Top 11 Software Testing Tools List To Look For

Are you diving into the vast world of software testing and feeling a bit overwhelmed by the myriad of tools out there? Fret not! We have got your back! In this guide, we will explore the top 11 software testing tools that should be on every tester’s radar.

In the ever-evolving landscape of software development, choosing the right testing tool can be the secret sauce to delivering a flawless, bug-free product. From smashing bugs to boosting efficiency, these tools have got your testing needs covered. Let’s get started with the latest software testing tools list.

What Are Software Testing Tools?

Software testing tools are applications or frameworks that help testers in the process of testing software to ensure its quality and reliability. These tools are designed to automate various aspects of the testing process, making it more efficient, effective, and manageable. 

You can use these tools to automate both functional and non-functional testing. Some examples include Selenium, Testsigma, LambdaTest, Apache JMeter, TestComplete, and more.

Types of Testing Tools

1.Test Case Management Tools

A tester’s life moves around test cases and bugs. For the management of test cases of different features, the test case management tools are used. Some examples of test case management tools are TestRail, Practitest, TestCollab.

2.Test Case Generation Tools

To begin with, test cases are created manually but when there are some patterns that can be repeated for test case creation, test case generation tools are used. Some teams create these tools in-house while there are some available in the market for standard test case generation techniques.

3.Test Data Preparation Tools

When test cases need to be tested with a good amount of test data,  use of test data preparation tools proves beneficial in many ways.

They could specially be very useful for data generation during performance or reliability testing. These tools can also be used during functional testing and acceptance by testers as well as developers.

Features or characteristics of test data preparation tools are as follows:

• Extraction of required data records from databases and/or files;
• For “data cleansing” of production data such that it can be used for testing purposes without any fear of data theft;
• For rearrangement of data and records to facilitate testing;
• Setting up of existing data or generation of  new data according to requirements 
• To generate similar test data (from a template) in bulk for volume testing

Some majorly used test data preparation tools are: 

• MOCKAROO: Generate up to 1,000 rows of realistic test data in CSV, JSON, SQL, and Excel formats.
• DATPROF: Data masking, subsetting, provisioning and discovery
• Informatica: Enterprise cloud data management and data integration
• CA Test Data Manager (Datamaker): High-performance data subsetting, data masking, test matching, etc. The tool generates, stores, and reuse the test data in the test data repository.

4.Test Execution Tools

These are the tools that are used to execute tests. These tools are also called “Test running tools”. Originally, these tools started with recording and playing test steps hence these are also called record-and-play tools.

Though as the requirements changed and tests became more complex, just record and playback was not sufficient. Then there was the need of some scripting support to create the steps such that the steps could be edited as and when needed.

Selenium was one of the first tools that supported conversion of the recorded tests to required scripting language. This made the test cases easier to maintain according to changing requirements.

Now, there are codeless/scriptless testing tools too that allow maintenance of these tests even without writing code or script. They use different technologies for this. Read here about all such technologies in detail. 

One such tool is Testsigma that lets you write test cases in simple English language. The test cases are easy to edit and maintain too as Testsigma uses AI in the backend to add to the efficiency for all maintenance related tasks.

5.Cross Browser Testing Tools

These tools help execution of test cases on different browsers and devices. Some examples are Browserstack, Browserling. When a test execution tool integrates with the cross browser testing tools, the tool becomes more beneficial.

There are tools that do like Testsigma which supports integration with 5 Browserstack and 4 other testing labs for cross browser testing.

6.Coverage Measurement Tools

Coverage Measurement Tools are used to measure the thoroughness of testing by measuring the number of items that the testing covered. The item can be a number of lines of code or methods or components or conditions. 

One example of these tools are code coverage tools. There are different code coverage tools according to the programming language in which the code is written. These tools are integrated with other software development tools. For example, They can be  integrated with building tools like Ant, Maven, and Gradle as well as with CI/CD tools like Jenkins.

Examples of some open source code-coverage tools are:
Cobertura for JAVA

Codecover for Java and COBOL

Coverage.py for Python

EMMA for JAVA

7.Performance Testing Tools

The purpose of performance testing is to make sure that the application is able to perform according to expected standards even when the load is varied. The performance testing is used to measure the metrics that ensure that the system is stable and performing as expected. These can vary depending on the functionality of the application. But the most commonly measured metrics are:  speed, response time, reliability, resource usage, scalability.

