Working in software development as a tester, it can be difficult to find time to improve the testing process when you are the bottleneck to release with lots of tickets, stories or features to test. I am currently a QA Lead at <a href="https://cerahq.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Cera Care</a>, one of the fastest growing healthcare startups in Europe. Working in this fast moving environment is very challenging for my team, where features are prioritised over anything else and teams have up to 6 developers to 1 QA engineer. 



As you can imagine this does not allow much time for activities outside of feature testing. <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/testing-vs-quality-assurance-vs-quality-control-whats-the-difference/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Quality</a> is compromised as the feature will be described as a minimal viable product (MVP). Improvements are added to the backlog to be implemented after the initial pilots or user feedback. 



Before being able to tackle the quality technical debt another priority comes along meaning there is no time to revisit the feature. What has this got to do with being an active tester you might ask? Well, that’s where the testing role within my team has changed to more of an advisor and involves collaborating closely with developers, product, user experience (UX) and data.



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/dI1RSiHdiHE94aLrHdLqNb1rn8ZBI_OFRwjrBFsRif39IG66YpL-gK413gqrMK512G4tQQHeHyZjVlieNb1eSgRIpg3jEKi0ect1jWj_lgGyBsX9Nb7zvOzdjuXFDZJyHJn3WtfoBRlBVShefA" alt="Testsigma - How To Be An Active Tester" width="600" height="400" /></figure>



Tester stereotype by<a href="https://unsplash.com/@markusspiske?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> Markus Spiske</a>



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#How_to_break_down_the_traditional_testers_stereotype">1 How to break down the traditional testers stereotype</a></li><li><a href="#Being_proactive_instead_of_reactive_in_testing">2 Being proactive instead of reactive in testing</a></li><li><a href="#Getting_involved_in_development_discussions">3 Getting involved in development discussions</a></li><li><a href="#Working_with_data_to_understand_user_funnels">4 Working with data to understand user funnels</a></li><li><a href="#Tester_participation_is_often_a_2_way_process">5 Tester participation is often a 2 way process</a></li><li><a href="#Testers_everywhere">6 Testers everywhere</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="how-to-break-down-the-traditional-testers-stereotype">How to break down the traditional testers stereotype</h2>



Only a short while ago, I had a conversation with a startup founder who I explained the difference between checking and testing in relation to the value a tester can provide to the development process. With a strong product knowledge and an inquisitive mindset to explore the inner workings of a system. 



The tester can get involved in conversations at the beginning of the development process. In my current organisation that starts with user research to discover what the current challenges are that the user is facing. At this stage the tester can sit in on the user research sessions or read the results that are published on <a href="https://dovetail.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dove</a><a href="https://dovetail.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">t</a><a href="https://dovetail.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ail</a>. 



This insight is invaluable for the testers to understand how the user would interact with the feature once it has been developed. They can form realistic scenarios when they come to explore the system and run their <a href="https://www.developsense.com/blog/2009/04/of-testing-tours-and-dashboards/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">testing tours</a>.



<h2 id="being-proactive-instead-of-reactive-in-testing">Being proactive instead of reactive in testing</h2>



Building on the participation of the tester in the user experience research phase. Sometimes you need help from other people and teams to enable your productivity. Such as investigating ways to make parts of the system easier to test with developers. Or finding data to improve your test data set with the data analysts. 



This can be a frustrating process of waiting for others&#8217; time and delaying hands-on testing activities. This is where testers, by becoming an advisor, advocate or coach (however you want to describe it) can be very valuable. 



Collaborating with the product team to make user stories clearer and easier to implement. Refining those acceptance criteria and improving the definition of done for development to include testing, monitoring and release documentation. This frees up testers time to concentrate on activities which refine the testing focus, increase the quality of the test data or open up almost impossible areas to test. 



