The Best Mobile Testing Tools List
Here’s a shortlist of the best mobile testing tools:
- 1. BrowserStack — Thousands of real iOS & Android devices for instant, on-demand testing on the cloud
- 2. Katalon Studio — Well-rounded automation solution with an integrated set of features for web, API, & mobile
- 3. TestGrid — No-code/low-code test case authoring and management with remotely accessible infrastructure
- 4. testRigor — Build robust no-code tests for mobile and hybrid iOS and Android apps, scale coverage with minimal maintenance
- 5. Codemagic — Codemagic lets you decide what platform you are building for and where you want to run your build.
- 7. Mobile Labs — Re-engineered mobile device cloud designed to accelerate enterprise-grade development and testing
- 8. Robotium — Free Android testing tool to write powerful automatic black-box test cases for Android applications
This article will help you quickly compare and evaluate the 10 best mobile testing tools, including mobile automation testing tools and other similar automation frameworks.
Anyone who builds or QAs apps knows that mobile apps testing is a vital part of app development. In fact, mobile testing is becoming more and more important as more brands want a slice of the mobile user audience, more mobile devices and versions are hitting the marketplace, and more companies are developing mobile products.
As more companies are developing mobile products, such as mobile website builders, and the marketplace is seeing more devices, platforms, and versions, picking a good mobile app testing tool is becoming a vital part of the testing process. When it comes to choosing what mobile testing tool is right for you, there is a huge array of options, each with different strengths and weaknesses.
Mobile Testing Tools Comparison Criteria
What are we looking for when we select mobile testing tools for review? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): Is it clean and attractive? Mobile automation testing generates loads of data, so a user interface should present data in a clutter-free way.
- Usability: Ease of use for mobile testers often means two things: a platform that’s updated frequently as technology evolves, and great customer support and training resources.
- Integrations: mobile application testing tools should, of course, integrate with mobile platforms (iOS, Android), as well as with other testing automation tools, especially an open-source mobile automation framework like Appium to perform cross-platform testing. Mobile app test tools should also integrate with web editors, CI platforms, bug trackers, and databases.
- Value for Pricing: How appropriate is the price for the features, capabilities, and use case? Is pricing clear, transparent, and flexible?
Mobile Testing Key Features
Here are some of the key features I look for when reviewing mobile testing tools.
- Root cause analysis: View a log of details (system metrics, crashlogs, clicks, screenshots) in order to replay scenarios and perform a root cause analysis.
- Comparisons: Compare test app builds to learn which performs better and quickly revert to those versions.
- Reporting tools: Log defects, track bugs, and easily generate reports.
- Scaling & automation: Features to make your testing more efficient, such as the ability to create test bots, perform distributed tests, and run parallel tests.
- Cross browser testing: Non-functional mobile app testing across browzers like Safari, Chrome, and Edge.
- Easy test creation: No hassle test creation for usability, performance, localization, installation, security testing, and more.
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Overviews Of The Mobile Testing Tools Software
Here’s a brief description of each of the mobile testing tools that are featured on this top 10 list.
BrowserStack
Thousands of real iOS & Android devices for instant, on-demand testing on the cloud
BrowserStack is a software testing platform that powers over two million tests every day across 15 global data centers. Their cloud-based test infrastructure enables over 50,000 customers to deliver software in less time by moving testing to their Cloud. BrowserStack also helps you Debug your sites and apps instantly using text logs, video recordings, and screenshots of the test run.
BrowserStack’s platform provides access to thousands of real mobile devices and browsers on a highly reliable cloud infrastructure that scales as your testing needs grow. On BrowserStack, Dev and QA teams can run manual and automated tests of websites and apps on mobile devices.
With BrowserStack you can test websites on mobile browsers and devices or verify mobile app performance on real iOS & Android devices. You can also run automated website tests via Selenium or automated mobile app tests via Appium – always on real mobile browsers and devices. Test your builds faster by running tests simultaneously across thousands of devices.
BrowserStack integrates with Appium, Espresso, XCUITest, and EarlGrey.
BrowserStack costs from $29/user/month and offers a free trial.
Katalon Studio
Well-rounded automation solution with an integrated set of features for web, API, & mobile
Katalon is a low-code all-in-one testing automation platform for web, API, mobile, and desktop testing. Supported OS includes Windows, macOS, and Linux. Testing platforms include Android and iOS.
Katalon offers easy-to-set-up mobile testing that is Appium compliant. Robust object spying detects and stores UI elements so that your scripting process moves faster with less manual effort. They offer mobile recording to easily generate tests, cross-functional testing solutions, and cross-environment execution.
Katalon integrates with Jira software, TestRail, qTest, TestLink, Selenium and Selenium IDE, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, Docker, and other popular QA tools and services. It also connects with collaboration tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
All Katalon products have a freemium plan with some feature limitations. Paid plans cost from $238 /month (for Visual Testing) to $1,899 /license/year (Studio Enterprise) and all come with a 30-day free trial.