Some examples of famous performance testing tools are:

LoadNinja

Apache JMeter

WebLOAD

LoadUI Pro

Gatling

8.Bug Reporting Tools

When testers execute test cases or do ad-hoc testing, they find bugs and a tool is needed to report these bugs. These tools also easily integrate with the other tools in the software development life cycle.

Examples of some majorly used bug reporting tools are:

Bugzilla

BugHerd

Mantis Bug Tracker

The Bug Genie

9.Project Planning and Tracking Tools

These are the tools that are used to plan and track the software development activities. Examples of widely used tools are JIRA, Trello, Microsoft Project Planner.

10.Incident Management Tools

Whenever a customer faces an issue and reports it, they are handled by incident management tools. These tools integrate with other software development processes and improve the efficiency and productivity of the team. Some examples of these tools are crisis control, freshservice.

11.Screen Capture/Record Tools

When testers report bugs, they need to give all information they have such that the developers and management are able to understand the bug completely. For this, the best way is to send screenshots and screen-recordings.

Testers use many tools for this purpose. Some of most used ones are:

Screencastify: for recording your screen from a Chrome extension.

Apowersoft: Unlimited for mobile screen capture.

Snipping Tool : A windows tool for screen capture and recording

12.Tools for Analysing Logs

Every application generates some logs during use. When testing, these logs can prove very useful for testers. They might need to add some logs to the bug reports too. To check and analyse these logs there are multiple tools that testers can use, some of which are:

Graylog

Nagios

Elastic Stack

LOGalyze

In addition to this, testers also use different tools in their day to day life to ease their day to day tasks. For eg. if a tester has to test the HTTP responses, they would use an HTTP proxy tool that will let them check the responses at a granular level. This is when they don’t need to automate the test cases. The examples of such tools are Fiddler and Charles.

Other Tools

Another tool that has been designed to help think better is mindmaps. It helps testers to represent their notes in a easy to review, graphical format. One can note the test ideas, bugs, testing notes in the form of mind maps.

In the categories of types of testing tools we listed above, there are n number of tools in the market but all can not be used in all circumstances.

Many factors need to be considered before choosing the best types of testing tools for a purpose, most important of which are:

• Optimized testing costs
• Increased testing efficiency
• Highest standards of Quality

Top 11 Software Testing Tools

In the realm of software development, the importance of robust and efficient testing tools cannot be overstated. A plethora of options are available, each offering unique features to streamline the testing process and ensure the delivery of high-quality software. Below is a curated list of software testing tools that are currently in demand:

1. Testsigma

Testsigma is a robust cloud-based, low-code AI-driven test automation platform that allows you to automate web, mobile, desktop, and API tests in one place. It is a one-stop solution for all your testing needs, as you can automate various aspects of testing using a single platform. It makes the entire testing process 5x faster and helps ship products at an 8x faster rate.

It acts as a perfect tool for both technical and non-technical users, as it supports codeless testing. 

Features

• Test case creation: This makes test case creation easy and simple with NLPs.
• Language Support: Tests can be customized, if needed, with JAVA
• NLPs: Automate even complex workflows using plain English statements.

• Record Feature: Supports a record feature so you can easily record user interactions and run them as automated tests later on the cloud.
• AI Capabilities: Provides in-built AI-driven capabilities such as test case review management and self-healing capability.
• Cloud-based: It is cloud-based and does not require any set-up or installation process.
• Low/No-code support: This does not require much coding expertise as it supports scriptless automation. Thus, it makes testing accessible for everyone on the team, including product owners, stakeholders, etc.
• Real device cloud: Supports over 3000+ real devices/tablets and 1000+ browser/OS combos for testing purposes.
• Application Type: Supports web, mobile, desktop apps, and API testing in one place.
• Parallel Testing: Supports parallel testing across multiple devices, browsers, and platforms.
• Integration: Easily integrates with third-party applications like bug tracking, project management, collaboration, and CI/CD tools.
• Continuous Testing: Integrate automated tests into the DevOps and CI/CD pipeline. 
• Visual Testing: Supports visual testing by comparing screenshots of the applications.
• 24×7 Support: Provides extended customer support via mail, call, chat, and community.

Testsigma offers various pricing plans based on different business requirements. It also provides a free trial. Sign up and start automating your tests in less than 2 minutes.

2. Selenium

Selenium is one of the widely known open-source test automation frameworks that is used for automated web application testing. It was developed by Jason Huggins in 2004. It is a code-based testing tool that supports multiple programming languages like Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, C#, Ruby, and Perl to create test scripts. 

