The Best 5 Automation Testing Tools – 2024

Automation testing tools use automated test scripts for testing both functional/non-functional software requirements of applications. This helps to hasten software releases, improve the quality of the projects, and strengthen the outcomes. Automation testing tools help to create, run, and maintain tests and also support analytics of these test results together with a centralized view.

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To enable the correct adoption of Agile and DevOps practices for software testing, it is vital to establish a clear-cut automation testing tool evaluation strategy. The strategy that you choose has to answer the questions mentioned:

• What are the features that your organization requires?
• Who will be using these testing tools - the developer or QA teams?
• Can it be integrated with CI/CD pipelines?
• Is it possible to maintain scripts and keep reusing the test assets?
• What is your and your team’s budget?
• How can you obtain support for technical issues that arise? 

Ultimately, it is important to understand that there is no one-size-fits-all automation testing tool. You have to choose one according to your organization’s specific needs. 

Get the Best-Fit Automation Testing Tool

If you want to pick the best automation testing tool for your team, do not simply follow another team’s recommendations or not go by their success. You have to instead look at your team’s specific needs, the human resources available, and future scalability to choose the best option. As an example, if you have employed experienced developers, then it would be best to use Selenium or Appium. These two tools allow you to build and scale from the ground level up. If you have employed only manual testers, and if your requirement is a low-code solution to start with, but one that can grow and scale, the Katalon Platform can be the best choice.

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The Katalon Platform

The Katalon Platform is a scalable automation testing tool (without the need to code) for API, web, desktop (Windows), and mobile apps. Katalon has the support of an extensive community with over one million users and is a trusted automation solution for more than 100,000 businesses. 

Users can right away start testing by simply downloading the tool without any need to build a test automation framework from scratch,. Katalon also releases newer versions frequently to stay compatible and current with the latest platforms, browsers, and OS.

Katalon feature highlights:

• It allows the flexibility to record and playback, allows manual testing, and scripting mode
• It supports methodologies such as DDT, BDD, keyword-driven testing, cross-platform mobile testing (Android, iOS) and cross-browser testing (Headless, Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari)
• It offers the facility for automatic retry of failed tests, has a smart wait option, and self-healing mechanisms 
• Its features include provision of keywords, reusable test objects, and test cases along with page object model design and test artifact sharing
• It can integrate natively with popular CI/CD and ALMs tools (GitLab, Jira, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, etc.)
• It offers smart debugging UI and test reporting for quick troubleshooting 
• It offers detailed tool documentation and video tutorials (available on the Katalon Academy)
• You can choose from either free or flexible paid plans

Selenium

Selenium is the most popular automation testing framework since it was rolled out in 2004. It is open-source and its software suite consists of Selenium WebDriver, Selenium Grid, and Selenium IDE.

Selenium features:

• It supports programming languages such as C#, Java, Python, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, etc.
• It supports browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, IE, MS Edge, Safari, Opera, etc.
• It allows testing on local/remote machines by using the Selenium server
• You can perform parallel and cross-browser executions that will help to reduce execution time and also increase test coverage
• Easy to integrate with other testing frameworks such as TestNG for reporting and other CI/CD tools
• You can use it for free

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Appium

Appium is yet another popular open-source automation testing tool that is used for mobile applications. Using the mobile JSON wire protocol, Appium allows automated UI tests for web-based, hybrid, and native mobile applications on both iOS and Android.

Appium features:

• It supports programming languages such as Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, Perl, Ruby, and PHP
• It allows cross-platform testing using reusable test scripts and the same APIs
• It allows execution across simulators, emulators, and real devices
• You can easily integrate it with other testing frameworks and also with CI/CD tools
• You can use this testing tool for free

TestComplete

TestComplete is a testing tool that can automate functional UI testing for mobile, web, and desktop applications. It comes with built-in support for over 500 controls and third-party frameworks. TestComplete is built to handle and identify dynamic UI elements in most of the available technologies.

TestComplete feature highlights:

• Supports different programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, VBScript, JScript, C++, Delphi, C#, etc.
• It allows flexibility of methods for test design such as record & playback and manual and scripting modes (with built-in keywords)
• It helps in object identification using AI visual recognition and based on properties 
• It allows cross-browser, parallel, and cross-device testing
• It can be easily integrated with other CI/CD tools, testing frameworks, and the SmartBear ecosystem
• Its pricing plans start from USD 2702/year

Cypress

Cypress is an automation testing tool that has been designed from a developer-centric point of view. It is used for end-to-end web testing and it purely supports JavaScript frameworks. Based on a new architecture, Cypress can operate within a browser in the same run-loop of an application enabling native access to elements and therefore faster executions.

Cypress features:

• It exclusively supports the JavaScript programming language
• It delivers snapshots of the execution of test steps and allows debugging by some familiar developer tools
• It has control over server response, function behavior, network traffic and timers
• It connects to Cypress Cloud for test performance rounds and optimization
• It can be easily integrated with popular CI/CD tools
• Cypress offers free pricing plans and starts from USD 75/mo for Cypress Cloud subscriptions

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