17 Best Web Automation Tools For QA Shortlist
Here are the top 10 web automation tools I’d like to highlight out of the 17 I cover in this article:
Our one-on-one guidance will help you find the perfect fit.
Web automation tools allow QA teams to adopt low-code or scriptless test automation, which eliminates the need to rely on traditional tools that are heavily dependent on written code. The best web automation tools for QA also facilitate continuous testing throughout the development lifecycle, resulting in faster and leaner product releases.
In this article, I’ve gathered 10 of the best web automation tools for QA, each offering a range of features and integrations to expand your testing capabilities.
What are Web Automation Tools for QA?
Web automation tools for QA help organizations save time and increase accuracy in QA operations by reducing the amount of manual testing that is necessary. These cloud-based automated web application testing tools are designed to assist in the testing process, conducting a variety of tasks including:
- End-to-end testing
- Performance testing
- Mobile testing
- Testing for desktop applications
- Unit testing
- Cross-browser testing
- Data driven testing
Test results are collected and used to identify issues for debugging, and ultimately to enhance the user experience. The testing process is a key component in behavior driven development.
Overviews Of The 17 Best Web Automation Tools and Software for QA
Below, you’ll find a brief description of each web automation tool to showcase their best use cases, some noteworthy features, and screenshots of the user interface.
Tricentis Testim
Best for using AI to perform speedy automated UI testing
Testim is an end-to-end automation tool for web application testing. Designed for agile teams, Testim enables QAs to scale automation projects and write stable tests faster with the help of AI and machine learning.
Users can author tests in minutes with the help of Testim’s AI-based Smart Locators. These dynamic locators allow QAs to use multiple attributes to identify page elements, reducing the likelihood of a test breaking if an attribute changes.
Testim is fully customizable, making it easy for development teams to connect to CI tools like Jenkins and CircleCi. Tests can also run on any Selenium compatible grid.
Users have access to a free Community plan and Essential and Professional subscriptions. Custom pricing is available upon request.
New Relic
Best for data-driven Engineers
New Relic is an all-in-one observability platform that helps you test, monitor, and improve your web applications by simulating user journeys across devices and throughout the application lifecycle.
New Relic's Synthetic Monitoring is a feature that allows you to monitor your software by simulating user behavior in various ways, thus helping to ensure that your software is performing optimally. One thing you can do is simulate different OS users, browsers, and devices so you can see which one is underperforming. Besides this, you can also see low-performing entities, URLs, APIs and services that help you take a more proactive approach to building apps.
Additionally, you can build for peak performance by adding synthetic monitoring to build automation and CI/CD pipelines. And if you think following up on alerts is difficult, New Relic has an AI agent that helps automatically detect issues and auto-generate tickets across AIOps.
New Relic integrates with over 600 applications within the categories of application monitoring, infrastructure, security, traffic simulation, logging, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Services, open-source monitoring, machine learning ops, and Prometheus.
Autify
Best for AI-powered, no-code test automation for web + mobile
Autify is an AI-powered web automation 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 (no contract starting package) and offers a 14-day free trial.
BugBug
Best for small teams with potential to scale
BugBug is an intuitive web automation tool that is designed to be easy to figure out without any preexisting programming knowledge. This test automation solution is used by companies like Brand24, Sellizer, Holiday Park & Resort, questpass, and Innential.
BugBug bills themselves as 'for startups' and their generous freemium plan indeed makes them an appropriate low-cost option for small teams. They also have a scalable subscription model with custom enterprise pricing for larger companies.
Key features include the ability to create tests right within your browser without any coding; running tests either in your web browser or the cloud; the option to fix tests without re-recording; scheduling daily automated tests; and integration with your CI/CD pipelines.
BugBug integrates with GitHub, Jenkins, Travis CI, GitLab, BitBucket, and hundreds of more options using Zapier (paid plan may be required).
BugBug is free to use with a maximum of 7 days of test history and some feature limitations. Paid plans start at $49/month billed annually.