Read here more on <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/active-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Active Testing</a>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/QzLyZj5iRtUz5t2f0FzVXUlts-zI8BjQPBYnWbF0JZYep0BSgmE67_0RWV_b9d3_RhfzLFH8sVQLAfWNXu8JpYoVlY4O0DUqC0ociPv6Ls4aJctPmswaoDPJv72trMbL_TlgmHcpGPJu_622xg" alt="Testsigma - Being proactive instead of reactive in testing" width="600" height="400" /><figcaption>Developer and tester collaboration by<a href="https://unsplash.com/@charlesdeluvio?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> charlesdeluvio</a></figcaption></figure></div>



<h2 id="getting-involved-in-development-discussions">Getting involved in development discussions</h2>



Whether you consider yourself a technical or non-technical person (what the word technical means in terms of testing is another blog article). You can always get involved in developer discussions such as “technical refinements” (also called whiteboarding sessions). 



Raising questions around testability and consistency across API specifications for example is really important to improve the quality of the application. Also at the code review stage of development, a tester can ask the developer to walk them through the feature and the tests they’ve implemented. Identify edge cases and discover any cases which aren’t covered by the automated checks. Understanding the test coverage and where to focus your testing can help identify issues quicker.



<h2 id="working-with-data-to-understand-user-funnels">Working with data to understand user funnels</h2>



One of the most powerful collaborations a tester can make in my opinion is working with the data team. Whether that be looking at user funnels or considering data requirements in the development process. Analysing data in customer data tools like <a href="https://segment.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">segment</a> can help you identify the most important parts of the system for your users. Also the aim of analysing production data is to validate test scenarios and possibly identify new scenarios. 



Walking through the user funnels with data analysts can help understand what the data is saying. Statistics was never my strong point, despite studying it at A Level (UK college exams) and taking statistics modules at university in my psychology degree (You can read more about my journey on my <a href="https://www.pactman.co.uk/api-contract-testing-blog" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">blog</a>). The data team also provides the bridge between the business and application data. For example in my organisation, reports provided by the data team are crucial for finance to pay employees on time.



 In this example, the data engineers extract and transform the data from the application databases. Meaning the data platform has no direct dependencies on the application itself, only the data in the database. This can lead to data issues downstream without any breaking changes within the application. See the diagram below to explain the complexities of what I described.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Data-dependencies-from-web-application.png" alt="Testsigma - Working with data to understand user funnels" class="wp-image-19599" width="600" height="400" /><figcaption>Data dependencies from web application</figcaption></figure></div>



<h2 id="tester-participation-is-often-a-2-way-process">Tester participation is often a 2 way process</h2>



Tester participation is a two way communication. With all the teams involved that I described above it can feel like as a tester you are the one always asking for people to help you out. However, it&#8217;s very much a two way street, later down the line everyone will appreciate your pestering and constant asking of questions. Working closely with these teams you can develop an understanding for each representative&#8217;s specific interests in the application, enabling you to understand and speak their language. 



Putting in the effort to build these relationships and understand the team&#8217;s challenges will influence the quality of the product. Though it may seem very one sided. There are many situations where the tester will be called upon as well such as reproducing live issues from product owners, developers asking testers to create some test data, UX clarifying whether the designs are still up-to-date or data analysts requesting a dump of pre-production environment to run through their data pipeline.



<h2 id="testers-everywhere">Testers everywhere</h2>



To wrap things up, testers pop up everywhere within the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Being curious is a key asset of the tester within the engineering function. Asking questions is another core skill to encourage conversations and discover unknown information. By participating in all the activities described here, a tester can discover interesting insights previously never discovered. 



By collaborating with people across the engineering function, a tester can improve their communication with technical and non-technical people. Proactively exploring information from multiple sources helps to paint a clearer picture of the whole software development process and beyond.



<button class="btn bg-primary cta-btn" style="margin: auto"><a style="color:#fff" href="https://github.com/testsigmahq/testsigma" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Collaborate better on your test automation tasks with Testsigma, try it here.</a></button> 



Related reads:



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/how-to-be-an-efficient-and-productive-software-tester/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How to be an efficient and productive software tester?</a>



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/how-to-be-an-open-minded-tester/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How To Be An Open-Minded Tester?</a>



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/different-types-of-tools-to-help-testers-day-to-day-life-easier/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Different Types Of Tools To Help Make Tester&#8217;s Day-To-Day Life Easier</a>



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/15-must-have-skills-for-a-top-automation-tester/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">15 Must Have Skills For a Top Automation Tester</a>



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/how-to-become-an-automation-tester/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How to Become an Automation Tester</a>



 PC: <a href="https://www.freepik.com/vectors/developer" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">Developer vector created by storyset &#8211; www.freepik.com</a>

How To Be An Active Tester ?

