When creating an application, testing and development teams must perform an entire host of tests to ensure success—from functional and non-functional testing, UX testing, accessibility testing, regression testing, to scenario testing and beyond.
One form of testing that can be crucial to the success of an application is smoke testing.
In this blog, we will explore the ins and outs of smoke testing, including key benefits and approaches to smoke testing.
What Is Smoke Testing?
Smoke testing ensures that the primary functionalities of an application are working as intended, and typically determines whether the application is ready to move onto the next phase of development.
Related Reading: Test Smarter, Not Harder: A Guide to Efficient Testing
Smoke Testing Overview
Smoke testing is a critical step in the software testing life cycle. Smoke testing determines if an application is free from bugs, if the app’s main functionalities are working properly, and whether the testing team can move onto the next steps of the development process.
Sometimes called confidence testing, sanity testing, or build verification, smoke testing is a collection of tests performed on an application during the software development life cycle to determine its health. If a build passes these tests without “catching fire”, the team can proceed to the next phase of development—hence the term “smoke” testing.
Smoke testing verifies whether the main features function as designed and that there are no bugs or glitches that might become larger issues later. It saves the entire team time and resources by preventing an application from advancing along the SDLC if it is not ready.
Here is a quick overview of the key functions of smoke testing:
- Ensures that an application is ready to proceed with further testing.
- Pinpoints potential issues at the beginning of a sprint so teams can address the issues sooner rather than later as part of a shift-left testing strategy.
- Ensures that the primary functionalities of an application are functioning as intended. Smoke testing must be performed before functional testing can take place.
- Determines the application’s stability and detects bugs early on.
Related Reading: Your Guide to Functional vs. Non-Functional Testing
Benefits of Smoke Testing
Smoke testing goes beyond merely looking for bugs in an application—it determines the overall stability of an application. Smoke testing is a series of tests that are broad in scope and let teams know when an application is not functioning properly in any way.
The following are some of the main benefits of smoke testing:
- Detects Bugs Early On
One of the most crucial benefits of smoke testing is its ability to detect bugs and issues with the application’s essential functionalities early on. With smoke testing, testing and dev teams can start the bug detection process much earlier than they would if they waited until the completion of the build to run tests. QA teams can run regression tests on the application while dev teams run smoke tests, and these combined efforts ensure the application is bug-free and fully functional.
- Increases Testing Efficiency
By detecting issues early on, developers can ensure that their applications are stable as the application proceeds through the software development life cycle. Smoke testing checks the application’s code to ensure there are no errors that might cause problems down the line, so the team does not need to waste valuable time addressing them later—when they can potentially become a much larger problem. Smoke testing also makes it easier to add integrations to the application because the base of the build is secure and stable.
- Saves Time & Resources
Smoke testing helps detect problems quickly and early, so teams do not need to spend their time searching through code for errors. When smoke testing is automated, this saves even more time by reducing the need to manually run tests or sift through code. By catching issues in functionality early on, teams do not need to spend time fixing issues later on.
- Increases Versatility & Adaptability
Smoke testing is a flexible form of testing that can be built around the specific needs of the team and the application. Smoke testing can be automated, manual, or hybrid, which allows for flexibility based on the needs of the project or application.
- Can Be Automated
While smoke testing does not need to be automated, it does have the potential to be—which can significantly speed the process and reduce time and labor. In addition, smoke testing can now be performed using AI-based tools. Automating smoke testing can reduce the potential for human error and increase the efficiency and accuracy of testing.
Related Reading: Shift-Left Testing & How to (Actually) Get Started
Types of Smoke Testing
Smoke testing can be an automated, manual, or hybrid process. Determining which type is best for your team depends on the complexity of the application and your available resources and timeline.
The following is a brief overview of each type of smoke testing:
Automated Smoke Testing
Automated smoke testing is performed by utilizing software tools that can automate the testing process. Testers write scripts that can then be automated. This method of smoke testing is usually well-suited to larger, more complex projects. Automated smoke testing saves time and money by automating repetitive tests—freeing up testers to focus on other aspects of the project.
Manual Smoke Testing
Manual smoke testing involves testing teams writing, developing, and executing tests manually. Manual smoke testing takes longer and can involve repetitive testing. On the plus side, manual smoke testing allows testers to be very hands-on with their tests and provide human oversight. Manual smoke testing tends to be better suited to smaller, less complex projects.
Hybrid Smoke Testing
Hybrid testing is a combination of both automated and manual smoke testing. Hybrid smoke testing automates some portions of the tests and leaves other portions to testing teams. With hybrid testing, testers will usually write their test cases manually and then use automation tools to execute them. Hybrid testing can offer teams the best of both automated and manual testing: speed and efficiency as well as human intervention.
Related Reading: Manual Testing vs. Automation Testing
Bottom Line
When it comes to smoke testing—and all other forms of testing, for that matter—Perfecto is your go-to partner. Know why tests failed and fix them quickly with Perfecto’s comprehensive test reporting and analytics feature. See all your test results in one unified place — including a CI dashboard, heatmaps, and individual test reports.
Perfecto can help you leverage automated, manual, and hybrid smoke testing — and test more, faster.
When you test your apps with Perfecto, you will experience:
- Unified testing
- Advanced automation.
- Full toolchain integration.
- All results in one place.
- Accelerated testing.
- Shift Testing Left.
See Perfecto in action and start regression testing today by signing up for a free 14-day trial.