My Top Automation Testing Tools & How to Choose

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in September 2019 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

As AI and ML continue to take hold of the software testing world, the importance of embracing automation is becoming critical to success. Testing teams must find ways to embrace automation to remain efficient, relevant, and competitive. In turn, finding the right automation testing tools can help create a seamless transition to automation and significantly enhance the overall quality of your applications. 

From Appium and Selenium to Playwright vs. Cypress, the right automation testing tools are the key to thriving in the ever-evolving world of application testing.

In this blog, I break down the best automation testing tools for both mobile and web applications, as well as explore what factors to look for in choosing the right automation testing tools for your team. 

What Are Automation Testing Tools?

Automation testing tools significantly speed up application testing by allowing testers to execute tests without the need for manual scripts. Popular automation testing tools include Appium, Selenium, Espresso, Cypress, Playwright, Flutter, and more. 

Selenium has been the most widely used test automation tool for years. While it's still at the top of the list, other tools are catching up to Selenium. Automated test tools are flooding the market as the importance of automation increases. They help software companies churn out high-quality releases faster than before. 

But with so many tools of automation testing out there, however, it can be difficult to choose the right one — or even know where to start. That’s why I’ve put together this simple and straightforward guide for choosing an automation testing tool.

Related Webinar: The Future of Testing: A Conversation About the Use of AI and ML

My 10 Best Automated Testing Tools

The following is a list to help familiarize you with the available automation testing tools.

The best automation tools for testing, in my opinion, include:

1. Appium

An open-source tool for automating native, mobile web, and hybrid applications on iOS mobile, Android mobile, and Windows desktop platforms.

2. Selenium

An open-source automated testing suite for web applications.

3. Cypress

Cypress is an end-to-end framework that supports testing from the creation phase through to execution and is highly valued for its ability to enable test automation engineers and front-end developers to write automated web tests in JavaScript.

4. Espresso

A testing framework for Android.

5. XCUITest

A testing framework for Apple.

6. Quantum

An open source test automation framework for web and mobile test authoring, execution, and analysis.

7. WebDriver IO

Open source testing for nodejs.

8. Playwright

Playwright is one of the growing trends in cross-browser testing solutions. The Playwright framework supports Windows, MacOS, and Linux, as well as Jest, Mocha, and other prominent testing frameworks.

9. Flutter

Flutter is an easy-to-use open-source UI framework.  

10. Robot

An open-source keyword-driven test automation framework that uses acceptance test-driven development (ATDD).

There are tons of options out there, and I only cover ten here. But these are the best automaton testing tools and test automation frameworks available.

The Buyer's Guide to Web & Mobile Test Automation Tools

Find out the features you need in web and mobile test automation tools. Plus, learn how to conquer challenges and capitalize on current trends. 

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What the Best Automation Testing Tools Have in Common

One of the core features of all automation testing tools is that they provide access to a testing cloud.

This allows tests to be run across dozens of different browsers, operating systems, and hardware combinations. Test automation tools give developers direct access to these environments whenever they need.

The trend is moving toward cloud testing because onsite testing is often too costly and time-consuming. Besides purchasing devices and hardware, there is usually a ton of work hours needed to keep each of them running and up to date.

Cloud test automation services aim to take the headache out of maintaining the dizzying number of environments that most modern software companies require.

My Tips for Choosing an Automated Testing Tool

There are a few important considerations to keep in mind when choosing the right automation testing tool for your organization. 

Here are  my top four points to keep in mind:

1. Consider Which Tests to Automate

First, consider the types of testing you want to automate.

Tests that are worthy of automation are highly repeatable, high-volume tests with predictable and determinant outcomes.

Think about the type of testing you do every day. Are there tests you need to do across dozens of device/OS/browser combinations and across every release?

Make a list of all the tests you want to automate — even ones you wish you could.

2. Identify Which Types of Testing You'll Need

Once you’ve got a list of the tests you want to automate, start thinking about whether all of your tests are centered around one particular type of testing.

Maybe what you need is a specialty tool that focuses primarily on performance testing or headless testing. If your focus is on device testing, you may need a tool for simulated, emulated, or real devices.

Another consideration is whether you need to do mobile or web testing tools depending on your apps. Do you need to do any back-end database testing? What about the flexibility to do manual, on-demand functional testing?

