It’s common for testers to mix up smoke testing vs sanity testing, since both involve quick checks to validate software builds before deeper testing. But after going through this blog, where we compare every aspect of smoke and sanity testing, you’ll never be confused again.
Table Of Contents
- 1 Sanity Testing
- 2 Smoke Testing
- 3 Key Differences Between Sanity Testing and Smoke Testing
- 4 Advantages of Smoke and Sanity Testing
- 5 Limitations of Smoke and Sanity Testing
- 6 Best Practices for Choosing the Right Test Type
- 7 Why Should Sanity and Smoke Testing Be Performed in Testsigma?
- 8 Conclusion
- 9 FAQs
Sanity Testing
Sanity testing is a focused testing approach that verifies whether a new feature or bug fix works correctly after a software build. It ensures that recent code changes have not introduced new issues and that the affected modules are functioning as expected. Suppose your team adds a new “Discount Coupon” feature in an e-commerce app. Sanity testing checks if the coupon applies correctly and whether related core functionalities, like total price calculation, still work fine before moving to deeper testing.
Key Use Cases
When to use sanity testing:
- After receiving a new build with specific bug fixes or feature updates.
- When developers fix a critical issue that blocked previous testing.
- When there’s limited time to validate whether the application is stable for further testing.
- When QA teams need a quick confirmation before proceeding to regression or functional testing.
Smoke Testing
Smoke Testing is an initial test performed on a new software build to ensure its core functionalities work correctly and the build is stable for further testing. It acts as a preliminary health check, catching major issues early before detailed testing begins. Imagine a banking application where a new version is deployed. Before proceeding with detailed tests, smoke testing checks basic workflows like login, account summary, and fund transfers to ensure the build doesn’t crash and is ready for further testing.
Key Use Cases
When to use smoke testing:
- Immediately after a new build or deployment, to validate build stability.
- Before executing regression or integration test suites.
- In CI/CD pipelines to verify build readiness after each update.
- To detect major issues early, saving time for developers and testers.
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Key Differences between Sanity Testing and Smoke Testing
| Aspect | Sanity Testing | Smoke Testing |
| Definition | Focused testing to check that new functionalities or bug fixes work correctly. | Preliminary testing to verify that basic and critical functionalities are working. |
| Purpose | To validate the correctness of recent changes or fixes. | To check if the build is stable enough for detailed testing. |
| Scope | Narrow: focuses only on changed or affected areas. | Broad: covers main application flows and critical functions. |
| Performed When | After bug fixes or minor updates. | After receiving a new build or deployment. |
| Depth of Testing | Shallow, focusing only on relevant areas. | Shallow but wide, covering key modules. |
| Automation Feasibility | Usually manual, can be automated for specific cases. | Easily automated as part of CI/CD pipelines. |
| Build Stability Check | Confirms specific fixes or new features work correctly. | Confirms overall build stability. |
| Responsibility | Performed by QA testers after receiving a build. | Typically done by QA or development teams after each new build. |
| Outcome | Determines whether recent changes are valid for deeper testing. | Determines whether the entire build is testable and stable. |
| Testing Focus | Specific functionality validation. | Core system stability validation. |
Advantages of Smoke and Sanity Testing
Both smoke testing and sanity testing play vital roles in maintaining release quality and minimizing risks.
Advantages:
- Detect major and critical defects early in the testing cycle.
- Save time by identifying unstable builds before deeper testing.
- Reduce rework by catching issues right after deployment or fixes.
- Improve team efficiency and confidence before full-scale testing.
- Ideal for Agile and CI/CD environments where rapid feedback is key.
Limitations of Smoke and Sanity Testing
While these tests are essential, they have certain limitations:
- Limited coverage, as they only validate surface-level functionalities.
- May overlook deeper logical or integration issues.
- Often rely on manual testing if automation is not integrated.
- Cannot ensure complete application stability or performance.
Best Practices for Choosing the Right Test Type
- Use smoke testing to quickly validate build stability right after a new deployment or version update.
- Opt for sanity testing when you need to confirm that recent fixes or minor feature updates work as expected.
- Automate both test types using a reliable testing platform such as Testsigma to accelerate execution and improve accuracy.
- Include both in your CI/CD pipeline for continuous validation.
- Always document test outcomes to ensure traceability and quality insights.
Why Should Sanity and Smoke Testing Be Performed in Testsigma?
Testsigma is an Agentic AI-powered codeless test automation platform that enables teams to efficiently create, execute, and manage test cases for web, mobile, API, Salesforce, and SAP applications. It simplifies both smoke and sanity testing, helping testers validate builds and features faster while reducing manual effort.
Key Features That Make Smoke and Sanity Testing Easier in Testsigma:
- Codeless Test Creation: Write smoke and sanity tests in simple English-like steps without coding, making test creation faster and accessible to non-technical testers. The Generator Agent can be used to automatically create test cases directly from Jira, Figma designs, images, screenshots, videos, PDFs, and files.
- Reusable Test Steps: Reuse common test steps across multiple builds, reducing duplication and speeding up test development.
- Parallel Execution: Run smoke or sanity tests on 3000+ devices and browsers simultaneously, catching issues faster.
- Self-Healing Test Maintenance: Automatically detects and fixes broken test steps caused by minor UI changes, reducing maintenance effort and keeping regression and sanity tests reliable over time.
- Integration with CI/CD Pipelines: Trigger automated smoke and sanity tests on every new build, providing instant feedback to development teams.
- Detailed Reporting and Logs: Get clear insights into failures, helping teams identify whether a build or a specific feature needs attention.
Conclusion
The main difference between sanity and smoke testing lies in their scope and timing; smoke testing checks the overall build stability, while sanity testing ensures that specific fixes or features work correctly. Both can be efficiently executed in Testsigma, where AI agents streamline and accelerate the process. You can start exploring these capabilities with a free trial today.
FAQs
Smoke testing checks basic, critical functionalities of a new build to ensure overall stability, while sanity testing focuses on specific features or bug fixes to verify that recent changes work as intended.
No, they serve different purposes: smoke testing ensures the build is stable, while sanity testing validates specific changes or features, so one cannot fully replace the other.
Smoke testing is performed first to verify build stability, followed by sanity testing on particular features or fixes.
Automation tools can quickly execute smoke tests across core workflows to ensure the build is stable, while for sanity testing, they focus on specific modules or new functionality to validate correctness.
By catching major issues early, both tests prevent wasting time on detailed testing of unstable builds and reduce the cost of fixing defects found later in the cycle.
If a build fails smoke testing, it is rejected and sent back to developers for fixes; if it fails sanity testing, the particular feature or fix is flagged for correction before further testing continues.
