Latest tools in software testing

Software testing is a broad area with a plethora of testing types. With complicated requirements and advanced development methodologies, today’s businesses target to zero in on the number of defects. Therefore numerous tools have been introduced in the market to take testing to the next level. Not to mention testing is now categorized into different types and levels. Hence, in this article, we will discuss on tools based on testing categories and popularity of these tools in the market. We can classify testing tools based on following aspects –

• Automation
• Agile and DevOps
• Mobile testing
• Load testing
• Security testing

Tools used for Test Automation

Here is the list of most popular test automation tools used for functional and regression testing purpose.

1. Selenium: Currently most popular for automated testing this tool is compatible with any operating systems. Furthermore, it needs very less resource space and faster compare to other automation testing tools. Very effective for testing web-based application with cross-browser support.
2. IBM Rational Functional Tester: It is mostly used for data driven test. Supported by wide range development environments it supports both functional and regression testing
3. Watir: If you are looking for open source category then this tool may be most popular for its cross-browser testing capability. The tool itself is light and builds upon Ruby libraries.
4. Testim: For faster execution, this machine learning based automation tool works wonder. This is used for the web as well mobile testing. Testers can get annotation based screenshot to find out easily what’s wrong with the system.
5. AppliTools: This tool is mainly for UI testing and easily integrates with existing testing cases. It runs in the cloud environment as well and provides interactive visual test reports.
6. Telerik: This tool is helpful for both web and desktop applications. Along with functionality, it tests for load and performance and cross-browser issues.
7. HtmlUnit: This tool can simulate the real browsers and very efficient for web app testing.
8. Ranorex: It is a GUI based test automation framework for testing of desktop, web-based and mobile applications. It has UI object map editor.

Tools used for Agile and DevOps testing

Most of the software projects nowadays follow the agile methodology. If you are a tester working on an agile project then definitely you would prefer the open source agile testing tools. Here is a comprehensive list of latest agile testing tools.

1. Selenium WebDriver: This is most widely used for automation testing in agile projects. It is meant for web applications and not for desktop applications. Above all, it supports various programming languages like Java, Php, C# and many more.
2. JMeter: This is used for performance testing for websites and web services. You can easily use a plug-in to enhance its functionalities.
3. JIRA: It is a project management tool widely used for defect tracking for Agile testing
4. SoapUI: With a capability of creating mock web service, SoapUI helps in functional testing even if the actual web service is not developed yet. It supports Soap(XML) from its inception but recently supports REST(JSON) format too.
5. VirtualBox: It works as a virtual server, OS, and browsers for agile testing. Not to mention it is saving resources.
6. Selenium Grid: It helps in running multiple parallel tests in multiple browsers.
7. Appium: It is a free open source agile automation tool. It is used for mobile, hybrid and web applications. Appium supports multiple programming languages.
8. Cucumber: Ideal for Behavior driven development this automation testing tool takes the requirements and builds test cases according to that.
9. Bug shooting: It uses intelligent capture mode and tracks the bugs.
10. UsersNap: This is useful for agile web development and provides visual bug reports to the testers.
11. PractiTest: Ideal Solution for Agile and DevOps testing. It is a single management platform for both manual and automation testing.
12. Zephyr: It manages all aspects of the agile testing life cycle. It can be easily integrated with tools like JIRA, Selenium, and QTP/UFT.
13. QAComplete: It is used in enterprise level and can be easily integrated with modern development methodologies like Agile and DevOps.

Tools used for Mobile testing

There are almost hundreds of mobile testing tools available in the market. We have already mentioned few of them under automation and agile testing section. Few more are –

1. Espresso: It is an open source enterprise testing tool. Creating test suite in this tool is very easy as you don’t need to write a single code. This tool is efficient for UI tests for the mobile applications.
2. Perfecto: This is a SaaS-based platform and useful for cloud base mobile application testing.
3. Experites: It is a one-stop shop for all types of mobile testing like Manual Testing, Performance Testing, and load testing for mobile applications.
4. TestComplete: This is ideal for data-driven automation testing. It is compatible with Android and iOS mobile apps.
5. Robotium: Mainly used for Android UI testing it is used for both hybrid and native mobile applications. You can perform system testing, performance testing and functional testing using this app.

Tools used for Load testing

1. Loadrunner: This is the most popular testing tool used by enterprises for various types of apps. Even virtual users can monitor and analyze the system performance using this tool.
2. WebLOAD: Supported by various technologies and protocols in different platforms like Selenium, mobile and enterprise it uses the best power of scripting.
3. Pylot: It is a free and easy to use tool and can be expanded as per need.
4. LoadUIPro: If you are going to test complex load scenarios this is the perfect tool. You can create and update test cases simultaneously while running the load testing.
5. Apache JMeter: It is an open source load testing tool that is designed to load test functional scenarios and overall performance of websites.
6. AgileLoad: This tool is used for load testing of dynamic web and mobile technologies. It is mainly used for business-critical applications.
7. Load focus: It is a cloud-based load testing tool mainly used for mobile and web apps.
8. BlazeMeter: It is used for mobile apps, APIs, and mobile. It works across geographical locations and uses Google analytics data for load testing.

Tools used for Security testing

Though available few security testing tools are most essential for web-based applications. Here are few of them –

1. Netsparkar: It is a free tool and works all along the SDLC to scan the vulnerabilities for websites, web applications and web services. It’s an online tool and commonly used in enterprise applications.
2. Acunetix: This tool is popular for its feature of detecting various types of security vulnerabilities detection.

Conclusion: There are hundreds of testing tools available in the market. A single article may be a very limited scope to discuss broadly on all of them. However, we have highlighted most of the important ones. More interestingly organizations are investing their own talents and skills to build up their own testing tools. To conclude, right implementation of testing tools may significantly help to make testing faster and more effective while maintaining a right proportion of security and robustness of test coverage.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.