What are different software testing tools?

Software testing tools are crucial as they can run, track, execute test cases, find bugs, and report them to improve any software. Different testing tools available today are either paid or free to use. However, free tools usually come with limited features, so the selection of testing tools depends upon business and end-user requirements.

In the following sections, let’s learn what testing tools are, their importance,  types and features, and factors to consider while choosing the right tool. 

Importance of Software Testing

Any software testing strategy aims to find bugs in the software and improve its quality by generating test reports. One of the software testing rules states that the ‘absence of error is a fallacy’. It means software can’t be 100% bug-free. 

If you don’t find any bugs, your software quality is not good. Thus you need to test your software, whether manually or in an automated fashion. 

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Types of Software Testing Tools

Testing tools are differentiated based on the type of testing opted. They are –

1. Test Management Tools

Test management tools manage many manual and automated test cases, keeping track of your test activities and managing your testing plans, schedules, data, logs, and defects. 

• It notifies the testing teams about the daily testing tasks. Also, it helps to execute a variety of test cases. 
• Thus you need a test management tool to maintain your test works. 
• In large IT companies, it’s common to have duplicate test cases in a project, and test management tools automatically flag them to reduce time consumption and effort.

2. Functional Testing Tools

As part of automated functional testing, functional testing tools like Selenium and Appium can directly interact with the UI of an app for testing.

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• They locate, identify, and select web elements (textbox, buttons, menus, etc.), then enter data and press them. 
• Many functional automation tools record the test activities with a screen recorder and can replay the recordings. The testing tools denote all the objects, data, and actions through the recording sessions. 
• Later these will be compared to the expected results and helps to declare the actual results to be passed or failed.

3. Performance Testing Tools

They measure an app’s load, stress, speed, and stability and generate detailed performance test reports. They can detect bottlenecks during heavy traffic loads and sudden increases in users. They support several protocols, platforms, and environments. 

The famous performance testing tools are- Apache JMeter, LoadRunner, WebLOAD, etc.

4. Compatibility Testing Tools

They help to test an app through different combinations of software, hardware, network, browsers, and mobiles. The biggest challenge in compatibility testing is that you can only test on some existing platforms simultaneously. Thus many tools provide a cloud-based infrastructure for compatibility testing. 

They include configuration for different device-browser-OS combinations so you can easily access the one you need without any setup. 

• With BrowserStack Live and App Live, access the latest configurations for Windows, Android, macOS and iOS devices – from legacy versions to the latest beta and dev releases.
• With a Real Device Cloud like BrowserStack, remove the hassle of maintaining and upgrading your in-house device lab. Access it remotely. 
• Test native device features across iPhones & iPads (iOS 3 to 16) and Google, OnePlus, Motorola, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Samsung phones & tabs (running Android 4.4 through 13.0)

Try Cross-Browser Compatibility Testing

5. Visual Testing Tools

It’s necessary to make your app or web visually interesting first. According to researchers, 38% of internet users will pause using a website if it’s visually unattractive. 

• Visual testing tools help with visual validation with cross-browser and cross-device. 
• Also, they can find out pixel-by-pixel defects, anti-aliasing, hidden web elements, test moving contents, and many more. 

6. Regression Testing Tools

These tools ensure that modification in software doesn’t introduce any bug in existing features, and it should work without any hitch. They can create regression test suits and integrate them with bug-tracking tools, version control tools, APIs, etc. S

Similarly in visual regression testing, you can observe software regression with a visual concept. The visual regression testing tools take screenshots before and after any code change and compare them to find regressions. Percy is one of the best tools for this testing. It captures screenshots, compares them with the actual image, highlights visual changes, informs testing teams, integrates with CI/CD pipelines, and more.

7. Parallel Testing Tools

Paralle Testing executes the same test case on several cross-browser platforms simultaneously. Thus it saves time and resources. It becomes most helpful in regression-checking features in an updated software version, and Selenium and TestNG are the best tools for this purpose. TestNG creates accessible settings for parallel testing and helps to set parallel attributes in Java.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Testing Tool

• Cost: The most critical factors when choosing a testing tool are budget, cost, and end-user requirements. Depending on the size of your team or your usage choice, you need to opt for a solution. For example – BrowserStack offers multiple pricing plans depending on the usage and team size to ensure seamless collaboration with your team at a reasonable cost.
• Compatibility: Your testing tools should efficiently run and execute test cases on different cross-browser platforms, and it will save time from running test cases on different platforms manually.
• Ease of use: Select a user-friendly testing tool. Otherwise, your test process will be time-consuming and you will need to put extra effort into getting accustomed to the tool.
• Technical support: The testing tools vendor should provide all possible technical support for their users. A good testing tool should have features like- FAQs, live chat, phone calls, email support, an online user guide, product documentation, help desk ticket, and more.
• Community support: A software tester must join a community to meet people with the same profession. It’s helpful for independent testers to know trending software testing tools and techniques.

Importance of selecting the right testing tool

• The most important thing is the cost estimation for the testing tool. So you must calculate the budget for your tool before selecting it. Also, you need to figure out a suitable budget model for the testing tool. 
• A standard testing tool has a good test reporting capacity. They create reports about test plan progress, the number of test cases that failed/ passed, the test case would be automated, graphs and dashboards providing test insight and lots.
• As most companies follow Agile methodologies– your test tool needs to support so. It should support agile activities like- creating epics, stories, sprint backlog planning, and test reports to maintain a healthy understanding between the manager, developer, testers, and other stakeholders.

Opting for testing tools on BrowserStack 

BrowserStack is a cloud-based platform that provides solutions for different types of testing. 

• Teams can prefer App Automate and Automate to execute your automated functional testing with Selenium. 
• Percy and App Percy provide solutions for visual testing.
• Also, free tools like SpeedLab for performance testing and Responsive allow the user to verify if a website is being appropriately displayed across a wide range of devices, both desktop, and mobile.
• Here are the new additions in the list – Test Observability helps creates test reporting, debugging, unreliable test detection, and more.

Here’s what you get: 

• Instant Access to Real Devices
• 30 mins each of interactive browser and mobile app testing
• 100 mins of automated browser testing
• 100 mins of automated mobile app testing
• 5000 screenshots/month for visual testing with Percy
• Testing on internal development environments

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