TestGrid
No-code/low-code test case authoring and management with remotely accessible infrastructure
TestGrid users makes testing easy and lets users perform both manual and automated testing of their mobile applications on real devices hosted on-cloud or on your premise.
Engage your testing and business teams to build and execute test cases without any pre-requisites of programming knowledge. With TestOS, users don’t 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 comes with a scriptless mobile app automation testing that can generate downloadable Appium, XCUITest code and AI based no code automation. You can also conduct performance testing to help you optimize and improve your app. With TestGrid, you can reuse already written test cases on multiple apps, test in parallel for faster test execution, and go to market launch.
TestGrid integrates with JIRA, Asana, Slack and more. You can also integrate your favorite CI/CD tool for continuous testing.
TestGrid costs from $49 for unlimited users and 1 parallel test. Free trial details are available upon request.
testRigor
Build robust no-code tests for mobile and hybrid iOS and Android apps, scale coverage with minimal maintenance
testRigor is an AI-powered software testing system that drastically improves the process of automated testing. Manual QA (and anyone else without coding skills) can automate complex scenarios for native and hybrid mobile apps and mobile browsers. There is an integration with BrowserStack, which opens access to tests running on thousands of real devices.
Tests are very stable and very reliable, allowing for a smooth CI/CD integration with virtually any provider. Depending on the number of parallelizations, it takes under 30 minutes to run thousands of tests and get the results. Debugging is extremely straightforward, with screenshots at each step and tests being automatically grouped by each element.
testRigor offers highly customized pricing from $300 per month, a forever free public tier, and a 14-day trial.
Codemagic
Codemagic lets you decide what platform you are building for and where you want to run your build.
Codemagic (was: Nevercode) is a CI/CD for mobile app development for Android, iOS, Flutter, and React Native projects. They are used by teams from Toyota, Hootsuite, Schneider Electric, and Invoice Ninja.
Codemagic lets you add your app no matter where it's hosted; easily start your build (either macOS, Linux, and Windows build machines); test automatically using emulators or real devices; get notifications for feedback pushed directly to Slack and other comms services; and automate deployment for every build.
Codemagic integrates with Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and other self-hosted or cloud-based Git repositories.
Codemagic is free to use for 500 build minutes. Paid plans can be either pay-as-you-go (between $0.015/min to $0.190/min) or fixed cost at $200/month.
Ubertesters
Crowdsourced software and app testing for end-to-end QA management
Ubertesters is a crowdsourcing mobile testing platform that lets you tap into QA testers across 120+ countries. Outsourcing your mobile app testing efforts can help you ramp up testing processes, perform more complete testing, and account for localization differences in software.
Ubertesters also offers a QA management platform that features things like over-the-air distribution, SDK automatic insertion to build, unlimited crash logging, session tracking, unlimited bug reporting system, screenshot editing and messaging, and test cases/user stories. Different features may be limited to certain subscription tiers.
Ubertesters integrates with Redmine, Mantis, YouTrack, and Jira though some integrations are locked to their higher paid plans only.
Ubertesters costs from $990/month for crowd testing and $19/month to access their QA management platform.
Mobile Labs
Re-engineered mobile device cloud designed to accelerate enterprise-grade development and testing
Mobile Labs is an industry-leading mobile device cloud for development and continuous testing on real mobile devices. They are currently used by companies like Coca-Cola, Comcast, GE Digital, and Eastern Bank. Not only are they great for mobile testing, but they have an all-hands-on-deck personalized customer support style that users will love.
Mobile Labs offers automated testing, manual testing, developing/debugging, and a mobile device cloud that scales with your needs. It's designed to simplify the process of testing multiple apps across multiple devices, including maximizing the sharing of rare or hard-to-acquire mobile devices.
Note: As of 2020, Kobiton acquired Mobile Labs but Mobile Labs still remains a stand-alone platform at this time. This will not affect day-to-day operations for current Mobile Labs customers.
Mobile Labs offers customized pricing upon request.
Robotium
Free Android testing tool to write powerful automatic black-box test cases for Android applications
Robotium is a free mobile testing tool for Android systems and devices; it supports both native and hybrid applications. Robotium supports Android API level 8 and higher. You can download it for free on GitHub.
QA teams can use it to create automatic black-box UI tests for their Android apps and can easily write function, system, and user acceptance test scenarios. Additional features include a test case recorder, run-time binding to UI components, and the handling of multiple Android activities automatically.
Robotium integrates with Maven, Gradle, or Ant as a part of continuous integration operations.
Robotium is free to use.
BlazeMeter
Open-source performance testing software to test APIs, web, and mobile applications
Headspin
Test on real devices & get AI/ML based insights to resolve issues
HeadSpin is an AI testing & dev-ops collaboration platform that offers manual and automated mobile app testing on real devices for 100% accuracy.
