As the technology is advancing, the delivery cycle has become shorter and the release is more frequent. Modern development mostly relies on DevOps and Agile ecosystems to achieve the desired goal. When you align the software testing with delivery pipelines it is called continuous testing. Continuous Testing tools help to automate and trigger the automated tests without manual intervention, and based on the test report the code deployment decision can be made.
In this article, we have listed the best continuous testing tools (not ranked in order) with their features, drawbacks, and usage. The list will help you to choose the best fit for your team/organization.
Table Of Contents
What is a Continuous Testing Tool?
Continuous testing is the process of incorporating the automated feedback mechanism at different phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) to achieve swift testing and delivery.
The Continues testing tool is a software test automation tool that supports pipeline (CI/CD) integration and provides automated feedback. Furthermore, the continuous testing tool focuses on automating existing manual tests; when integrated with the pipeline it makes delivery fast.
Best 9 Continuous Testing Tools List
The testing acts as a gateway for quality hence choosing the right testing tool is important. This tool plays a critical role when it comes to continuous testing.
Below are the curated list of the best continuous testing tool (not ordered by ranking) which help to choose the best testing tool for your organization or team.
Testsigma
Testsigma is an AI-based Zero Code automation tool developed by Testsigma Technologies Inc. It is a cloud-based tool so no need to worry about installation and setup. Furthermore, it uses AI so no prior coding knowledge is required. Testsigma is widely used by reputed brand names.
Features of Testsigma Continuous Testing Tool
- It is a SaaS-based tool, and no installation and set up required.
- No dedicated infrastructure is required, all infrastructure will be hosted and managed by Testsigma.
- Supports all DevOps platforms such as Jenkins, CircleCI, Bamboo, etc.
- It generates granular-level reports, especially helpful when it is integrated into the CI/CD pipeline
- This tool can be used at different stages of SDLC as it supports API Testing, Functional Testing, UI Testing, Visual Testing, etc.
- Anyone can contribute to test automation as it doesn’t require any programming language.
- It lets you automate your tests for web, mobile, desktop applications and APIs from the same place.
- It is extensible so highly customizable
- It can be used to test the responsive features as part of continuous testing. Additionally, you can also configure accessibility testing, cross-browser testing, and cross-platform testing all of which can run as part of your development pipeline
- Anyone can sign up for the free trial and start using it once the trial expires Users need to pay nominal fees based on the package they choose.
- 24X7 customer service is a plus
TestComplete
TestComplete is a commercial tool owned by the Smartbear team. Testcomplete supports both desktop, web, and mobile applications. Once scripted, tests can be easily integrated with CI/CD pipelines. Though Testcomplete supports record and playback, most testers choose to write the script using Python, VBScript, Javascript, etc. as this method is more stable.
Key features of TestComplete Continuous testing
- It allows building of different types of frameworks such as data-driven, keyword-driven, or custom architecture.
- Testcomplete also focused on integrating AI technologies into its tool, recently AI object recognition and maintenance was released.
- It comes with native UI and IDE which reduces the tool setup.
- Third-party frameworks can be integrated to increase the test coverage.
- It can be extended to use the Selenium, SOAP UI which covers the additional testing types.
- Testcomplete provides open integration support, using which you can easily hook your framework into Jenkins, Git, Zypher, etc.
Watir
Watir is an open-source project that uses the ruby libraries to automate. It is built on top of Selenium. If you are a fan of selenium but looking for a lot of features bundled as a framework then Watir is a good choice. That means the Watir team has written a lot of custom code for you. You just need to enable and choose features using the configuration and start using it.
Watir Features
- Open source, comes with zero cost
- Easy to integrate the BDD tools such as Rspec, and Cucumber.
- Easy to integrate the continuous testing CI/CD pipelines
- Supports mobile testing as it also wrappers the Appium
- The framework can be extended to iOS testing as well
- Mobile devices can be tested with different modes (portrait/landscapes) and different resolutions such as a tablet, mobile standard pixels
- Supports headless mode, hence the tests in CI/CD pipelines run smoothly
Tosca
Tosca is a commercial tool owned by Tricentis. The Tosca tool is development focused towards Agile and DevOps. It is a model-based tool so it automatically scans and loads the Application Under Test (AUT) which helps to reduce the complex setup and configuration.
Key Features of Tosca
- Actively developed tool for enterprise applications
- Supports mobile, web, and API testing
- A DevOps and agile-focused tool, so the framework can be integrated into CI/CD tools with less hassle
- Tool requires minimal technical skills so reduces the upskilling cost
- This can be integrated with Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools
- It provides dedicated technical support and services. The team helps to increase the automation coverage
- Tosca supports integration and extension with Selenium, UFT, SoapUI, etc)
Selenium
Selenium is an open-source continuous testing tool widely adopted by many organizations. Selenium can be used as a continuous testing tool however integrating into CI/CD requires good technical knowledge. Furthermore, Unlike Testsigma it is not a SaaS-based tool, so it requires a complicated setup. Selenium just provides the library to automate. The user is responsible for spending and setting up the infrastructure. Selenium supports many programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, Javascript, etc. However, the tester must learn one of the programming languages to script the test cases.
