screenster which is able to perform visual testing: it captures screenshots during recording and then compares initial screenshots with newer ones during a playback. It also allows editing tests using CSS selector (e.g. you can exclude a selected web page element from comparison during a test run). Limited free usage is available, which is also good for starters.

Aleksander Fedor's picture

In my opinion Ranorex is one of the best test automation tools, especially if you have not done anything like this before. It supports both capture & replay and coding so if you are not that familiar with programming, it is not a big deal. Furthermore it works with desktop, web and even mobile (Android and iOS) applications.

Anstee Lohmar's picture

Personally, I found Katalon Studio is an ideal tool for the small and medium team as it's like an advanced version of Selenium with poweful features but no costs required.

Of course if you have big budget for automation, spending thousand dollars for UFT or TestComplete is fine. But considering among features and costs, I will recommend the free tool Katalon Studio.

Guljeet Nagpaul's picture

check us out http://www.accelq.com/

we are an innovative Agile quality tool. Automation should not be a silo, it should be part of one simple testing process. 

let me know if you need more info.

 

Naveen Chada's picture

Selenium (for web apps) and Appium (for mobile apps) are the best open source testing tools, I think. Depend on your requirement, necessary, budget and other criteria to choose the one which matches your team the most. Here is my review for tools that my team has checked out and used.

1. Unified Functional Testing (UFT), formerly known as QuickTest Professional (QTP). It is one of the most popular paid tools for functional test automation. It offers a mature set of features that be able to cover most functional automated testing needs on Desktop, web and mobile platforms. Recommended for teams used to work in Hewlett Packard Enterprise environment. 

2. TestComplete is well known as UFT among commercial tools. It supports desktop, web and mobile application testing. This tool has a set of comprehensive features such as keyword-driven, data-driven testing, cross-browser testing, and CI integration, etc. Recommended for teams have less technical skills and knowledge.

3. Katalon Studio is a free automated testing platform built on top of Selenium and Appium framework, offering a comprehensive set of features to implement functional automated testing for web and mobile applications.  Recommended for teams have less technical skills and knowledge. It's free but powerful enough for automation projects.

Any other amazing tools, guys? 

Jerry Penner's picture

What do you want to accomplish? Are you trying to learn an all-encompassing tool so you can add "Toolsmith" to your title and get a hefty raise, or are you trying to increase your test coverage, or decrease the cost of testing in your organization, or something else?

As has already been suggested, you might want to think about what it is you're trying to accomplish before proposing tool purchases to your boss. Some tools are great for web wiork, some for desktop. Some a rebuilt for developers, some for non-progrmmers. Some are even built for non-testers. Some are built to handle specific areas like security and penetration testing or performance.

 

I did a presentation on Sensible Test Automation at the KWSQA KWality Talks a little while ago, and covered much of this topic, including free and nearly free tools available and where/when to use them. You can find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frTn6vKBB1E

 

Anwesha Mukherjee's picture

Hi All,

The best tool to start with Automation testing depends on the web app on which you want to implement this. 

If it is angular based, then you can easily try Protractor(currently, using it). It has the angular objects easily locatable with a global object "element". 

Protractor is also free and based on Javascript framework. You can also integrate it easily with CI tools such as Jenkins, to publish your test results.

Moreover, it uses jasmine framework which is again a BDD approach and convenient to use.

Ananda  Verma's picture

With me, at least currently, it's Katalon Studio. For Functional testing area, I used to learn using Selenium and apply it to my previous projects, but I guess Katalon Studio would be easier to approach, especially for fresh testers. If you are new to testing and found it hard to learn using open source test frameworks, may Katalon Studio is an appropriate choice. And for those who are experienced in testing, it's worth trying since the tool is free, quite fast and equipped great features as paid ones. Bonus, they have dedicated support team who usually answer your questions within 8-10 hours, so no need to worry about tutorials.

elwin wildschut's picture

The best freeware tool AutoIt https://www.autoitscript.com for the medium-advanced user

  • Excellent support in the forums in english, german, french, .... by a broad user community
  • Many nice user defined functional libraries
  • Support all browsers and windows and java controls 
  • Support MS UI Automation
  • NO codeless programming (scripts are basic like syntax)
  • Multi purpose tool so not only test automation
  • Mobile automation
    for Android possible (although not mature)
    for iOS you have to use the webdriver solutions like appium/selenium
  • Nice IDE standard and in forums more advanced IDE's are available
  • Nice spy's to learn your objects

The best commercial tool is HP UFT due to its broad object recognition (mainframe till modern mobile devices which is a must have for bigger enterprise needs). Main disadvantage is slowness when starting a testrun. The successor HP LeanFT is much faster up to par with todays standards.

