Lucia Cavero-Baptista
Automating testing of your web application will most probably improve the efficiency and quality of your testing process, however, that’s only one part of the equation. The other is the automation tool you choose.
Choosing the right automation testing tools for your web application testing can either make or break your test automation project.
This is because no tool in the market works perfectly and seamlessly for every company in the world.
Each organization has a different QA team, and every QA team has a different set of challenges and works with different applications in different environments.
Therefore, when choosing a test automation tool, you should pick one that meets the needs of your specific project and your team.
What should you consider when choosing a test automation tool?
There are three main considerations you should take into account before choosing a web application testing tool:
Technology Fit
Does the tool support your systems and applications? This is, without a doubt, the most important question you should ask yourself when starting your search.
Of course, you need to make sure that the tool supports web automation, however, can it automate across browsers and devices?
The use of mobile devices now surpasses that of desktop computers and laptops, so most organizations now develop a mobile web app along with their web application.
This brings with it an array of challenges into automation: device fragmentation, different operating systems and screen sizes, and different software and hardware.
On top of that, your web app might depend on other systems or technologies, so in order to ensure data integrity, you might need to carry out end-to-end testing.
If this is the case, choosing an automated testing tool that offers cross-technology automation (desktop-web) might be the right decision for you.
Related reading: How to automate web testing across browsers and devices
Process Fit
How easy is it to build automated test cases with the tool? Most automation tools in the market can be divided into two groups: codeless or script-based.
If your team has a thorough knowledge of programming languages, then open-source, script-based tools such as Selenium might be the perfect fit for you.
However, be aware of test maintenance and handover when choosing script-based tools, as this as been known to be the death of many test automation initiatives.
As the number of test cases grows out of control, test suites often need to be upgraded and cleaned up. So if it takes more effort to maintain automated tests than running them manually, you’re falling victim to the ‘automation paradox’.
No-code automation tools, on the other hand, might provide easier maintenance and handover. These tools usually offer an intuitive UI that requires no coding skills to create test cases.
This means that anyone in the team, no matter their programming knowledge, can build and understand each other's test cases. This ensures a long lifetime of the test suite in the organization and makes it non-dependent on specific team members, such as developers.
Organizational Fit
Is the tool vendor able to provide the necessary documentation and learning materials?
To make sure that a test automation tool is a good fit for your organization, you should be able to provide the complete product documentation to all stakeholders in order to get them on board.
Having learning materials at your disposal will ensure fast adoption, and a better ROI.
Related reading: How to Calculate the ROI of Test Automation
And who doesn’t want that, after all? So looking into things such as learning materials, free training, or live customer support, will give you an indication of how long or short the learning curve might be for your team.
Automated Test Tools Comparison
Now that you know the three most important considerations, you are ready to go out there and choose the test automation tool that will best fit your web application.
However, we want to make it easy for you, so we have created a factsheet that compares the most popular test automation tools in the market: Selenium, UFT/QTP, Tricentis Tosca, Eggplant, and Leapwork. Download the automated testing tool comparison.