BrowserStack
Best for automated visual testing
BrowserStack’s cloud platform allows QA teams to conduct comprehensive web and mobile testing. QAs can also verify the cross-browser compatibility of applications to deliver a unified end-user experience. With tests for functionality, performance, and visual appeal, BrowserStack helps developers send bug-free products to market faster.
Percy is BrowserStack’s automated visual testing product that development teams can integrate into their existing CI/CD pipeline. Visual testing allows QAs to catch visual regressions before they reach end-users. Percy makes this process easier with its ability to capture screenshots, make pixel-by-pixel comparisons to your UI’s baseline, and notify you of defects.
BrowserStack supports integrations with automation frameworks like Appium and Espresso. Software teams can also connect to popular CI/CD tools like Jenkins and Bamboo.
BrowserStack offers a variety of products with different pricing structures. New users can also sign up for a free trial.
Katalon Studio
Best specialized IDE interface
Katalon Studio is a test automation tool for web interfaces, APIs, mobile platforms, and Windows desktop applications. It primarily functions as a tool for QAs to create and reuse automated tests of UI elements, like pop-ups and iFrames, without coding. The software is quick to set up and has several templates for test cases, objects, and reports.
No matter your level of programming skill, Katalon is accessible to all users with its dual editor interface. Non-technical users can access a more straightforward UI that doesn’t require coding. More advanced programmers can write test scripts with syntax highlighting, code suggestions, and debugging.
QAs can deploy Katalon Studio on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The system enables continuous testing with Jenkins, Git, Jira, and Docker integrations.
Katalon Studio offers a free subscription for individual users and an enterprise-level plan starting at $170/license/month.
Mabl
Best automation tool for end-to-end API tests
High-velocity software teams use mabl to create, run, and analyze functional UI and API tests. mabl offers low-code test automation, enabling team members of all skill levels to develop automated tests. The software’s intuitive user interface makes it easy to create tests while navigating through your application, just like real-world users.
mabl is best known for its API automation testing capability. QA teams can validate status code responses, headers, and body values without interacting with an application’s UI. With access to API testing, you can ensure your software’s reliability, security, and performance throughout development.
mabl integrates with most tools development teams utilize in their workflows, including Bamboo, Jira, Git, and Jenkins.
Subscriptions are available for startups and enterprise-level organizations, with pricing available upon request. Businesses can also try mabl free for 14 days.
testRigor
Best for writing stable automated test cases in plain English
testRigor is a functional UI regression and exploratory testing solution. The system was designed to provide low-maintenance testing and uses AI to autonomously generate tests that reflect the behavior of end-users. QAs can also write tests in plain English, allowing anyone on your team to quickly build and understand test cases.
Tests can be recorded right from your browser with testRigor’s Chrome extension. You can quickly generate a test just by recording yourself using an application. No coding is required, and tests aren’t reliant on XPath, making them stable and easy to maintain.
testRigor offers integrations with TestRail, Git, Azure DevOps, CircleCI, and Jenkins.
Businesses can opt for a free open-source plan or private subscriptions starting at $900/month.
Cucumber
Best web testing tool for technical and business user collaboration
Cucumber offers software testing tools for web applications that support behavior-driven development (BDD). BDD encourages collaboration between technical and business stakeholders throughout the software development lifecycle. Developers can write test cases that anyone can understand, making setup quick and easy.
Gherkin, Cucumber’s ordinary language parser, allows QAs to write expected software behaviors in a natural style. By using Given-When-Then statements, as shown in the screenshot above, your entire team can read and refine test specifications without the need for technical tools or coding knowledge.
Cucumber integrates with Jira and GitHub, allowing QAs to link issues to feature files and export them to a Git repository.
Cucumber offers a free, open-source plan and CucumberStudio, which starts at $28/month/user. Businesses can also get started with a free 14-day trial.