Features

• When integrated with Selenium Grid, it supports parallel testing, where you run multiple tests simultaneously across different environments.
• Supports multiple platforms like Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Supports multiple browsers like Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, Edge, etc.
• Integrates easily with TestNG, JUnit, Jenkins, etc.
• It is open-source and available for free.

• You can not automate mobile and desktop app testing with Selenium.
• You can expect technical support only from the community.

3. testRigor

testRigor is a Generative AI-based test automation platform designed for testing web, mobile, and desktop applications and APIs. It makes testing accessible for non-technical users as they can automate tests using simple English commands.

For example, a simple line of “check if checkbox ‘automation’ is present” is enough to scan the page for all the checkboxes and validate if a checkbox named “automation” is present or not.

Features

• As mentioned, testRigor uses English as a way to communicate between a tester and their systems.
• Provides a wide range of test automation support. This includes API testing, mobile testing, web testing, and data-driven testing.
• The tool supports parallel tests, the ability to test on multiple windows, multiple devices, and multiple browsers at the same time.
• testRigor provides a few tools built into their system that resemble native features. This includes phone calls, CAPTCHA, email, audio play testing, SMS validations, and recording audio.
• Integrates with bug tracking tools and test case management systems like Jira, Azure DevOps, TestRail, XRay, Zephyr, and more. 

4. Avo Assure

Avo Assure is another no-code automation testing tool that allows you to perform end-to-end testing of business processes with just a few button clicks. You can use this tool across a variety of platforms, including web, mobile, desktop, ERP applications, Mainframes, associated emulators, and more.

Features

• Supports different platforms like Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Easily integrates with Jira, ALM, Jenkins, and more.
• Not much coding expertise is required
• Execute multiple scenarios efficiently through intelligent scheduling
• Develop test plans and create test cases using the Mindmaps feature

4. Micro Focus UFT

Micro Focus UFT (Unified Functional Testing), formerly known as Quick Test Professional (QTP), is an automated testing tool designed for functional, regression, and service testing. It makes automated GUI testing easy and efficient. 

Testers can use UFT  to automate user interactions on either web or client-based computer applications to identify and fix potential bugs, if any.

Features

• You can automate functional testing for web, mobile, desktop, mainframe, composite, and packaged enterprise-grade applications.
• It provides a record-and-playback feature.
• It supports popular automation frameworks such as modular testing, keyword-driven testing, and data-driven testing approaches.
• Integrates with test management tools like Test Director, Quality Center, and Winrunner
• Supports multiple programming languages, like VBScript, Java, and C#. 
• It is also compatible with various operating systems and browsers.
• It supports XML.

5. TestComplete 

TestComplete by SmartBear is an automated testing tool that helps run functional tests for web, mobile, and desktop apps. It allows users to create test scripts using various languages like Python, VBScript, and JavaScript.

Also, it supports different testing methodologies like keyword-driven testing, data-driven testing, and more.

Features

• It can be integrated with other products developed by SmartBear
• Create and run automated GUI testing with the record-and-play feature.
• Supports testing both locally and on the cloud.
• Supports both script-based and scriptless testing

6. LambdaTest

LambdaTest is another reputable cloud-based automated testing tool that allows users to create and run cross-browser tests for mobile and web apps. 

Features

• Perform live interactive testing across 3000+ real devices, browsers, and OS environments for mobile, web, and desktop apps.
• Supports parallel testing of apps
• Supports integration with other testing frameworks like Appium, Cypress, and CI/CD tools
• Automate visual testing, responsive testing, and cross-browser testing to ensure your app works perfectly in different environments

7. BrowserStack

BrowserStack is another popular automated cross-browser testing tool that supports testing across web, desktop, and mobile apps. It is a cloud-based testing tool.

Features

• Supports testing over 3000+ devices and browsers for browser testing of mobile and web apps
• Supports integration with popular CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, Bamboo, Travis CI, and more
• Run parallel tests across different environments
• Supports visual testing
• You can test on local devices and the cloud.

8. Appium

Appium is an open-source test automation tool that allows the testing of mobile applications. It supports both Android and iOS platforms. Also, you can automate native, hybrid, and mobile web applications.

Features

• Create and run tests using various programming languages like Java, Python, C#, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, and Perl.
• Supports testing on real devices, emulators, and simulators, allowing for a comprehensive testing environment.
• Integrates with other testing frameworks and CI/CD tools
• It is open-source and available for free

9. Katalon

Katalon is a low-code test automation tool for web, mobile, desktop, and API testing. It supports both scriptless testing and script-based testing. 

