The Industry 4.0 revolution is calling for automation in many domains, be it IT, healthcare, manufacturing, and education, among others. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are contributing significantly to the strength of this era.
If you are in the software industry, you would have noticed the drive towards more automated entities. Has your organization decided to automate the manual tests too?If yes, and if your QA project is now looking to begin automation, this article will help you determine which test automation tool to choose based on key factors, including your goal in testing, ease of use, the budget of your project, etc.
As a bonus, I have also listed some trending automation testing platforms with excellent capabilities that you may use as a reference for the Industry 4.0 era tools.
7 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Software Automation Testing Tool
1. Is the Automation Testing Tool Easy to Use and Understand?
Choosing a test automation tool that is easy to use has several advantages. Namely:
- QA testers can build test scripts swiftly and non-technical team members who are not part of the QA team can understand and provide feedback about the tests.
- Quick learning curve – Even those with no or only minor programming languages can swiftly learn to automate and contribute to the project activities. For example,
- zero or less coding platforms.
- tools that have visual interfaces/storyboards to help create, update, and run tests
2. What Type of Tests Are You Planning to Automate?
Your project may have a goal of testing – what type of tests are you planning to automate? Here, there can be a choice between:
- A specialized tool – a tool that specializes in a type of testing.
- An end-to-end testing tool – a tool that has multiple types of testing support.
Some examples of testing are API Tests, Mobile Tests, Performance Tests, and Web tests.
3. Is the Tool Enabled by New-Edge Advanced Capabilities?
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing make an automation tool smart. Not only that, using such tools results in highly resilient and efficient test cases.
For example,
- AI and ML technologies enable self-healing technology – This feature is particularly beneficial in cases where the product under test may be undergoing frequent changes. In such cases, these tools automatically detect any changes.
Note – The tools that have self-healing, fix such code by themselves instead of failing the test! Hence, it is termed self-healing.
- Natural language processing – If the test automation tool has an NLP feature, one can automate tests using plain English to create test cases. They are intuitively easy, so even those who are non-technical can understand these tests.
The input to the NLP system is a set of test plans which is written in English. Based on this input, the automation tool learns how the application UI works. Based on this learning, it converts the test plans into functional test cases. Notably, this process builds a batch of tests at once, instead of creating tests one by one.
4. Does the Tool Offer Cross-Platform Support?
A tool having cross-platform support is an essential feature. Most applications today are being accessed all over the world through different browsers, operating systems, and devices (including desktops, mobiles, and tablets).
And, in each of the cases above, there might be different versions in operation.
For example, a user may access a web application from a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 through the Chrome 89.0 browser. Another user could access the same web application through their macOS Desktop on the Edge 89.0 version.
To test all these combinations manually would be cumbersome. And thus, the project should opt for an automation tool that supports multiple platforms.
5. Is the Tool Cloud-Enabled?
Primarily, a cloud-enabled automation tool gives projects the advantage of scalability and security.
With the help of cloud-deployed tests, scaling up and down resources is relatively easy compared to having the resources deployed on the premises in a lab. Also, parallel development and execution are more straightforward.
Projects can experience a shared test environment and integration setup of the test suites, even in a geographically distributed team setup.
It also allows for iterative deployments and continuous integration – which is encouraged in the Agile, DevOps methodologies.
6. What Is the Current Budget of Your Project?
Here are some options you can consider before buying an automation testing tool of your choice, based on your budget.
- Free test automation tools – Here, you will find free to use forever. Some tools offer free base plans and priced plans for the team, business, and enterprise plans.
- Open-source test automation tools – There are many such tools on the market that are community-powered and free to use.
- Test automation tools offering a trial license before purchasing the license. You could try out the trial license version of the tool before deciding on buying the tool license. That way, you will make an informed decision. In cases such as these, a cost-benefit analysis will help.
7. Does the Tool Integrate With Your Existing Tools?
You would want the test automation platform to integrate well with the existing toolset of your project, be it:
- CI/CD integration – Can you execute the tests in your build pipeline using the CI/CD tools your project uses? For example, tools like Jenkins or CircleCI?
- Agile, DevOps enablement – Does the tool support integration with tools that support Agile, DevOps methodologies?
- Issue tracking – Can you use your existing defect tracking tools with the automation tool? For example, with tools like JIRA or Trello?
- Communication – Can you continue to utilize your existing communication tools with this chosen automation tool? That way, the tool can notify you of test failures through chat tools and email tools for collaboration. For example, with tools like Slack?
Trending Test Automation Tools – Examples
Here are several powerful tools which feature most or all of the factors listed in this article:
TestProject
TestProject is a free forever end-to-end test automation tool. The AI, cross-platform support tool is used for automating API, Web, and Mobile tests.
Functionize
Functionize is an automation testing tool empowered by AI and NLP. It offers a free trial.
Parasoft
Parasoft testing tool provides a comprehensive set of AI-powered tools that cover multiple stages of the software test cycle. For example, Parasoft JTest, Parasoft SOATest, etc.
Conclusion
Making the final decision on the best automation testing tool should ideally involve all those, directly and indirectly, impacted – the QA testers, BAs, and stakeholders; factoring in the technical, financial, and business perspectives.
Based on this article’s key points, QA projects can build up a feature requirement matrix listing the tools, and a shortlist for those most suitable for the QA project.
Eventually, once your project arrives at its well-researched decision and has invested in a high-quality test automation tool, there will be improvements in the QA team’s productivity. These tools will help build efficient and robust test scripts. The result will be a well-tested, high-quality product – and a happy customer!