Answering these questions can help you determine whether you need an open-source automated testing tool with more specific, but limited, functionality or an all-in-one tool that can handle everything along the delivery pipeline.

3. Compare Automation Testing Tool Features

After you’ve decided on the types of tests you want to automate and whether you’re looking for an open-source or all-in-one tool, the next thing to do is focus on the features you want in an automation test tool.

To help, I’ve put together a list of 5 features to look for in tools of automation testing and questions that can help you narrow down the best choice for you.

Task Management

Automation testing tools should do more than just run tests automatically — they’re designed to help make tasks easier to manage as well.

While researching automation tools for testing, make sure they can help you with test-driven development (TDD) processes. Suggest test cases that need to be created and run before you start coding. Tasks and results from test cases should also be easy to share among team members and categorizable by feature, component, and sprint.

Before you create your automation testing tool list, ask yourself what detailed feedback you really want. What reporting and insights are crucial for you and your team?

Your test automation tool should give you a centralized place for analyzing test results and individual reports. It should also track progress across all types of test cases — including manual, exploratory, and automated tests.

Integration Options

Choosing a testing tool with the flexibility to integrate with your existing workflows will make the transition to automation much easier.

If you’ve already got solid task management or a CI/CD platform, determine whether it can be integrated into an automation testing tool you’re interested in. Developing, organizing, and reviewing tests from within your existing CI server could really speed up your regression and Agile cycles.

The same applies to any other fan-favorite collaboration or case management platform you’re sure you want to continue using. Make sure you thoroughly check the list of integrations available so you can continue using tools you’ve already come to love and trust.

Testing Environments

Be specific about the number and types of technology combinations you’ll need — including the specific hardware/OS/browser combinations that are vital for your testing.

Check whether the automation testing tool offers support for both desktop and mobile application testing. Do you have any need for testing local, onsite devices? Do test environments also support manual testing, and how easy is it to configure them according to different projects, releases, and sprints?

Answering these questions will help you determine the next biggest factor in narrowing down your automation testing tools list: price.

Budget

Most automation testing tools set their prices according to the number of tests you need to run, the environments you need, and the amount of time you’ll use them. Prices are sometimes adjusted based on the types of integrations you want.

Determining this information ahead of time will help you get a more accurate quote on tools of automation testing. Most companies are more than happy, however, to help you determine the right testing package for your team.

Support & Resources

Take a look at your current testing resources, and then determine how an automation tool can assist you and your team. Do you want a product capable of codeless testing, or do you have enough language-savvy testing staff and resources already?

Now think about what type of support you want when you run into problems. Is the help desk open 24/7? Determine whether tickets are created via phone call, mobile apps, live chat, or email. Having a real-life human available to help can boost morale and keep testing running smoothly. And it can accelerate your release delivery.

Check the company website and see if there are helpful, easy-to-navigate resources for handling issues independently. If so, it’s a good sign they take support seriously.

4. Test Drive Your Top Tools 

Now that you’ve got some worthy candidates on your automation testing tools list, take them for a test drive and see which of them can maintain the speed you need for your delivery pipeline.

Most tools offer free trial versions, or at the very least an in-depth demonstration. Run some realistic test cases and think about the integrations you need or wish you still had.

Pay close attention to how the automation tool handles tasks, reporting results, and analytics. Look at whether it’s easy and intuitive to share test cases across projects, releases, and sprints.

Where does the tool score high and low points for your particular team and their needs? Is it a total ace at distributed execution but a major flop when it comes to support? And how does it handle different types of testing?

Ultimately, the automation testing tool you choose should help simplify the entire testing process — from test case and tasks to release — and give your team all the power you need to test more efficiently and accurately at the speed of DevOps.

Related Reading: The Future of Testing Innovation With Perfecto

Bottom Line

If you’re evaluating automation testing tools, consider Perfecto. It can help you overcome common challenges in automation testing. And it makes the best automation testing tools and frameworks even better. As the world’s only continuous testing platform with end-to-end support, Perfecto helps testing teams create, execute, and analyze tests all from an enterprise-grade, cloud-based lab.

Plus, Perfecto integrates with the top 10 automation testing tools listed above. 

Find out how Perfecto will set you up for test automation success by signing up for a free 14-day trial today.

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