Features

• Supports record and playback features for UI testing.
• Integrates with popular ALM tools and CI/CD tools, like JIRA, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, etc
• Supports Groovy for creating test scripts.
• Supports different testing methodologies like BDD, keyword-driven testing, data-driven testing, etc.
• Run tests on various browsers, OS, and devices for mobile, web, and desktop apps.

10. SoapUI

SoapUI by SmartBear is an automated functional and non-functional testing tool for testing various web services, including SOAP and HTTP. It is an open-source testing tool that supports API testing, too.

Features

• Supports both SOAP and RESTful web services, making it versatile for testing a variety of web service architectures.
• Provides capabilities for load testing, helping to assess how well a web service performs under various load conditions.
• Supports data-driven testing
• Supports all standard protocols like SOAP, WSDL, HTTP, HTTPS, and JDBC.
• Allows mock testing for testers to test real apps.
• Supports security testing of web services

11. Cypress

Cypress is an open-source front-end test automation tool specifically designed to test web applications. It is based on JavaScript, one of the most popular frameworks.

Features

• Supports multiple platforms like Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• Supports cross-browser testing
• Allows end-to-end testing of web apps and does not support mobile app testing.

Advantages Of Using Software Testing Tools

Software testing tools offer various advantages to developers/testers as they accelerate the testing process and make it more efficient. Let’s discuss the benefits in detail:

• Test Automation

Software testing tools automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, leading to increased efficiency in the testing process. Automated tests can be executed faster and more frequently than manual tests, saving manual efforts, time, and cost.

• Increased Test Coverage

You can test a large number of complex test scenarios in a short time, allowing for comprehensive test coverage. This helps identify more potential issues and ensures that the software is thoroughly tested across different scenarios.

• Early Bug Detection

Automated testing allows for the early detection of bugs and issues in the development lifecycle. This helps address problems early, reducing the cost and effort required to fix issues later in development.

• Parallel Execution

Many testing tools support parallel testing, where you can run multiple tests across multiple devices or environments simultaneously. 

• Data-driven Testing

Various tools support data-driven testing, where tests are executed with different sets of input data. This helps ensure that the software behaves correctly under various input conditions.

• Cost-Effective

Although there is an initial investment involved in setting up and maintaining testing tools, in the long run, it reduces the cost, time, and effort required for testing.

Factors To Consider When Choosing A Software Testing Tool

Choosing the right software testing tool is crucial as it impacts the success of product development. There are several factors to consider when selecting automated testing tools for your project. Some of the key factors to consider are,

• Project Requirements

Understand the requirements in detail to make sure the tool aligns with your testing objectives.

• Low-code Support

Choose a tool that supports low/no-code test automation along with script-based test automation. That is because every team will include both technical and non-technical users like stakeholders, product owners, and more. Choosing a low/no-code testing tool allows most people in the team to be involved in the testing process, making testing accessible for everyone in the team. Testsigma is one such tool that supports both low-code test automation and script-based testing in one place. 

• AI-capabilities

Choose tools that support AI-driven testing, which makes testing more efficient and quick.  

• Detailed Test Reporting

Ensure that the chosen software testing tools offer accurate and custom test reporting options.

• Customer Support

Consider selecting tools that support extended technical support. Open-source tools offer only community support. At the same time, paid tools offer technical support via community, email, chat, and call.

How To Select The Best Software Testing Tool For Your Project

When searching for the best QA automation tools, it’s essential to consider several key factors to ensure they meet the specific needs of your project. Here’s a comprehensive list of what to look for:

• Learning Curve

The learning curve could be the first thing to consider when choosing the software testing tool for your project. It talks about the time that an individual would spend learning the software. The more time, on average, one individual spends to increase their work performance corresponds to a steep learning curve and vice versa.

Let me put it simply. A tool like Selenium would take a lot of time and coding skills to learn to automate even minimal functionalities. However, learning a tool like Testsigma can take a few days to a week as it supports both scriptless and script-based testing.

• Language Support

Can you believe that over 9000 programming languages exist today? However, only a few are in use. The top programming languages include Java, JavaScript, Python, C#, Perl, PHP, Ruby, .NET, etc. 

There are two factors you need to consider while checking the language support offered by the testing tool. 

