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20 Best Automation Testing Tools In 2023

The Best Automation Testing Tools List

Here are the top 10 automation testing tools I’d like to highlight out of the 20 I cover in this article:

  1. 1. Reflect — Best for easy to use AI-powered regression testing
  2. 2. Autify — Best for AI-powered maintenance of test scenarios
  3. 3. Tricentis Tosca — Best for accelerated and automated continuous testing
  4. 4. BugBug — Best for easy and cost-effective QA automation of web apps
  5. 5. TestGrid — Best no-code/low-code test case authoring
  6. 6. Headspin — Best for securely scaling testing operations
  7. 7. Katalon Studio — Best for end-to-end testing
  8. 8. testRigor — Best test automation for scalability
  9. 9. IBM Rational Test Workbench — Best for supporting a DevOps approach
  10. 10. Crosscheck Networks SOAPSonar — Best for analysis of API behaviour

These days, we’re faced with both a growing number of ways to test new software and a growing number of automation testing tools to accomplish those tests. In this article, I've compiled a list of the best automation testing tools to help you find the solution that's right for your team.

What Are Automation Testing Tools?

Automation testing tools test software to ensure that it meets specific requirements. These cloud-based platforms perform testing to ensure that a software solution is capable of doing what it was designed to do. Often, automation testing will compare expected vs. actual outcomes.

Test automation is one of the most mature software testing segments, in comparison to manual testing. Manual QA on software development projects can be time-consuming and inefficient. The switch to automated test execution speeds up the process and helps development teams launch products faster and at a higher quality.

Currently, the rise of good open-source options and the push toward Agile, DevOps, and multichannel models are transforming this segment, allowing teams to run test scenarios and test cases more efficiently and effectively through automated testing frameworks.

Overviews Of The Best Automation Testing Tools

Here is the list of the best automation testing tools that are available on the market right now. Many are open-source, though they still offer lots of functionalities and integrations, making them great options for organizations with small QA budgets.

1

Reflect

Best for easy to use AI-powered regression testing

Reflect is an AI-powered automated regression testing platform designed to increase test coverage without slowing down development. With Reflect, you can effortlessly create robust end-to-end tests without the need to write a single line of code. 

By using your web browser as the interface, the testing process becomes intuitive and time-efficient. Simply enter a URL and interact with your web app normally, and Reflect will automatically record your actions and transform them into repeatable tests. This user-friendly approach allows you to run tests as frequently as needed, all without any installations required.

Uncover bugs that often go unnoticed using their advanced visual testing capabilities. Unlike typical website automation software that operates below the user interaction level, Reflect comes equipped with first-class visual testing support. Detect and resolve visual regressions, such as UI bugs that don't impact site functionality, before they reach your users, ensuring a polished and error-free experience.

You can easily set up and run tests with Reflect's built-in scheduler. For those seeking to execute tests through their existing CI/CD solution, they have the perfect solution. Reflect seamlessly integrates with any on-prem or cloud-hosted CI/CD platform, including popular ones like Jenkins and CircleCI, allowing you to automate end-to-end tests effortlessly with each deployment or Pull Request.

Reflect offers customized pricing on request and has a free demo for new users. You can try Reflect for free with 30 minutes of test coverage, unlimited test creation, and 5 users. 

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7 83

14-day free trial + 30 mins free tests

From $200/month

2

Autify

Best for AI-powered maintenance of test scenarios

Autify is an AI-powered automation testing tool that supports no-code testing for web or mobile. This simple test automation tool is currently used by teams at Unity, GA Technologies, Radar, DeNA, Zozo, and Globis. 

Autify lets you create test scenarios by interacting with the application as if you were a user. Their no-code, intuitive UI means that anyone can create a test with relative ease. They offer parallel execution, visual regression testing, and support Shadow DOM elements. 

Key features include the ability to run up to 10 cross-browser tests at the same time; AI that monitors app UI and automatically updates test scenarios if any changes are detected; and the ability to 'bundle' a set of actions into a Step Group for easy reuse. 

Autify integrates with CircleCI, Jenkins, Webhook, TestRail, and Slack. 

Autify costs from $300/month and offers a 14-day free trial. 

