10 Best Automated Testing Tools Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 20 tools reviewed.
With so many different automated testing tools available, figuring out which is right for you is tough. You know you want to validate the functionality, performance, and reliability of software without manual intervention but need to figure out which tool is best. I've got you! In this post I'll help make your choice easy, sharing my personal experiences using dozens of different automated testing software with various teams and projects, with my picks of the best automated testing tools.
What are automated testing tools?
Automated testing tools are software that execute tests on other software applications automatically, without human intervention. These tools run predefined test cases and scenarios to assess the functionality, performance, and reliability of software products. They are integral to modern software development processes, catering to various types of testing like unit, integration, system, and performance testing.
The benefits of using automated testing tools include significantly increased efficiency in the testing process, particularly for large and complex software projects. They provide consistent test execution, reduce the likelihood of human error, and enhance overall test coverage. These tools are cost-effective in the long run, as they automate repetitive testing tasks. They also offer rapid feedback to development teams, facilitating quicker identification and resolution of issues. Additionally, automated testing tools can easily scale to accommodate the evolving needs of software projects, ensuring thorough testing as applications grow in complexity.
Overviews Of The 10 Best Automated Testing Tools
Here’s a brief description of each automated testing software that showcases each tool’s best use case, its noteworthy features, and some pros and cons. I’ve also included screenshots to give you a snapshot of their user interface too.
New Relic is an observability platform that provides businesses with a comprehensive suite of tools for monitoring and improving their digital infrastructure and applications. Its usage-based pricing model positions it as a cost-effective solution for companies seeking to manage their software stack expenses with flexibility and control.
Why I picked New Relic: I chose New Relic as an automated testing tool after determining its comprehensive capabilities in monitoring and debugging, which are essential for any automated testing environment. What makes New Relic different is its extensive range of over 30 capabilities and 700+ integrations, all enhanced by artificial intelligence, which can provide a robust platform for automated testing.
New Relic Standout Features & Integrations
Standout features include the software's newly-implemented interactive application security testing (IAST) capabilities. The tool helps you spot and fix high-risk errors and vulnerabilities during the development process. By using the tool, you can troubleshoot issues in your code more quickly and ship more secure, well-tested products.
Integrations include AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Jenkins, CircleCI, Travis CI, and Slack. It also has an API you can use to build custom integrations.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Integrates seamlessly with popular dev tools
- Wide range of monitoring capabilities
- AI-powered anomaly detection and intelligent alerting
Cons:
- Added complexity from reliance on agents installed on application servers
- Has a bit of a learning curve
Tricentis Tosca is a continuous testing platform that provides solutions for automated software testing. It is designed to support various types of testing, including functional, regression, and performance testing, across web, mobile, and enterprise applications.
Why I picked Tricentis Tosca: Tricentis Tosca assists in automated testing by providing a platform that enables users to create, manage, and execute automated tests for software applications. The tool employs model-based test automation, which simplifies the creation of test cases without the need for scripting, by using a visual approach to define the requirements and actions of the test.
Tricentis Tosca also provides capabilities for API testing, mobile testing, and performance testing. The platform aims to enable continuous testing with a focus on risk-based testing, allowing users to prioritize test cases based on risk and optimize test portfolios.
Tricentis Tosca Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include test data management tools, such as capabilities for creating, provisioning, and maintaining test data. It also offers data integrity testing that ensures the quality of data as it moves between systems, verifying that data remains accurate and consistent. Other features include change intelligence for SAP and AI-powered analytics.
Integrations include Jira, Vera, Testim, NeoLoad, Salesforce, Jenkins, Selenium, Cucumber, VersionOne, and CA Agile Central Rally.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy to learn and implement
- Offers a dedicated academy for learning and working with the tool
- Supports over 160 technologies
Cons:
- Limited programming capabilities for looping and conditions
- Learning curve for new automation testers
Opkey is a leading scriptless test automation platform that is designed to enable users to run enterprise continuous testing with drag-and-drop test builders. With this solution, you can easily create and automate single-app and cross-app tests without coding.
Why I picked Opkey: In addition to the no-code test builder for non-technical users, Opkey streamlines test automation and increases test coverage with over 30,000 pre-built test cases. This platform stands out because it empowers any employee to create tests at great speed using the no-code features.
With Opkey test recorder, you can automatically document browser sessions and build reusable test scripts. Additionally, Opkey uses artificial intelligence to enable users to schedule tests, auto-generate reports, diagnose why tests fail, and self-heal broken tests.
Opkey Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features: Opkey supports more than 150 technologies and 15 packaged apps, including Oracle EBS, Salesforce, SAP, and Workday. There is an impact analysis feature that helps you to keep tabs on tests to ensure nothing breaks. You can also collaborate with team members on-platform, raise tickets, and automatically generate records.