1. Check if it is in sync with the language your team members know. 
2. Second, if you are migrating from another tool, choose a language that can reuse those hundreds of test cases. Otherwise, you might spend a lot of time re-writing the test cases, adding costs to the project.

The good thing is that this is the case only when scripted testing is involved. If you are working on codeless testing tools, all these restrictions can be avoided right away.

A scriptless testing tool doesn’t need any programming language to write test cases. Instead, it offers alternative methods that vary from tool to tool. For example, Testsigma is a low/no-code test automation tool that allows testers to create automated test cases using plain English. A simple sentence like “Navigate to www.testsigma.com” is a test case to open the specified URL.

• Device/Platform/OS Support

No matter what type of application you develop, it will ultimately be used on different devices by different users. It could be a tablet, a mobile device, or a laptop. In order to ensure the application works smoothly across multiple devices, testers will have to perform testing on different devices.

One way is to purchase all these devices and test the apps manually, which is obviously an expensive method considering the number of devices available in the market. 

Is there an alternate way? Yes, there is one. In fact, it is the smartest and most affordable option. Using a real device cloud supported by testing tools is the perfect way. 

For example, you can test your web, mobile, and desktop apps and APIs on over 3000+ real devices/tablets and 1000+ browser/OS combos when you execute your automated tests with Testsigma. 

• Pricing Plan

Pricing could be an ice-breaker for startups and small businesses that might be running tight on budget. However, if you think manual testing could be an option, it is a no. Because the time, effort, and resources a company would put into manual testing could cost them more in the long run. In contrast, if you invest in a test automation platform that might look a bit pricey when you initially spend, it offers a high ROI in the long run.

That is why most test automation platforms offer various pricing plans that might cater to different business needs. Most tools provide a free trial version, too, so businesses can check if the tool aligns with their needs.

• Types of Testing Supported

Not every tool in the market supports different types of testing in one place. Let me give an example: take top testing tools like Provar, Appium, Selenium, and Testsigma.

Testsigma – Supports testing of web, mobile, and desktop apps and APIs, including Salesforce and SAP test automation.

Provar – Supports only Salesforce testing across web, mobile, and desktop.

Appium – Supports only mobile app testing

Selenium – Supports only web app testing

So, select a tool that supports different types of testing in one place. Further, check if they support different testing methodologies, like data-driven testing, keyword-driven testing, BDD, etc. 

• Central Data Representation

Another crucial aspect that is needed for every business is an effective and easy-to-use dashboard that can provide the QA teams with all the test-related data in a single place. Though it isn’t a mandatory check-off in the checklist while selecting a testing tool, a comprehensive dashboard makes QA life easier.

• Third-Party App Integrations

Integrate automated tests into DevOps and CI/CD pipeline for continuous testing. So, check what app integrations are required for continuous testing purposes. It is good to select a tool that supports different app integrations, including CI/CD, project management, collaboration, and bug-tracking tools.

• Custom Test Reports

The final criterion to look for is the test reporting and how informative a report is. The test reports are shared with the developers so they can understand where and why the test fails to start working on fixing the bugs. So, consider a tool that provides test reports in different formats and allows customizations. 

Earlier, this used to be a manual process that used tools like MS Excel to input data and draw graphs for visualization. Now, the tools create all the test reports and allow downloads in different formats. A report generated by Testsigma looks as follows,

As you can observe in the report, this document is adequate for someone involved or not involved in testing to know the anomalies and success points of complete software testing.

What Testing Tools Are In Demand?

Apart from the tools like Selenium, Testsigma, and more we discussed above, the other popular testing tools that are in demand include,

• Tricentis Tosca
• Zephyr Scale
• Cucumber
• Postman
• Apache JMeter
• TestRail
• Playwright
• Espresso
• Kobiton, etc.

What capabilities do businesses look for while choosing a software testing tool for their testing needs? 

• Low/no-code test automation
• Support for code-based testing along with codeless testing
• AI testing tools
• Shift left testing
• Agile automation testing
• QAOps testing technique.

Conclusion

In a world buzzing with software development, having the right testing tools in your arsenal is like having a superhero squad for your code. These tools not only streamline the testing process but also ensure the overall quality of the software applications.

The testing landscape offers a diverse range of tools to suit varying testing needs. From the automation prowess of Selenium to the comprehensive testing solution of Testsigma, each tool brings something unique to the testing table. 

Remember, the best tool isn’t just about features; it’s about alignment with your goals, team expertise, and specific project requirements. So, take a closer look, try a few, and see which one resonates with your testing needs.