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.8 12

14-day free trial

From $300/month

3

Tricentis Tosca

Best for accelerated and automated continuous testing

Tricentis Tosca offers several different types of testing, including system applications and products (SAP) testing, regression testing, and continuous testing.

The platform accelerates end-to-end testing of the user’s digital landscape and provides model-based test automation, allowing the creation of reusable models. You are able to reuse data classes while working with extensive volumes of data. The requirement coverage gives your team a clear picture on the test coverage based on frequency and damage class, which helps with determining priority test cases. 

Tricentis Tosca also provides template-based tests, which cover maximum scenarios with minimal effort. Users have the ability to pause a test execution in the middle of a run, a more user-friendly approach when dealing with unwanted pop ups. Tosca provides support for CI/CD and DevOps environments as well as the ability to run the same test scripts in cross-browser and cross-device tests.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.2 50

Free trial available

Starts at $29/month

4

BugBug

Best for easy and cost-effective QA automation of web apps

BugBug is different because it allows you to start automating tests faster and at a lower cost. It is suitable for startups that don’t want to be slowed down by complexity. It’s easy to learn and offers all the basic features for the entire end-to-end testing workflow.

The tool is meant to be user-friendly and simple. The interface is clean and intuitive, and test editing is done by “recording” with a Chrome extension. No additional configuration, no terminal commands or dependencies are required. You can set up automated cloud monitoring with just a click, without a dedicated engineer (unlike Cypress, where you need to adapt infrastructure and integrate with other services).

BugBug is optimized exclusively for web application testing, so it runs faster than other cross-platform solutions. BugBug creators developed a new high-performance way of executing tests in Chrome and they’ve included various tricks to make tests easier to maintain out of the box (ex. automatic scroll to element, waiting conditions, sharable components). The tool uses a Chrome extension to record and playback tests and simulate real human mouse clicks and keyboard typing. All web technologies are supported.

It’s free forever if you don’t use cloud features. You can run an unlimited number of tests in your own browser. Only schedule monitoring and CI/CD integration require a subscription, which starts at $49/month.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
5 1

14-day free trial

From $59/month

5

TestGrid

Best no-code/low-code test case authoring

TestGrid is a hybrid testing platform that can be hosted on cloud or on premise. The platform has made testing mobile apps and websites a simple process. With TestGrid, users can perform no code automation testing on real devices and use its auto heal technology to perfect the selenium or Appium scripts.

Users can also test in parallel, thereby executing their bulk test cases in no time. The platform users don’t even have to worry about rewriting different test cases but can reuse almost all the tests on different versions of the app and on other apps as well.

TestGrid also lets you test in parallel for faster test execution and go-to-market launch, reuse already written test cases on multiple apps, and generate downloadable Appium, XCUITest.

TestGrid is available as both on-cloud and on premise and integrates with your favorite CI/CD tool for continuous testing.

TestGrid is free for 1 user and 1 parallel test. Paid plans cost from $49/month for unlimited users and 1 parallel test.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.9 24

TestGrid is free for 1 user and 1 parallel test

$49/month for unlimited users and 1 parallel test

6

Headspin

Best for securely scaling testing operations

HeadSpin is an automation testing tool that allows users to remotely run cross browser tests on thousands of real devices and test the responsiveness of automation functionality, as well as test performance vitals like real-environment load testing. HeadSpin provides AI/ML based insights to resolve issues and ship your products much faster with a shorter time-to-market. You can perform secured testing through a single tenant (dedicated device) model deployed on and off premises.

With HeadSpin, users have access to a flexible distributed system to securely scale their automation testing efforts. Developers can monitor non-noise interfered data via a proprietary RF-compliant hardware and custom USB hub.

One of the best features is the Create Your Own Lab (CYOL). This feature allows organizations to use individual devices to be on-boarded on the HeadSpin Platform and run automated tests. You can also run edge testing where the business is at a particular location and want to test their apps on premises. Regression Intelligence functionality can be used as a comparison tool for analyzing degradation across new app builds, OS releases, feature additions, locations, and more.