Features of the Selenium Continuous Testing Tool
- Selenium is open source
- Selenium requires programming language expertise however you are free to use any supported languages such as C#, Java, Javascript, and Python.
- It can be configured to any CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, AzureDevOps, CircleCI, Bamboo, Gitlabs, etc.
- Selenium can be used for responsive and cross-browser testing.
- Reporting can be configured manually.
- Highly Extensible and customizable if you are a programming expert.
- The community is huge so most of your question is already answered on forums
Remember, Selenium supports almost all the required features however built-in features are limited. If you need any features apart from automation script such as reporting logging, dashboard, CI/CD integration, etc., you need to write the code which requires higher technical skills.
Appium
Appium is the most used open-source mobile testing tool. It provides dedicated functionality for mobile testing. Just like Selenium, it supports a lot of customization and flexibility for users. However, every customization and integration requires programming/scripting in turn you need good skills in programming languages.
Features of Appium Continuous Testing Tool
- Appium is open source
- Appium supports a variety of testing platforms such as iOS and Android
- It can be easily integrated into cloud providers such as Browsestack, Saucelabs, etc.
- It supports CI/CD integration however a good level of technical knowledge is required.
- Appium is capable of automating native application and browser-based applications
Note: Appium is just like selenium. Appium is also a technical tool, Though it is highly customizable, those customizations can only be done through programming by experts.
Eggplant
Eggplant is a proprietary tool by Keysight Technologies. It supports a variety of platforms and browsers including mobile, desktop, and point of sale (POS) software. Eggplant is best suited for the organization which has a range of applications that may be Desktop, Web, Mobile, and embedded type.
Features of Eggplant Continuous Testing Tool
- Supports different types of software testing such as desktop, web, mobile, etc
- As it is a licensed tool it also offers training for its customers which helps to upskill the tester quickly.
- It is manual tester friendly as most of the actions can be performed using the user interface with less code
- Shipped with inbuilt reporting no need to worry about configuration
- It can be easily integrated with CI/CD tools such as Bamboo, Jenkins, etc. Also, these tools can be implemented as per Agile team standards.
Katalon Platform
Katalon is built on top of Selenium and Appium. As mentioned earlier the customization and integration of Selenium and Appium require a high level of technical skills but the Katalon makes it easier by providing the configuration options. Katalon is DevOps focused tool so it can be easily integrated with continuous testing pipelines (CI/CD)
Features of Katalon
- It comes in two flavors. Limited feature with Free license and Complete feature as a licensed tool
- It supports Web, Mobile, and API Testing
- Katalon tests can be integrated with popular CI tools such as Jenkins, Bamboo, Azure DevOps, etc.
- Provides the option to use code less scripting which makes beginner life easier
- Like Testsigma it also provides infrastructure support which helps to reduce the infrastructure costs.
- Katalon can be integrated with the monitoring and custom dashboard tools
Testcafe Studio
Testcafe is a NodeJS-based javascript continuous testing tool. It is available as open source and the Studio version is available as a licensed tool. The studio version provides most capabilities like easy locator handling, recording, and playback, IDE, etc. Testcafe supports only Javascript programming language however the syntax is cleaner compared with other tools.
Features of Testcafe
- Testcafe provides an option for users to choose either free or commercial version. If you are technically skilled you can stick to the open source version and can achieve the most out of it.
- The studio version is helpful for beginner and manual testers
- It is a continuous testing-focused tool, so it is shipped as CI/CD-ready
- Easy to debug if something goes wrong
- Supports all major browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, etc.
- It supports all major SaaS testing providers such as Saucelabs, Browserstack, etc.
- Framework-specific locator is a plus, you can install the React, Angular, and Vue locator plugins and make your test more robust.
- It can be integrated into all major build tools such as Jenkins, AzureDevOps, Bitbucket, CircleCI, GitLab, TeamCity, etc.
The testing phase is the most critical and most of the organization gets stuck while implementing DevOps. It is difficult to speed up the testing without continuous testing tools. However you should carefully choose the right testing tool, a wrong decision can make your testing even worse and once the tool is chosen it is difficult to go back.
The tools should be flexible enough to configure and customize. Most organizations choose open-source tools but the majority of open-source tools require a high level of technical skills.
Furthermore, organizations need to spend on upskilling their resources. One of the major drawbacks of open-source tools is community dependency; there is no dedicated support to resolve your issues.
Companies are nowadays shifting towards low code continuous testing tools like Testsigma as it can provide a lot of benefits such as manual testers can self-learn and start testing, all reports are built-in, etc. Additionally, once you subscribe, no need to maintain infrastructure, no upskilling is required, and with less cost organization can achieve more.
Quick delivery is not possible without continuous testing tools, choose your testing tool after thoroughly evaluating your needs.