Integrations include Java, Citrix, Bamboo, Jenkins, Sauce Labs, pCloudy, ALM, Jira, qTest, Bitbucket, and others.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy test creation
- Reduced test automation time
- Improved test coverage
Cons:
- New testers might find the tool hard to navigate
- Not enough tutorials
Best for low-code mobile testing on real and virtual devices
TestProject, a free community-powered platform, offers test automation capabilities for recording, developing, and analyzing test automation. It helps you run end-to-end web app testing and low-code mobile testing on real and virtual devices.
Why I picked TestProject: I selected TestProject because it features Testim Mobile, which lets users with no advanced programming skills create and automate mobile tests on real and virtual devices. With TestProject, you have access to solutions (Mobile Test Recorder, Web Test Recorder, Team Collaboration) that make test automation easy. For instance, Mobile Test Recorder allows you to create tests for any mobile application with the help of Appium and AI. No coding skills are required!
TestProject Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features that differentiate TestProject from its competitors are its advanced scripting capabilities, including an open-source framework, BDD Testing Ready, cross-platform testing, and remote execution. The open-source tool or framework helps you test across all popular web browsers, while BDD Testing Ready enables you to take the simplicity of BDD (behavior-driven development) to the next level.
Integrations: CI/CD pipeline integrations include GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, BrowserStack, Azure DevOps, and CircleCI. Through the open-source framework, there is support for major programming languages, such as JavaScript, Python, Java, Ruby, PHP, and C#.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- An active user community
- Easy collaboration
- No coding skills required
Cons:
- Challenges with object detection
- Device disconnections during tests
Virtuoso uses robotic process automation, AI/ML, and natural language processing to enable QA teams to create and execute automated tests with improved test authoring experience and low test maintenance cost.
Why I picked Virtuoso: With Virtuoso, you can write tests in plain English. This flexibility helps you spend more time on other important tasks, like finding and fixing bugs and optimizing test cases. It increases test authoring speed, accelerates execution time, and decreases the cost of maintaining tests.
Another feature I like is Virtuoso’s self-healing capability, which makes it possible to create tests that fix themselves. Virtuoso uses an ML-powered algorithm to detect inconsistencies and initiate a self-healing process.
Virtuoso Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include agile and shift-left testing, Selenium migration, live authoring, intelligent object identification, and a one-click fix. Virtuoso features snapshot testing, which helps you ensure your app is always ready to release, set baselines at the DOM level, and receive notifications on any visual regressions. It also offers cross-browser testing that lets you run the same test on every browser, OS, and device.
Integrations: Virtuoso integrates with CI/CD, notification, workflow, and authentication tools. The CI/CD integrations include GitHub, Microsoft Azure, Jenkins, XebiaLabs, and CircleCI. Other key integrations include Slack, XRay, SSO, and Jira.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Reduced test automation cost
- Fast test execution
- Non-programmers can set up tests
Cons:
- Reporting features need more customization
- Steep learning curve
Provar is an automated testing solution designed for Salesforce automated testing. It helps you accelerate Salesforce testing, save time and cost, and find bugs before they impact your product’s performance.
Why I picked Provar: In my opinion, Provar is one of the best test automation systems for Salesforce. It’s designed for Salesforce and solves some problems testers face when running Salesforce testing. For instance, Provar tests are not breakable (unlike what happens with traditional automated testing platforms). This is because the software is built from the ground up to work with Salesforce.
Provar features an intuitive Test Builder, which lets you create test cases speedily through the browser. The Test Builder has outstanding features, including interactive test authoring, autocomplete, locator suggestions, and customizability.
Provar Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include intelligent test design, deep Salesforce support, and full test reporting. Provar offers polymorphic testing, which enables you to create a single polymorphic test that can replace tens or hundreds of traditional tests. The tool also supports all the major security and compliance requirements.
Integrations: Provar allows you to run tests anywhere with its support for ANT, Salesforce DX, Perfecto, SauceLabs, BrowserStack, Selenium Grid, and Docker. It also lets you integrate with version control solutions like Git, Subversion, TFS, Perforce, and TeamCity.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Customizable
- Stable tests
- Easy-to-use test builder
Cons:
- Some users complain about license issue errors
- Support site ticket response can be slow
Leapwork is a no-code test automation software that empowers teams to create, maintain, and scale automation faster and more efficiently with AI-powered visual test automation capabilities. This tool also helps users to plan, manage, document, and report their test activities and results effectively.
Why I picked Leapwork: In addition to the no-code automation features, it enables you to create automated tests in minutes, get rid of maintenance challenges, and scale quickly for maximum coverage. With Leapwork, you can execute continuous testing across multiple environments and access compliance features for meeting internal or external requirements.