Parasoft SOAtest
Best for automating API security testing using a built-in web app scanner
Parasoft SOAtest automates complex functional, load, and security testing for APIs. Built-in change impact analysis continuously monitors APIs so QAs can keep track of changes and their corresponding test cases. To prevent API security vulnerabilities and performance outages, you can also transform functional testing artifacts into security and load equivalents.
SOAtest offers dynamic application security testing (DAST), enabling QAs to perform API penetration testing with the help of OWASP ZAP, a popular web app scanner. This built-in DAST feature allows QAs to automatically create security penetration tests from existing functional tests. By leveraging existing tests, software teams can uncover and fix security issues early in development.
SOAtest integrates with many test frameworks, CI/CD tools, and software containers, including Appium, Cucumber, GitLab, and Docker. The system also supports various scripting languages, including Groovy, Java, Oracle Nashorn, and Javascript.
Pricing is available upon request.
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The Best Web Automation Tools For QA Summary
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tricentis Testim Best for using AI to perform speedy automated UI testing | Free plan available | From $450/month | Visit Website |
2 | New Relic Best for data-driven Engineers | Free version available | From $49/user/month | Visit Website |
3 | Autify Best for AI-powered, no-code test automation for web + mobile | 14-day free trial | From $300/month | Visit Website |
4 | BugBug Best for small teams with potential to scale | 14-day free trial | From $59/month | Visit Website |
5 | BrowserStack Best for automated visual testing | Free trial available | Starts at $29/month | Visit Website |
6 | Katalon Studio Best specialized IDE interface | Freemium plan | From $25/month | Visit Website |
7 | Mabl Best automation tool for end-to-end API tests | 14-day free trial | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
8 | testRigor Best for writing stable automated test cases in plain English | 14-day free trial + free plan available | From $900/Month | Visit Website |
9 | Cucumber Best web testing tool for technical and business user collaboration | Not available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
10 | Parasoft SOAtest Best for automating API security testing using a built-in web app scanner | Not available | Visit Website |
Other Web Automation Tools For QA
Here are a few more test automation tools that didn’t make the top list.
- Micro Focus Unified Functional Testing (UFT)
Best for cross-browser coverage and cloud-based deployment
- IBM Rational Functional Tester (RFT)
Best for automating functional, regression, and GUI testing
- Appium
Best open-source test automation framework for mobile apps
- QA Wolf
Best end-to-end testing solution with in-house QA experts for support
- Endtest
Best for self healing tests
- Kobiton
Run tests on hundreds of real devices in the cloud
- SmartBear ReadyAPI
Get test insights with comprehensive dashboards and custom reports
- Telerik Test Studio
Best web automation testing tool that integrates into QA workflows
How I Selected the Best Web Automation Tools for QA
Below I'll provide some detail on how I arrived at this list of the best web automation tools for QA, for those of you who are interested in my process.
I started out by creating a long list of the most popular web automation tools out there with high user rankings. I then assessed each web-based testing platform's website in fine detail to make sure that their software covered all the basic features a QA tester would need to manage their processes beginning to end.
Next, I turned to my selection criteria below to help me make my final selections. I compared each web automation tool to see how it measured up to the rest of the tools and then finalized my shortlist.
Selection Criteria
Here’s what I look for when evaluating the most effective web automation tools:
- User Interface (UI): A highly responsive, easy-to-navigate UI makes test automation easy to manage for your entire development team.
- Usability: Good software usability ensures QAs and non-technical users can quickly learn new web automation tools and easily retain knowledge of the system.
- Integrations: Effective web automation software supports the tools your team already uses to power product delivery.
- Value for $: A valuable web automation tool enhances product quality, helping you secure returns above the price tag.
People Also Ask
If your team is considering working with a web automation tool for QA, you probably have some questions before you get started. Let’s take a look at some of the FAQs about web automation tools for QA.
What is Web Automation?
What is Selenium Browser Automation?
What is Parallel Testing?
What Are the Key Features of Web Automation Systems?
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