HeadSpin integrates with Appium, Selenium and Appium Inspector. HeadSpin is also compatible with a number of technologies like Charles Proxy, Xcode, Android Studio, Flutter, Cucumber, Espresso Android, Experitest, WebPage Test, FitNesse, KIF,UI Automator, Junit,XCTest, Calabash, Unified Functional Testing, TestNG, Puppeteer, Playwright, Jira, Slack and Jenkins.

HeadSpin costs from $99/user/month and offers a free trial.



This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7 27

Free Trial

$99/user/month

7

Katalon Studio

Best for end-to-end testing

Katalon Studio allows you to create test scripts with codeless execution, so those without programming skills can easily get up and running. Katalon Studio’s capabilities can be upgraded with plugins and the tool works with Groovy and Java scripting languages.

Katalon Studio is a robust and comprehensive automation tool for API, web, desktop and mobile testing. It provides easy deployment by including all frameworks, ALM integration, and plugins in one package. Users have the capability to combine UI and API/Web services for multiple environments, such as Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

Katalon Studio supports a data-driven approach as well as CI/CD integration, allowing you to receive rapid feedback. You can use Katalon Studio for both automated and exploratory testing, plus the tool supports AssertJ—one of the most potent assertion libraries often used in tandem with behaviour driven development (BDD). 

Katalon Studio is suitable for both beginner and experienced QAers with both manual and scripting modes. It provides both pre-built and customizable coding templates. You can utilize auto-completion, auto-formatting, and code inspection features while executing tests.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4 46

Freemium plan

From $25/month

8

testRigor

Best test automation for scalability

testRigor stands out when it comes to the new era of AI-based automation tools. Tests are created in plain English, with elements being referenced from a human perspective. You can forget about Xpaths, CSS Selectors, etc – testRigor analyzes all possible parameters behind the scenes to use the most optimal ones, which results in ultra-reliable tests.

testRigor supports web, mobile browsers, and mobile apps, as well as APIs – making functional end-to-end testing possible. They also have cross-browser and cross-platform support.

Test maintenance with testRigor is reduced dramatically, with users spending on average 95% less time on it. Seamlessly build new tests and increase test coverage instead of wasting time on maintenance.

testRigor makes the process of converting existing manual test cases into automated tests very straightforward, and users can also define and customize their own wording if they desire.

Pricing starts at $300 per month and can be tailored to your specific needs. There is also a free 14-day trial available.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
5 7

14-day free trial + free plan available

From $900/Month

9

IBM Rational Test Workbench

Best for supporting a DevOps approach

IBM’s Rational Test Workbench is a testing tool that allows for functional user interface testing, continuous integration testing, API testing, and integration testing.

IBM Rational Test Workbench provides software testing tools to support a DevOps approach. Rational Test Workbench helps the user automate and run tests earlier and more frequently to discover errors sooner using virtual components. This tool can also be integrated with other software to create test scenarios for mobile, web, and desktop applications.

Rational Test Workbench simplifies the test creation process with code-free authoring. This allows you to use story-board testing in the creation of functional and regression tests, combining natural language test narrative with visual editing. It also offers scriptless, visual performance test and workload models, using automatic management of dynamic server responses that accelerate the delivery of large-scale performance test suites.

IBM Rational Test Workbench costs from $820/month and offers a 14 day free trial.

14 Days Free Trial

$820/month

10

Crosscheck Networks SOAPSonar

Best for analysis of API behaviour

Crosscheck Networks SOAPSonar is a testing platform that specializes in API testing. The product also includes performance testing and security testing capabilities.

Crosscheck Networks SOAPSonar is fully automated and requires no scripting or script maintenance, allowing users of all skill levels to execute regression tests, and supports concurrent Agile development. API functional testing allows the user to validate the functional behaviour of API endpoints with client input simulations. Tests can be run on-demand or automated.

With SOAPSonar, transactions can be analyzed using success criteria rules for error conditions based on semantic analysis of API behaviour. QAs can capture API requests and response information and preserve the data for analysis after the testing run. This allows real-world scenario modelling of expected consumer behaviour with simultaneous loading transactions.

SOAPSonar does not list pricing information publicly.

Need expert help selecting the right Testing Software?

We’ve joined up with Crozdesk.com to give all our readers (yes, you!) access to Crozdesk’s software advisors. Just use the form below to share your needs, and they will contact you at no cost or commitment. You will then be matched and connected to a shortlist of vendors that best fit your company, and you can access exclusive software discounts!