All tools I have seen are missing a best practice framework on how to deal with 100+ testcases. It goes fine for 1-100 testcases but after that dealing with testdata and multiple test environments you quickly start building your own framework. Nice when I have subscribed 1 client to a webshop on phone 1 but on the next phone the zipcode/account/card/aocial security number etc is already used so on next phone new set of data is needed.

So best tool is in the end hard to define. Putting commands in a listview is very close to coding in my personal opinion so definition of codeless programming is a commercial phrase. As soon as you have an optional condition it will turn out into an if-then-else logic even if you call it WHEN condition is true

Alex Jones's picture
Alex Jones replied on December 8, 2017 - 5:28am.

Personally, i think Katalon is the coolest tool of the three tools above. It's very easy to use with such amazing features.

I really love this one

divya p's picture
divya p replied on December 12, 2017 - 5:59am.

The Test Manager is an automated software testing tool is used in day to days testing activities. The Java programming language is used to develop this tool. Such Test Management tools are used to facilitate regular Software Development activities, automate & mange the testing activities.

Alex Jones's picture
Alex Jones replied on December 22, 2017 - 2:33am.

If you're rich, you can use UFT.It is a commercial tool and it provides many useful features.

But If you are looking for a free tool to start with, U should use Katalon, I have used it recently and it's amazing, it has the powerful features of the commercial tools like Record and Playback, Analytic,... It's totally free.  

james lees's picture
james lees replied on December 27, 2017 - 6:18am.

I am using pcloudy.com for my mobile app automation testing. it is working fine.

Naresh Kumar's picture

No tool is easy or hard, you can pick any one!

Test Automation tools available in market are more or less same, working on one single methodology create,execute, assert & report. If you don't have experience in any tool all will be same for you for initial period at least. 

There are few tools which advertise easy record and play tests, they are easy to start with but still you can't depend on them to work for all real life scenarios. Tools are generally designed to handle standard scenarios but in real life there are no standard scenarios. You will encounter all unexpected scenarios and that is one reason we test, isn't it?

Try to understand how automation is done. Pick any tool any language, try to master it. Most important, don't make yourself slave to a tool. If you master one tool you can switch between any tool because all tools work with same principle, you may have to learn few new syntax but logic is always same :).

Go for Selenium or <a href="/%3Ca%20href%3D"https://tekslate.com/devops-training" rel="nofollow">https://tekslate.com/devops-training">DevOps Training</a> you will have huge career opportunities. 

Cynthia Dunlop's picture

I tried to collect and review all the top "Top Software Testing Tool" lists here:

 

 

The Top Software Testing Tools: The Ultimate List of Lists

 

Each software testing tools list is rated on 3 criteria:

 

  • Scope: The number of software testing tools covered
  • Details: The level of detail provided in the list
  • Analysis: The depth of analysis that it offers

I focused on the most authoritative and trusted lists, and tried to steer clear of lists where software testing tool vendors can pay to influence their position. 

 

Sunil Kumar's picture

Automation tester is a need for each and every company. And automation tester has a wide scope. Each developer also wants to learn Automation testing. So it is necessary to find the best resource for Automation testing. So you can click over here. PHP Interview Questions and Automation testing answer questions.

 

Regards

Sunil Kumar

swapnali kadu's picture

Below there are the best automation tool:

1. Selenium
It is the #1 automation testing tools for all web application testing tools. Selenium can be executed in multiple browsers and Operating systems. It is compatible with several programming languages and test automation frameworks.

2. TestComplete
TestComplete is the top automation testing tool for desktop, mobile and web applications. With TestComplete, you can build and run functional UI tests via robust record & replay capabilities or by scripting in your favorite languages, including Python, JavaScript, VBScript and more.
3. QMetry Automation Studio

QMetry Automation Studio (QAS) is a leading software automation tool built on Eclipse IDE and leading open source frameworks, Selenium and Appium.

QMetry Automation Studio brings structure, efficiency, and re-usability to automation efforts. The studio supports advanced automation strategy with coded automation and enables manual teams to transition into automation seamlessly with script-less automation methods.
4. Testim.io
Testim.io leverages machine learning for the authoring, execution, and maintenance of automated test cases. We use dynamic locators and learn with every execution. The outcome is super-fast authoring and stable tests that learn, thus eliminating the need to continually maintain tests with every code change.