The era of Low-code/No-code platforms: What you should know?

The Era of Low Code No Code Platforms: What You Should Know?

Automated Functional Testing — How To Do and Best Practices?

How to Begin in Sprint Automation: A Tactical Guide

In today’s article, we will be doing a comparison of Ranorex vs Selenium. We’ll be discussing the many platforms they’re compatible with, their performance, and many other factors. Stay tuned to find out amongst these automation tools which one’s the perfect match for you.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Overview_of_Ranorex_vs_Selenium">1 Overview of Ranorex vs Selenium</a></li><li><a href="#Ranorex_vs_Selenium_8211_Key_Differences">2 Ranorex vs Selenium &#8211; Key Differences</a><ul><li><a href="#Ranorex_and_Selenium_Price">2.1 Ranorex and Selenium Price </a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Conclusion">3 Conclusion</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="overview-of-ranorex-vs-selenium">Overview of Ranorex vs Selenium</h2>



Ranorex



The Ranorex Studio is an excellent tool that works very smoothly for test automation. It doesn’t have its own scripting language, so it uses other standard programming languages like C# and&nbsp;VB.NET&nbsp;for automating tests.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1420" height="799" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16230617/Rainbows-Daily-Agenda-Slide-2.png" alt="selenium" class="wp-image-47925" srcset="https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16230617/Rainbows-Daily-Agenda-Slide-2.png 1420w, https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16230617/Rainbows-Daily-Agenda-Slide-2-768x432.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1420px) 100vw, 1420px" /></figure>



This GUI test automation tool is used for desktop web and mobile applications testing. It can support a wide range of operating systems, which include Windows, Android, and iOS. For automated bug tracking, Ranorex studio has built-in integrations with leading tools such as Jenkins, Jira, and TestRail happen. &nbsp;



Thanks to its excellent object-based capture and replay editor, and record replay and edit actions, users get the ability to easily create automated software tests for their web browsers and desktop applications. Because the Ranorex studio has impressive UI elements, this tool is a good option for non-programmers as well.



Parallel testing with Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and many more browsers can be done during web testing, for faster results.&nbsp;



There is no need for jailbreaking with iOS devices or with other mobile platforms when doing iOS application automated testing. Lastly, you can record your test steps in the Ranorex studio with the Ranorex recorder.



Read here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/ranorex-alternatives/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ranorex Alternatives</a>



Selenium



As you may know, Selenium is an automation test tool for web browsers, with Appium as its native mobile app counterpart. With this tool, you will be able to create scripts in several programming languages such as Java, Python, C#, PHP, Ruby, etc. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="1420" height="799" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16230714/Rainbows-Daily-Agenda-Slide-1-1.png" alt="selenium" class="wp-image-47928" srcset="https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16230714/Rainbows-Daily-Agenda-Slide-1-1.png 1420w, https://s3.amazonaws.com/blog-assets-production.testsigma.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/16230714/Rainbows-Daily-Agenda-Slide-1-1-768x432.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1420px) 100vw, 1420px" /></figure>



Selenium WebDriver is popular with SDETs since it’s open-source and one of the oldest tools that automation testing has relied on. Thus, it has APIs, libraries, drivers, and frameworks for multiple use-cases contributed by the massive community. The WebDriver has a client upon whose command the browser-specific driver runs tests. You must keep in mind that Selenium is to automate web browsers only.



Parallel testing is made possible by the Selenium Grid, and it does a great job at reducing the runtime of the tests. The Grid is a smart server, and it has two components the Hub, which is the server, and the Node, which is the remote device. You will, however, need to create and maintain the infrastructure for servers and devices yourself or use cloud-based test labs like SauceLabs or Lambdatest.&nbsp;



Read here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/selenium-alternatives/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Selenium Alternatives</a>



<h2 id="ranorex-vs-selenium-key-differences">Ranorex vs Selenium &#8211; Key Differences</h2>



With a brief review of Ranorex and the overview of Selenium, you may be able to tell which one is better for you, but the detailed comparison below will give you a clear solution for sure.