The Best Automation Testing Tools Summary

Tool Free Option Price
1
Reflect

Best for easy to use AI-powered regression testing

14-day free trial + 30 mins free tests

From $200/month Visit Website
2
Autify

Best for AI-powered maintenance of test scenarios

14-day free trial

From $300/month Visit Website
3
Tricentis Tosca

Best for accelerated and automated continuous testing

Free trial available

Starts at $29/month Visit Website
4
BugBug

Best for easy and cost-effective QA automation of web apps

14-day free trial

From $59/month Visit Website
5
TestGrid

Best no-code/low-code test case authoring

TestGrid is free for 1 user and 1 parallel test

$49/month for unlimited users and 1 parallel test Visit Website
6
Headspin

Best for securely scaling testing operations

Free Trial

$99/user/month Visit Website
7
Katalon Studio

Best for end-to-end testing

Freemium plan

From $25/month Visit Website
8
testRigor

Best test automation for scalability

14-day free trial + free plan available

From $900/Month Visit Website
9
IBM Rational Test Workbench

Best for supporting a DevOps approach

14 Days Free Trial

$820/month Visit Website
10
Crosscheck Networks SOAPSonar

Best for analysis of API behaviour

Not available

Visit Website

Other Automation Testing Tool Options

Here’s a few more that didn’t make the top list. If you need additional suggestions for automation testing tools, check these out.

  1. HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT)

    Best for Agile automation

  2. Parasoft SOAtest

    Best for web services testing

  3. CA Technologies Application Test

    Best for managing test data

  4. Ranorex

    Best for parallel testing

  5. Cucumber

    Best for collaboration between development teams

  6. ACCELQ

    Best enterprise solution for multi-channel automation

  7. QA Wolf

    Best for outsourcing test creation, maintenance, and issue reports

  8. Tricentis Testim

    Best AI-powered test automation for scalability

  9. TestRail

    Best automation testing tool for agile or waterfall projects

  10. Kobiton

    Best for accessing and running manual and automation tests on multiple devices simultaneously

How I Selected the Best Automation Testing Tools

If you're wondering how I selected the best tools for automation testing, allow me to explain. I started with automation testing tools that have high user reviews and satisfaction ratings. Then, using my experience in software testing, I identified which criteria were most important for automation testing tools and compared how each of them stacked up against the rest.

Sourcing the best automation testing tools for your unique needs can be time consuming. In writing this article, I've done extensive research (backed up by years of industry experience) so you don't have to.

If you have more general questions about automation testing tools, you can skip to the FAQ.

Selection Criteria

After careful consideration, I've determined that these are the most important criteria when selecting the best automation testing tools. Here's a brief list outlining what I was looking for.

User Interface (UI)

Automation testing can get complicated. The user interface shouldn't be. I looked for clean, minimalist, uncluttered interfaces that make it easy to stay on track. All the tools on this list are well organized and neatly laid out.

Usability

I chose tools that are easy to use and enjoyable to work with. Rather than further complicating the automation testing process, I selected platforms that allow the user to easily and efficiently complete tasks without slowing down the testing process.

Pricing

Pricing is a key factor to consider when selecting automation testing software. Since it can impact the cost of the testing process and your organization's budget, price plays a huge role in finding the right tool. I chose tools that meet testing requirements while also being cost-effective and providing excellent value for money.

Frequently Asked Questions

If your team is looking for an automation testing solution, you probably have some questions before you get started. Below, I’ve provided answers to some of the FAQs about automation testing tools.

More Testing Tools and Resources

Conclusion

Which of the automation testing solutions on our list have you tried? Do any stand out to you, or are there any that we've missed that are part of your current automation solution? Let us know in the comments.

For more tools and tricks of the QA trade, subscribe to The QA Lead newsletter! Don't forget to check out our podcast as well, featuring opinions and ideas from QA experts.

By Jess Charlton

My name is Jess, and I am a writer and Digital Marketing Technician specializing in quality assurance testing of Content Management Systems for corporations. My expertise lies in frontend and backend software testing using a variety of QA testing tools. Find me on LinkedIn.

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