Leapwork has dashboards and reporting capabilities that provide the visibility you need to optimize your test runs and monitor outcomes at scale. You can quickly turn data into insights with Leapwork’s built-in exception reports and high-end data visualization features.
Leapwork Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include cross-browser, cross-device, and cross-technology automation. Leapwork features a smart recorder that is used to automate functional UI tests. You don’t have to start from scratch every time; you can reduce development bottlenecks and streamline maintenance by using Leapwork’s reusable components.
Another feature I find fascinating is Leapwork’s hypervisual debugging; it helps you find out what test failed and why it happened via activity logs, video recordings, and data-level insights.
Integrations: You can integrate seamlessly into your CI/CD pipeline. Major DevOps tools integrations include Azure DevOps, Jenkins, Bamboo, and TeamCity. Other popular integrations include TestRail, Jira, Dynamics 365, Confluence, Tableau, and Microsoft Power BI.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- AI-based automation
- Non-technical users can run tests
- Speedy test execution
Cons:
- Customer care response time needs to be shortened
- Some integrations are difficult to implement
Loadmill is a behavior-driven testing platform for automating web and mobile testing. This automation software stands out with its mobile testing solution, which enables mobile test automation with no device required.
Why I picked Loadmill: I selected this tool because it removes the need for expensive devices and reduces the cost of maintaining automated tests. Loadmill employs AI and API-driven testing, which takes less time and enables stable tests that don’t break when minor UI changes happen. In my opinion, this is one of the best tools for users who want to implement tests without having to maintain and analyze real or virtual devices.
Loadmill uses artificial intelligence to analyze app behavior, testing directly via the API. This new approach allows you to capture a mobile user scenario and generate the matching test script within a short time.
Loadmill Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include automatic test generation, AI-assisted test recorder, and low-code web IDE. Loadmill stands out with its Fast Feedback Loop feature, which helps testers detect regression bugs within minutes. The low-code web IDE provides a complete browser-based dev environment that enables you to code, record, debug, and execute tests.
Integrations: Loadmill lets you integrate with your GitHub repository, enabling you to test every pull request automatically. It also integrates with some other tools, including Jenkins, CircleCI, GitLab, Slack, TestRail, Bitbucket, Jira, and Heroku.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Improved test stability
- Very easy to use
- Reduced cost of maintaining tests
Cons:
- Some configurations and functionalities are complicated
- Limited customization
Rainforest QA is designed to enable anyone to write, run, and maintain automated UI tests and triage test results without coding. With Rainforest QA, you can run parallel execution of up to 500 tests concurrently.
Why I picked Rainforest QA: I added Rainforest QA to my list due to two key features: detailed test results and test management. The software lets you categorize tests by features or purpose, prioritize test cases, schedule test runs, and assign test failures. When it comes to presenting results for every test run, Rainforest QA provides video recordings, browser logs, HTTP logs, and debugging insights.
Rainforest QA Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features: It offers a reliable testing infrastructure that allows you to implement tests on cloud-based virtual machines. The VMs feature multiple versions of Windows, MacOS, and leading browsers. There are advanced test management capabilities, like filters, folders, and custom tags, to help users organize their test suites.
Integrations: It integrates with communications tools, such as Slack and Teams. You can also connect Rainforest QA with DevOps tools, including TeamCity, CircleCI, Bamboo, Travis CI, and GitLab. It integrates with Jira, making it possible to send issues directly to Jira.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Test creation in five minutes or less
- Zero code required
- Debugging suggestions for every test run
Cons:
- The UI can be confusing and cluttered
- Slight learning curve
Applitools provides next-generation automated testing capabilities. This platform helps you increase testing efficiency and speed by automating the entire testing process, including test creation, execution, and maintenance.
Why I picked Applitools: Applitools stands out because it’s powered by Visual AI, making the tool very useful for frontend teams. Testing with visual AI helps you create intelligent test automation, boost test coverage, validate all elements of an interface, and prevent any bugs from slipping into production.
Another thing I like about Applitools is that it enables auto-maintenance of test cases. It uses visual AI to categorize bugs based on similarity, making test maintenance automation very easy. This allows you to manage tests with a few clicks and minimal human intervention.
Applitools Standout Features and Integrations
Standout features include Applitools Eyes, Execution Cloud, and Ultrafast Grid. Eyes helps you automatically spot bugs and defects, Execution Cloud is a self-healing testing solution, while Ultrafast Grid enables you to execute tests across different browsers (like Chrome and Firefox) or devices.
