In today’s fast-paced software market, you are expected to deliver products with not just exceptional quality but also at a rapid speed. Agile practices have become mandatory for all software or web development to meet the high demand of organizations. It has become crucial to use the right automation testing tools at the right time to deliver a product quickly without compromising on its quality. The automation testing tools being the essential component of software development, ensure that your development teams make optimal use of it.
An industry analysis report showcases millions of opportunities in Automation testing tools Market and its estimation of its market share to be billions for the year 2020-2029.
If you are in software development, don’t miss these top 5 best automation tools for the year 2020.

1. Selenium

Selenium is an open-source automation testing tool exclusively meant for web browser automation that works best for cross-browsers and platforms. Being an open-source tool, it has a huge community of developers and testers who are experts in various programming languages like Java, C#, Perl, Python, Scala, Groovy, PHP & Ruby.
Ideal for automating web-based applications

Features

• Selenium server initializing is not required.
• Ajax testing improved features
• The powerful Selenium WebDriver lets you create browser-based regression automation suites and supports in performing advanced automation scripts.
• Selenium IDE gives you playback and a record feature.
• Selenium 2.0 (Remote Control (RC) in conjunction with WebDriver API) supports the vibrant web pages and Ajax.
• Great assistance in making test scripts for exploratory testing, regression testing, and speedy bug reproduction.

Pros

1. It works for cross platforms (Android and ios), runs across browsers, supports different languages (Java, Perl, Python, C#, Ruby, Groovy, JavaScript) and multiple Operating Systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, UNIX).
2. You can scale and distribute scripts across many environments.
3. It requires fewer resources than any other tool.
4. Being open-source, an active community makes the tool a more resourceful and cost-effective tool with constant updates.
5. Easy and effective implementation of tests.
6. Being loaded with various testing tools, selenium is usually referred to as a suite.
7. Selenium Test Automation Framework uses scripts that can be reused to test in different browsers.

Cons

1. Skilled testers required to write complex test scripts or to build automation frameworks using this tool.
2. Selenium cannot work alone but requires other tools like Appium, AutoUnit, JUnit.
3. It doesn’t have a built-in object repository.

2. Katalon Studio

It is a powerful solution that lets you generate automated tests more efficiently in cross platforms. It is a complete automation platform for continuous testing. Being an open-source automation testing tool, it supports both web and mobile development environments. This robust tool can be integrated with other software automation tools like selenium and Appium.
Ideal for web and mobile development

Features

• User-friendly tools that work for anyone with distinctive levels of testing capabilities.
• Supports agile practices and QA procedures including Jira, qtest, Jenkins, and Git.
• Web and mobile testing
• Katalon Analytics gives you the best in industry testing analysis and reports.
• Katalon recorder is a selenium based recording module for chrome and firefox which records tests and allows you to perform various testing activities. It also has a record and playback feature.

Pros

1. It can be integrated with CI/CD procedures, workflow, and functions.
2. Set up and installation is simple and works great for non-programmers too with a simpler learning curve.
3. test case creation in scripting mode
4. Built-in templates, frameworks, and integrations
5. Cross-browser testing is quick and easy.

Cons

3. limited to Groovy(java) only when it comes to script creation.
4. No support for distributed testing and you cannot automate desktop applications with it.
5. The tool is free but the support is paid.

3. Cucumber

It is a testing tool that supports behavior-driven development (BDD). Cucumber is very simple that the code is written in simple English text. So, anyone can understand regardless of technical knowledge. It has famous users such as Paypal, canon and much more. Being well known to deliver an elevated end-user experience, it allows you to test in web applications and supports languages like Ruby, Java, Scala, Groovy, etc.
Ideal for web applications

Features

• The tool works with executable specifications which are great for the collaboration of IT and business teams.
• Cucumber feature files are go-to-documents for everyone including Business Analysts, Developers, Testers, and others.
• Plug-ins in cucumber are really fast than other tools.
• Integrations with Selenium, Watir, and Capybara.
• BDD is an extension of Test-Driven Development which tests the entire system instead of a piece of code.

Pros

1. Quick and easy to set-up.and executes tests efficiently
2. Higher-level managers and stakeholders with no knowledge in programming can understand better.
3. Code reusability
4. Testing that exclusively focuses on end-user experience.
5. Supports different other software platforms like selenium and others.

Cons

1. It is difficult to pass variables between the different lines of gherkin.
2. Difficult to come up with the execution time.

4. HPE unified functional tester

The HPE Unified functional testing is formerly well known as QTP ( QuickTest Professional) which was the best among the commercial testing system. It has been the main test automation tool underpinning the majority of the regression testing activities. This robust automation suite is known for speeding up your automation work. QTP is a licensed software & requires license costs that are quite a bit.
Ideal for browser-based testing

Features

• Easy to use, edit the script, navigate during the testing
• Benefits and supports business process testing
• Super charged with many add-ins that help you to work with web, windows and .NET applications.
• It can be integrated with any QC and automate non-web applications too.
• Works better than selenium with databases.

Pros

1. The simple front end suitable for new users to try automation.
2. Easily scale up and run across multiple machines from a single controller, which means you can run hundreds of tests overnight.
3. An active support community both official HPE based and independent users are there to help you.
4. Many add-ins to plugins can integrate with other tools within the QA world.
5. Expert users can also build their own native functions to get the most out of the tool.
6. UPT bundled with LeanFT allows you to automate testing at the API level.

Cons

1. It is expensive, record and playback are not up to the mark.
2. Difficult to deploy smoke tests for web applications
3. Being based on VBScript, it is outdated

5. IBM rational functional tester

This commercial automation testing tool from IBM is mainly intended for automated functional testing and regression testing, GUI testing, and data-driven testing.
Ideal for automated functional testing.

Features

• Simplify test creation and visualization with Storyboard testing
• Provides Lifecycle traceability
• Playback is enhanced with ScriptAssure technology
• Dynamic data validation wizard allows you to validate dynamic data quickly.
• Code or script reusability
• Keyword testing helps in streamlining the automation process.
• Test script version control for parallel development

Pros

1. The execution log in HTML format gives you all the information and screenshots with timestamps.
2. Being developed by a reliable company, you can expect good support from IBM.
3. Frequent updates fix issues to meet the customer’s expectations.
4. The object inspector, comprehensive functional library and playback monitor are considered as the most beneficial features by most testers.

Cons

1. Installation or updates are quite difficult to perform
2. Limited support of browsers outside of Internet Explorer.
3. It uses a lot of memory which can be a big issue when you run large tests.

These are the top automation testing tools that can speed up your software development processes. Throttle up your productivity with the right tool suitable for your software development.
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