5. Cypress
Cypress is a front end automated testing application created for the modern web. Cypress is built on a new architecture and runs in the same run-loop as the application being tested. As a result, Cypress provides better, faster, and more reliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Cypress works on any front-end framework or website.

OSP LABS's picture
OSP LABS replied on March 4, 2019 - 1:55am.

Just take a look at how OSP uses AI in Video Analytics you can see in the page about what tools they use to test such complex systems.

Sourabh  Chowdhury's picture

Hello,

I'd recommend you to start with QAppAssure by MOZARK to start off with. 

Here is why:

1. On-Field + On-Cloud Devices

2. Integrated Test Management

3. Multiple frameworks Supported

4. Free one month trial which allows test 1500 minutes and unlimited parallel test.

Sourabh  Chowdhury's picture

Release cycles are shortening like never before! Automation testing, is now, thus, a necessity. To support faster time to market, fully automate your regression tests using our recently launched QAppAssure Automation Testing platform.

 

Read through MOZARK’s recent blog on How QAppAssure can help Automation Testers leverage our APIs and real device cloud to reduce their testing times.

 

And don’t forget to avail your free trial. It’s FREE for a limited time period!

 

Bhavya Maingi's picture
  • A lot of software development teams are usually skeptical of the effectiveness of QA automation. When in fact, automation results and data unlock valuable insights that can potentially help securing better customer satisfaction and furnish the development team with a competitive edge. QA dashboards should be a one place stop for all the stakeholders, team members and management to gain an overall sense of the product development progress, it’s competitive advantage and goal fulfillment. Brickred System's UReport is a single solution for all the challenges in measuring QA business goals, providing a holistic framework to organize and measure the increasing number of complex QA activities while providing management with the QA metrics and KPIs they need to measure performance. For more information visit  https://brickredsys.com/ureport/ and www.brickredsys.com/ureport 
Steve Skok's picture

Hi there!

As many users said there are a number of tools out there

It depends on your project requirements! Choose right one

Tricentis Tosca
SoapUI
Katalon Studio
Appium
Postman
Ranorex

Steve Skok's picture

I think this is a tough task to find the right and best automation tools because the availability of tools in the market are huge.

some are 

Tosca
Jmeter
Selenium
Appium
Ranorex
Selenium WebDriver
Eggplant

Aditya goud's picture

LambdaTest is the best automation testing tool for desktop & web applications.With LambdaTest you can reduce your testing time by half by performing tests in parallel.

Milla Ahonen's picture

I would say Eggplant would be the choice for those new to automation testing.

Kanika Vatsyayan's picture

If you would ask any QA enthusiast who has been associated with the QA industry for quite a long time, the answer would only be Selenium. Especially, if you are wondering to work on web automation testing, Selenium could bring you all the support you need. From different programming languages to ease of recording, running tests on your browser, and extensive support from the open-source community, things can be picked up quite easily with selenium.  

 

However, if you want to move ahead with a different option, I would probably suggest you work on Test Complete, followed by Katalon Studio. Each of these tools offers record and playback support and can even bring you community support to lead your test project. 

Shubham Thakore's picture

TestingWhiz is the best tool for beginers. This tool has everithing that beginner and advance automation tester need.

Join test automation webinar here: Get me into webinar now

Dewi Clements's picture

I would name 5 best tools for automation testing, that we use at our work in Sloboda studio

 

  • Selenium
  • Selenide
  • Telerik Test Studio
  • Katalon Studio
  • TestComplete

But there’s no universal solution for every case. You should choose a proper tool depends on your budget, project’s requirements and QA programming skills.

ishan bisht's picture
  1. Selenium: Selenium is a widely adopted open-source tool for automating web browsers. It supports various programming languages like Java, C#, Python, etc., and allows testers to write test scripts to interact with web applications across different browsers.
  2. Appium: Appium is an open-source mobile application automation tool that supports both Android and iOS platforms. It enables testers to automate mobile app testing using native, hybrid, and mobile web applications.
  3. TestComplete: TestComplete is a powerful commercial automation tool that supports automated testing of web, desktop, and mobile applications. It offers record and playback, as well as scripting capabilities using languages like JavaScript, Python, or VBScript.
  4. JUnit and TestNG: These are popular testing frameworks for Java that allow developers to perform unit testing on Java code. They are widely used in Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.

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