Top 9 Automated Software Testing Tools

by TestFortExpert on 12/7/2017

Software testing industry has been rapidly growing during the last 5 years and is estimated to grow up to 14% by 2021. To beat the competition, companies should keep their eye on the most used and efficient technologies, among which automated testing is currently prevailing in spite of the debates on automated vs manual testing use.

The first ensures that machine is on 24/7 with fewer errors and easily handles routine tasks. Test engineers can work on multiple of devices, reuse the scripts, and detect bugs at the early stages of product development. All this helps to save time, deliver a high-quality product, and achieve set ROI. So here are the most used automated software testing tools to date:

Open source software testing tools

Selenium – Test Automation for Web Applications

According to Google Trends, Selenium continues to hold a leading position among open source automated software testing tools.

It provides a set of instruments to develop a testing framework for web applications and is mainly used for UI level regression and functional testing.

Selenium supports Windows, Mac, Linux system environments and is compatible with all most-used browsers. It allows writing test scripts with the following languages: Python, Pearl, Ruby, PHP, .NET (C#), or Java. But to get the most of it, users should possess advanced programming and scripting skills.

Appium – Test Automation for Mobile Apps

Appium is a test automation tool for mobile apps. It automates the testing of native, hybrid, and mobile web applications. Appium converts Selenium commands into the iOS and Android commands. It can use any language compatible with Selenium WebDriver including Java, Python, C#, Ruby, JavaScript, PHP, etc. Being a cross-platform tool, Appium can test iOS, Android, and Windows apps using the same API. This becomes especially valuable when targeting several platforms.

Watir – Web Automation based on Ruby

Watir is a tool for web automation testing that uses Ruby libraries.

Watir works across various browsers including Firefox, Opera, headless browser, and IE providing opportunities for cross-browser testing. Watir imitates user interaction with a web browser. It can click links, press buttons, and fill in the forms. It can also check the elements on the page, like if the necessary text appears.

Due to the highly concise Ruby language, Watir tests are easy to create and update. In the long term period, this helps to reduce maintenance expenses and consume fewer overheads.

Robot framework – Acceptance Testing

Robot Framework is an automation framework used for acceptance testing and acceptance test-driven development (ATDD).

Robot Framework can automate the testing of web apps as well as Android and iOS applications.

Developers can extend the capability of the Robot Framework using Python and Java to implement additional test libraries.

Free Software Testing Tools

Katalon Studio – Free Automated Software Testing

Katalon Studio stands out of the crowd being a free but not an open-source product. It means that users not only get this powerful tool for free but also receive customer support from the company.

Katalon Studio is an automation tool for web applications, mobile apps, and web services. It provides integrated software automation using the advantages of Selenium and Appium frameworks.

This tool can be used by engineers with different levels of testing experience. Newbies can use Object Spy feature for test scripts recording, and skilled programmers are offered with a time-saving approach to build new libraries and maintain scripts.

Commercial Automated Software Testing Tools

IBM Rational Functional Tester – Functional and Regression Testing

IBM Rational Functional Tester is a platform for functional and regression testing. It supports various scripting languages like .Net, Java, SAP, Flex, and Ajax.

Its Storyboard testing feature allows recording the actions of users on the application under test and visualizing them in the format of storyboard via the screenshots. RTF can be integrated with IBM application lifecycle management systems (IBM Rational Team Concert, Rational Quality Manager).

HP Unified Functional Testing (QTP) – Real Device Testing

HPE Unified Functional Testing is a tool that provides functional testing for web services and API. It is also used for cross-platform testing of the desktop, web, and mobile applications GUI.

Key features of HPE Unified Functional Testing include:

Single GUI to automate all types of functional tests;
Quick creation of new automation using the Import of manual testing assets;
Integrations with HPE tools and source control management solutions.

TestComplete – Functional UI Testing

TestComplete is a tool to automate the testing of desktop, web, and mobile apps. There are separate modules for each type of applications.

TestComplete supports multiple scripting languages including JavaScript, VBScript, Python, and C++. It allows to create record and playback tests, detect and update UI objects automatically due to the GUI object recognition feature. The last one helps to reduce maintenance efforts when the application is changed.

TestPlant eggPlant – Image-Based Functional Testing

eggPlant is a platform that helps to test application functions. Its image-analysis ensures completely different approach to testing. With eggPlant functionality, an application is tested from the user’s perspective. Eventually, this helps to provide a better user experience. eggPlant is a cross-platform tool. It supports web, mobile, and POS systems.

So we have just familiarized with the most popular tools for software automation testing. Hope that this list contains exactly the tool that fulfills your requirements. Anyway, feel free to contact us to learn more about applying software testing to deliver high-end products. And in case you want to broaden your knowledge of manual testing tools – we are already preparing a new portion of useful information for you to keep abreast with the tech.

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