Supported application types 



Between Ranorex test automation project and Selenium, we must say that Ranorex studio is more versatile in terms of compatibility as it can support desktop web and mobile application tests without additional framework setup.&nbsp;



On the other hand, Selenium was developed to automate test execution of web browsers, and not mobile or desktop applications. Both of these tools work perfectly well with most common web applications such as Windows, opera, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and more.



Both of them support you to create test scripts in a programming language like Java, Python, C#, and many others.&nbsp;



Scalability



With the help of Selenium grid, you can get test results very quickly during the automation of your browser. Its central station distributes the web applications to several virtual and physical servers to speed up the test automation and get solutions quickly. Not all Selenium tools come with such parallel test features.&nbsp;



However, the Ranorex studio comes with parallel test features, which makes it faster in some cases.&nbsp;



Setup and your first automated tests



If you&#8217;re setting up the automation framework on your own, and you don’t know how to code, Selenium is going to be tricky. Ranorex studio has an easier setup. Selenium on its own is just a browser component. To make it useful as a test automation framework, you need to install relevant libraries for the programming languages that are available.



While you shouldn&#8217;t face much trouble using any of the two tools, the Ranorex studio is definitely more user-friendly. As we have mentioned before, it has a great capture and replay editor, which ensures you don&#8217;t have to write any code for creating tests.&nbsp;



The Ranorex studio easily does data driven testing by setting up data tables and Excel files.&nbsp;



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/strings-in-javascript/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Selenium WebDriver</a> has autocomplete, and Ranorex studio has predictive code completion, and both of them work similarly.&nbsp;



Object Identification



Although there are many automation software out there, not many of them can locate UI elements like text boxes and buttons easily.&nbsp;



To move along an HTML object tree, both of these test tools use a type of Xpath expression. Yet maintenance with Selenium is much more difficult. This is because <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/xpath-in-selenium/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Xpath in Selenium</a> can only be used on the code level.



On the contrary, the Ranorex studio has an object repository that helps arrange all the UI elements when it&#8217;s time to do automation tests.&nbsp;



On top of that, editing and even creating Xpath expression is made easier with the help of the Ranorex spy tool. Using these UI repository elements in the Ranorex studio software for object identification helps to make your code cleaner and readable.&nbsp;



In comparison to the Ranorex, the Selenium WebDriver also has more of a tough time trying to identify and locate UI elements with dynamic IDs.



Debugging and Reporting



Selenium-based frameworks are inherently customizable but are still limited in terms of test execution reports. Meanwhile, Ranorex studio reporting is easier to comprehend and more actionable. It is also very simple to share and comes in different formats such as JUnit, PDF, and HTML. Both of them will provide you with recordings of the test runs, which is very helpful when debugging.&nbsp;



<h3 id="ranorex-and-selenium-price">Ranorex and Selenium Price </h3>



Along with all the features, the price of the automated testing software also plays a major role when you&#8217;re in the market.&nbsp;



Selenium is open source, which means that it is a free tool, and anyone can access it.&nbsp;Ranorex Studio starts at $3,950 for a license.&nbsp;



You will get a free trial for Ranorex, and in this free trial, you can find out whether you it’d be a good investment for you.&nbsp;



<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>



We hope our detailed comparison of Ranorex vs Selenium was able to help you finally come to a decision.&nbsp; Read here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/comparison-automated-testing-tools-selenium-testsigma" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testsigma vs Selenium</a>



Both of them are excellent choices, but if we had to pick one without the price in mind, we would have to say that the Ranorex studio has a much better performance. However, if you already have a team of developers you can assign solely to setting up and maintaining your <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-automation-frameworks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test automation framework </a>and all the automated tests (to avoid flakiness), you can always use Selenium.



Unlike Ranorex, <a href="https://testsigma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testsigma</a> is open-source and supports end-to-end web, mobile app, and API testing. Unlike Selenium, Testsigma does it all without code. With Tetsigma, you get the best of both worlds. Try it for free today, or check out the repo on <a href="https://github.com/testsigmahq/testsigma" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Github</a>.&nbsp;