Nowadays, automation testing is considered to be the most proficient way to boost effectiveness and coverage of any software application. There are frequent software testing types such as functional testing, regression testing, unit testing, or integration testing that are being changed with systematic testing programs by the increasing use of automation testing tools. Automation testing is redefining the methods that engineers generally execute testing operations with.
There is no deficiency of automation testing tools in the marketplace. Having too many choices may also be a challenge when attempting to make your test tool preferences, especially when you do not understand which selection criterion of automation testing tools findings is more impressive for your group’s requirements.
This article helps to define all the information about the selection of appropriate and best automation testing tools. Automation testing tools selection is one of the most significant steps in any association. It is crucial as the tool greatly influences your complete automation endeavour. So, if the tool is capable of bringing in quality, and provides you with the needed features, then test automation becomes more effective, easier and guided.
Factors contributing to the selection of Automation Testing Tool
Needs for selecting tools
In the contemporary world, the use of a software is all about offering maximum quality products with minimalistic resources and little time. With this shift in pattern, the test cycle requires to be repeated several times to accomplish the following:
- Improved test efficiency
- Better quality
- Enhanced test coverage
- Decreased time to operate repetitive tests
- Price saving
Selecting an accurate testing tool helps in several ways:
- Decreasing testing time
- Enhanced reusability of code
- Decrease in maintenance rate
- Higher ROI
Factors to consider while choosing the right Automation Testing tool
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Understanding your project needs and testing demands
Preserving the quality of an application by offering a bug-free product is important for the achievement of any project. An excellent way to get desired outcomes is by selecting the right tool(s) for your project automation testing. Automation testing may help not only to improve the project’s quality but to also raise the depth and scope of the tests. For this, you will need in-depth knowledge of your project needs, its type, and scope. Testing automation is the accurate way ahead for your team so let’s know when Automation tests are necessary?
- When there are several repetitive test cases to be prepared
- When there are ordinary regression tests
- When the team has to motivate a huge range of consumers for performance testing
- When the UI is evidently stable and when critical functionalities may not exclusively rely on manual testing.
These are amongst the most demanding needs for the application of automation testing.
Criteria for Automation Testing Tool Estimation
(i) Does your team have the essential abilities to make best use of the tool?
Automation testing is more technical as compared to manual testing. In several automation tools, especially open-source software, testers should have plenty of programming information to write and perform test scripts. This technical fence appears to be the most challenging hindrance in adopting test automation for the QA team with limited background in IT. Testing tools needing no coding in execution have been verified to be a talented resolution to this bottleneck.
(ii) What are your group funds?
Automation testing is not reasonable in several cases but it brings out an optimistic ROI for your business in the long run. Based on your financial capabilities, it would be more convenient for you to choose the right software like open source or commercial tool and LT automation tool.
(iii) What characteristics to look for?
While the needs differ from team to team, there are few main factors that you must take into consideration when selecting a perfect Automation testing tool.
- Bolstered platforms
- An applied application under test
- Programming language
- CD/CI integration abilities
- Reporting performance
(iv) How tough is script preservation and reusability?
A crucial factor that raises the total rate for test automation is script preservation. The pre-written script in automation testing is brittle by nature. However, script reusability secures you and plenty of time to deal with the same test cases as you may reutilize the test script all over again.
(v) How are the incorporation abilities?
The chosen automation testing tool should be capable of incorporating it into CD/CI pipelines or external platforms to ensure testing stability. Comprehensive and Robust incorporation also lets you to lift your team cooperation and test management.
(vi) Where and how can you receive technical support?
Another main aspect to be noted is the support for your tool. For business tools, you must have prompt support backup for all technical errors.
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Identify the main criteria for the project
There are various aspects one must consider before selecting the perfect automation testing tool. Here are a few points to consider which tools to pick.
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Ease of test implementation for non-technical consumer
The test suite performance must be simple for anyone to operate on them easily. Additionally, the interface must be convenient for manual testers as well.
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Supports Desktop, Web and Mobile applications
Leveraging three different tools for three kinds of platforms for automation testing is a complex work to manage. It is best to choose a tool that supports all the platforms easily.
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Test report needs to be intuitive
Test reports help increase confidence. Hence, the reports are required to be simple for the team to understand effectively.
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Support to Cross Browser testing
Support to Cross Browser Testing is a necessity when there are multitudinous end customers and no specific browser restriction.
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Language support like Java, Python, C#, and more
Each test scenario may not be recorded so in a few cases the testers will have to write the code too. Hence, the tool that supports the needed language to write the modified script will be beneficial.
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Support for collaborative software development tools
Support with continuous incorporation tools for automated constructs and collaborative software development tools like Team Foundation Server, Azure DevOps Server, is mandatory.
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Support to data-driven keyword testing
Keyword testing acts as an expansion to the framework of data-driven testing. When the project becomes complicated, the test frameworks are required to be expanded.
Considerations to choose an Automation Testing tool
Testers cannot start the estimation and selection of automation testing tools unless they know the testing support required by their team. So here are a few areas that can be considered during automation testing tools selection.
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Versatility and Platform Compatibility
Select a tool that supports the kind of automation testing you require, including unit testing, load testing, and functional testing. Make sure that the tool gives a broad support to testing, as your requirements can change in the upcoming days.
Most of the tools can only manage Java and .NET applications, hence make certain as you research preferences that your automation testing tool is compatible with all important platforms.
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OS Compatibility
Considering, consumers are not operating your product on a Mac today, it does not imply that they won’t use a Mac in the near future too. Just as your QA team tests for Operating System compatibility, even if consumers tend to utilize a different OS, your automation testing tool must support a wide range of OS configurations in case users’ selections ever change. Hence, OS compatibility for existing versions helps warranty overturn compatibility for your product.
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Test Formation
As ease of use is significant, your tool must deliver various manners to fulfil a similar task. If scripting is the only selection for establishing an automated test, then any inexperienced team might find the process of automation testing difficult. The accurate tool enables all QA teams to operate the tests quickly or effectively, regardless of their technical skill or automation expertise.
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Ease of Upholding
The appropriate tool simplifies upholding by creating modular test cases. Consequently, these may be easily reused and amended.. With this addition the tool must provide in-depth failure logs, thus any script issue may be easily identified and solved. Easy upholding moves you one step closer to successful automation practices.
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Pricing strategy
Is the tool worth the price? Consider the product cost as well as rates that can pop up in the future including compatibility support fees, upgrades, and add-ons. The tool must do all things that you require it to do without being a slow exhaust on your testing price.
By measuring the best automation testing tools against these aspects, you may see if your Automation testing tool is best working for you. If your testing tools are not still giving efficient, effective results then it is time to reconsider your test automation process or automation testing tools.
Final Words
Although the selection and evaluation of automation testing tools is challenging, but having picked the best tool that meet all your requirements is rewarding. With the best testing tools, testers are bound to get astonishing outcomes even with the slightest resources used. It is a common practice behind automated testing that no tool is a waste, it conditionally depends upon the needs and selection. Also, choosing an appropriate automation tool plays a crucial role in successful automation. Selecting the accurate tool for your project automation testing is one good way to get desired results.
We recommend you use the LambdaTest automation tool. It is a leading automation tool that offers a combination of 2000+ browsers & OS to perform web automation testing. It helps with executing parallel testing, thus saving time and efforts, and also allows for geo-location based testing from across the globe.
LambdaTest offers a superfast and scalable Selenium Grid that also integrates with industry leading CI/CD, project management tools etc to save your time in debugging the issues found. The best part about the tool is that it offers 24×7 support even to all free users.