HeadSpin allows users to remotely test and debug mobile, web, audio and video applications on thousands of devices, letting you test your app on various network conditions for real user experience. Get AI/ML based insights to resolve issues and ship your products much faster with a shorter time-to-market. Secured testing and improved performance through single tenant (dedicated device) model deployed on and off prem.
HeadSpin’s Create Your Own Lab (CYOL) enables companies to use individual devices to be on-boarded on the HeadSpin Platform and run automated testing. It also empowers businesses to run edge testing where the business is at a particular location and want to test their apps in that location
HeadSpin’s Regression Intelligence gives you a powerful 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, Expertise, 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.
10 Best Mobile Testing Tools To Automate Testing Summary
| Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BrowserStack Thousands of real iOS & Android devices for instant, on-demand testing on the cloud | Not available | Starts at $29/month | Visit Website |
| 2 | Katalon Studio Well-rounded automation solution with an integrated set of features for web, API, & mobile | Freemium plan | From $25/month | Visit Website |
| 3 | TestGrid No-code/low-code test case authoring and management with remotely accessible infrastructure | TestGrid is free for 1 user and 1 parallel test | $49/month for unlimited users and 1 parallel test | Visit Website |
| 4 | testRigor Build robust no-code tests for mobile and hybrid iOS and Android apps, scale coverage with minimal maintenance | 14-day free trial and free plan available | From $900/Month | Visit Website |
| 5 |  Codemagic Codemagic lets you decide what platform you are building for and where you want to run your build. | Free (up to 500 build minutes) | From $0.015/min OR $200/month | Visit Website |
| 6 |  Ubertesters Crowdsourced software and app testing for end-to-end QA management | Not available | From $990/month (crowd testing); $19/month (QA management) | Visit Website |
| 7 |  Mobile Labs Re-engineered mobile device cloud designed to accelerate enterprise-grade development and testing | Not available | Pricing upon request. | Visit Website |
| 8 |  Robotium Free Android testing tool to write powerful automatic black-box test cases for Android applications | Not available | Free to use | Visit Website |
| 9 |  BlazeMeter Open-source performance testing software to test APIs, web, and mobile applications | Free Version | $99/per month | Visit Website |
| 10 | Headspin Test on real devices & get AI/ML based insights to resolve issues | Free Trial | $99/user/month | Visit Website |
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Other App Testing Options
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list. If you need additional suggestions for handy testing tools, platforms, and services, check these out.
- BlazeMeter – Open-source performance testing software to test APIs, web, and mobile applications.
- BrowserStack - Cross-browser testing platform for testing mobile applications and websites.
- pCloudy - Mobile app testing platform for automated and manual testing on iOS and Android devices.
- Smartbear - Industry-leading suite of tools for mobile app automation testing as well as building, testing, and monitoring software.
- Experitest - Highly-rated mobile app testing platform to execute manual or automated tests in parallel on 1000+ real devices in the cloud.
- Squish - Automated testing of native mobile apps and mobile web apps that doesn’t require jailbreaking or rooting the mobile device.
- Ranorex Studio - All-in-one tool for UI test automation and end-to-end testing on desktop, web, and mobile platforms, all through a codeless interface.
- TestingWhiz - Codeless test automation tool for testing web, mobile, and cloud applications with an impressive number of third party integrations.
- Test io - Mobile app testing tool that crowd tests your website and apps through a global cloud of QA testing pros, 24/7.
- Bitbar - Framework-agnostic mobile device cloud with 1000s of Android and iOS devices to help you automate and scale your testing.
Related List of Tools: 10 BEST API TESTING TOOLS TO USE IN 2023
Mobile Testing FAQ
Here are some answers to common questions about automation tools for mobile testing.
What are mobile testing tools?
Mobile testing tools are software for testing mobile apps. This category includes cloud-based testing tools, app distribution tools, crash reporting tools, performance testing tools, mobile phone emulators, automated UI testers, mobile optimization and A/B testing tools, and defect logging tools. Some platforms even have their own testing options, like Google Play testing.
How do you automate mobile app testing?
You can automate mobile app testing by using an automation framework, which provides an environment for executing automated tests. They also generally include other features to make your testing more efficient, such as parallel testing, headless testing, and testing bots.
What are the benefits of testing mobile applications?
The benefits of testing mobile applications include:
- Software testing catches bugs or regressions that could otherwise incur costs
- Mobile application testing minimizes the risk of releasing a broken app that frustrates users
- Protecting brand reputation, earning more positive reviews, and getting higher install rates by offering a high quality app
Don't feel like doing your own in-house testing? You can also employ mobile app testing services to do it for you.
What Do You Think About These Tools?
Have you tried out any mobile app testing tool listed above? What mobile application testing solution is your current go-to...and are you looking to switc soon (if so, why)? Is there a mobile application testing tool that you would add to this list, if you could?
If you have a mobile website tester or you think you’ve got the best mobile emulator that this world has ever seen, share it with our QA community in the comments below!
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