Integrations are available with major test automation frameworks, including Selenium, Cypress, WebDriverIO, Watir, Appium, Storybook, and Espresso. It also allows you to integrate with DevOps platforms, including GitHub, GitLab, and Jenkins.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Reduced manual work
- Test web, mobile, and desktop apps
- Coverage across all browsers and devices in just seconds
Cons:
- Needs more examples for Javascript implementation
- The dashboard can be a bit confusing for beginners
The Best Automated Testing Tools Summary
| Tools | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| New Relic | From $49/user/month | Website |
| Tricentis Tosca | Starts at $29/month | Website |
| Opkey | Pricing available upon request | Website |
| TestProject | Free plan available | Website |
| Virtuoso | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Provar | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Leapwork | Pricing available upon request | Website |
| Loadmill | From $745/month | Website |
| Rainforest QA | Pricing available upon request | Website |
| Applitools | Pricing upon request | Website |
Compare Software Specs Side by Side
Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.
Compare SoftwareOther Options
Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best automated testing tools list:
- Qase
Best test automation management tool
- LambdaTest
Best for cross-browser testing
- Testlio
Best for broadening test coverage
- Endtest
Best for self healing tests
- TestRail
Best for giving testers real-time visibility at scale
- BrowserStack
Best tool for running tests on thousands of real devices and browsers
- Autify
Best automated testing system for implementing parallel execution
- pCloudy
Best for accelerating automated testing with the power of artificial intelligence
- ServiceNow Now Platform
Best automation software for automating workflows across your entire QA teams or organization.
- Subject7
Best codeless test automation solution
Selection Criteria For the Best Automated Testing Tools
Here’s a summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best automated testing tools for this article:
Core Functionality
Every tool on my list features the following core functionalities of an industry-standard automated testing tool:
- Smart test automation
- Intelligent, customizable test design
- Streamlined test creation and execution
- Multiple testing capabilities
- Test management and monitoring
- Testing across different platforms, operating systems, or device types
Key Features
I picked tools that have the major features of automated testing systems to ensure they have all you need to automate tests reliably and cost effectively. Those key features include:
- Functional testing: This testing capability is used to confirm that an application works according to the functional requirements or specifications.
- Self-healing: This feature enables you to create tests that fix themselves with the help of artificial intelligence.
- Parallel testing: With this automation feature, you can execute the same tests simultaneously in multiple environments, devices, and browser configurations.
- Continuous testing: Continuous testing allows you to automate tests continuously throughout the entire software development life cycle.
- Reporting and analytics: QA teams use this feature to report and analyze test processes and results.
- Usability testing: This feature helps you assess how easy a feature or design is to use by making the product available to a group of users. Other popular testing features include regression testing, API testing, GUI testing, unit testing, and data-driven testing.
Usability
When I evaluated the usability of all the tools, the factors I considered included the user interface, documentation, availability of comprehensive tutorials online, customer service, user community, and ease of getting started. Based on my usability analysis, I picked tools that are simple and easy to use. Your team won’t spend weeks trying to figure out any of the solutions on the list.
Software Integrations
All the automation systems allow you to integrate your other tools, including DevOps, productivity, and QA software. With seamless integrations, you can extend the capabilities of your tools and get things done faster.
Customization
I understand that your team members want an automated testing solution they can tweak to suit their internal processes and unique ways of assessing software. Consequently, I chose highly customizable tools that allow you to customize some key processes, such as test creation, test management, and reporting features.
Pricing
When it comes to pricing, I considered cost-effectiveness. I chose tools that offer enough features and cost-effective solutions for your testing needs. Every tool is fairly priced and you’ll find one that suits your project as well as your budget.
People Also Ask
Here are some of the questions people ask about automated testing tools:
What is automated testing?
Automated testing is a type of software testing that involves the use of special testing tools to automate core testing tasks, such as test creation, test execution, and reporting and analytics. Automation software perform the tasks that are usually implemented by people during manual testing, allowing for minimal intervention.
What are the benefits of automated testing tools?
The benefits of automated testing systems include time and cost-effectiveness, an increase in test coverage, enhanced testing accuracy, continuous testing, reusable test cases, faster feedback, and improved test reporting.
What is functional testing?
There are several different types of software testing. Functional testing is a type of software testing that checks whether the functionalities of the software or application work as expected or intended. This type of testing might also consider whether the software or product meets its requirements, as well as fulfills business cases or business processes.
Functional testing can include mobile testing, web testing, app testing, GUI testing, cross-platform testing, cross-browser testing, desktop application testing, and more to ensure functionalities are correct on all platforms.
Other Automated Testing Tool Reviews
If you’re looking to learn more about automated testing, here are some reviews that are worth checking out:
- Best Web Automation Tools
- Best Machine Learning Software
- Best Cloud Orchestration Platforms
- Best QA Automation Tools for Software Testing
- Best Automation Testing Services
- Best Test Automation Software
Conclusion
Automated testing tools can help your team speed up and streamline software testing, but you need to find the right fit. I hope our top 10 list helped you find the right automated testing tool for your team and specific use case.
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