A Beginner’s Guide to Web Application Testing

As we know that web apps are becoming more complex, testing them is also getting equally sophisticated. The stats show that 88% of online buyers are less likely to repeat the orders if the website has bad UI/UX. Hence, it is important to perform thorough testing of web apps to ensure that it has standardized user experience, functions, and security.

For the testing process, there are many automation testing tools available along with manual testing tools. Automation tools help in reducing the risk of making human errors while testing any system and also enhance the accurate consistency of the test results. In this article, we will see more about top web app testing tools to learn in 2023. So, let’s dive in!

What is Web App Testing?

Web app testing, or web testing is a process in the SDLC that ensures that the quality of the software and its functionalities are as per the intended requirements of the clients.

The web app testing process also allows you to find errors at any given time before the app or project is released.

Testing any project is quite important before it is released for users to use it. If it is not checked and tested properly, it might cause a heavy crash of that software and also cost you a hefty money expense.

To make the testing process easier, we rely on web app testing tools – that may be open source (free to use) or commercial (paid tools). There might be pros and cons to using each of these, the decision you make regarding the tools to be used is based on your team’s need, budget and resources.

Pros and Cons of Open Source Testing Tools

Pros

Cons

The primary advantage of having an open-source testing tool is the cost of entry. Open-source tools like Selenium can be used free of cost.
If your team is working with a client who is cost conscious, using free tools is an amazing alternative.
Another benefit is the flexibility that testers can get by using open-source tools. Some tools have a large user community behind them. And there are some cool libraries too that can be used easily.
Moreover, open-source tools also support different languages. For instance, Selenium offers support for different languages like Python, Java, C#, etc.

The foremost disadvantage of open source testing tools is the technical barrier of entry.

Quality is also an underrated con of continuing with different open source testing tools.

If you are the leader of the testing team who does not have any automation professionals, then open source testing tools can develop some problems. In such cases, a commercial testing tool is a better option.

Pros and Cons of Commercial Testing Tools

Pros

Cons

There are various advantages of Commercial testing tools, that is you do not need a robust in-house skill set to start and run. Different commercial tools use in-built workflows that can make striking the ground off much smoother.

Commercial testing tools also have in-built support and documentation that is huge. There is much documentation available in a well-written format which is easy to use for testers.

High team support is also an advantage of commercial testing tools. You can contact the team managing the tool, in case of any emergency arises while using the tool.

The in-built feature of reporting present in commercial testing tools is also considered as their main advantage. However, the custom reporting feature of open source tools is also useful.

One of the main disadvantages of using commercial testing tools is its cost. These tools are prohibitively expensive and users need to pay subscription rates to use them.
Either annually or monthly fees have to be paid for using the tool.

These tools are not flexible like open-source testing tools. Hence these tools are only used while testing particular tasks. If you try to test things that are out of the box for commercial tools, it may drastically fail.

Here we will discuss the best tools available for web app testing. These tools will help you find the hidden bugs and process them further until they are removed.

Web Application testing tools

Let’s discuss the list of top web app testing tools that are trending at the current time:

Selenium

It is an open-source web automation testing tool and is the most widely used tool in the modern era of critical testing. Selenium is one of the best tools which automates across different OSs like Mac, Linux, and Windows and also on browsers like Chrome, Firefox, IT, etc.

The test script of Selenium can be written in any programming language like Java, Python, C#, Ruby, PHP, JS, and Perl. This tool also offers record & playback features with a simple browser add-on named Selenium IDE. There’s a POWERFUL Selenium WebDriver that helps you develop more advanced and complex automation testing scripts.

Here are some features of Selenium:

It has multi-browser support
Selenium provides multi-language compatibility
Quick identification of errors and use of quality web elements
Good performance feature
It also provides dynamic web elements for the use
Selenium is open-source and free to use
It is portable, which means it works easily with different OSs
It also has a reusability feature for testing scripts

Katalon Platform

Katalon is a comprehensive automation solution for Web, API, Desktop, and Mobile app testing. With a strong user base of more than 0.5 million, both experienced and beginners test engineers can relish its practical and versatile features for an easy testing process.

Integration platforms: Azure DevOps, BrowserStack, Circle CI, etc.

Supported Platforms: Linux, Windows, MacOS

It also provides a 30-day free trial.

Here are the features of the Katalon Platform:

It is flexible in testing design. Beginners in automation testing can use playback and record functions for making tests quickly. While the experts can use in-built keywords for improved productivity along with advanced scripting capacities.
Easy selenium migration is possible with TestNG/JUnit framework
It can execute powerful tests and has cross-browser automation tests along with CI/CD pipeline integrations.
It supports testing methodologies like Page Object Model Testing, Keyword-Driven testing, TDD/BDD testing, etc.
It reduces test maintenance effort and cost
You also get a centralized report dashboard

Testpad

Testpad tool is a simple and more accessible manual testing tool that is a good option for testing web apps. It prioritizes pragmatism over the process and uses checklists like test planning that can be in the form of various ranges of styles like Agile’s manual testing side, exploratory testing, BDD syntax highlights, and also traditional test case management.

Integration platforms: Jira, GitHub, Pivotal, etc.

Supported Platforms: Linux, Windows, Web apps, etc.

It also provides a 30-day free trial.

Here are the key features of the Textpad tool:

Guest testers are invited by a simple email, and they do not need special accounts to handle the testing process
Simple to use even by non-testing professionals. Everyone can help in the testing process when required
It has drag and drop feature for test plans
There’s an editor that is Keyboard-driven with JS-powered UI
It is a lightweight tool with issue trackers and JIRA

Intruder

intruder is also a powerful error scanner that will assist you to uncover different weaknesses lurking in the web apps and underlying infrastructure. It offers powerful security checks, timely and continuous monitoring, and also it is an easy-to-use tool. Intruder tools will keep your web app safe from hackers.

Integration platforms: GitHub, ServiceNow, Slack, Teams, etc.

Supported Platforms: Windows

It also provides a 14-day free trial.

Here are the features of Intruder:

It has best-in-class coverage of threats that covers over 10,000 security checks
It checks for missing patches, configuration weaknesses, and app weaknesses like SQL injection, Cross-site scripting, etc.
Automatic prioritization and analysis of scan results
Automatic analysis and priority of scan results
It has an intuitive interface, easy to set up and execute your scans
It takes proactive security testing for modern vulnerabilities
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure connectors
API integration is easy with CI/CD pipeline while using this tool

testRigor

This tool assists you to express the tests directly as executable specifications are made in English. Users belonging to different technical firms can develop a full test case, small/medium/complex which converts web, mobile, and API in one test. Test steps are made as per the end-user level instead of just relying on details of XPaths, and CSS Selectors.

Integration platforms: TestRail, Zephyr, XRay, Jira, etc.

Supported Platforms: Windows, iOS, MacOS

It also provides a 14-day free trial.

Here are the features of testRigor:

It has a free-forever public version
Test cases are made in English
Recorder facility for web steps
Unlimited tests and unlimited users
testRigor is the easiest tool to learn automation
Easy integration with CI/CD
Helps in test case management
SMS & Email testing
Web, Mobile, and API steps in the test

Many More

The list is endless with fantastic tools like QA Wolf, TestSigma, and many more.. You can pick the one you like and that fits the needs of your team and project.

Final words

There are many web app testing tools present in the market that can greatly change the effectiveness and efficiency of the testing process. These tools ultimately offer a huge range of features and expertise that allows you to conduct comprehensive testing and ensures that the reliability and quality of your web app are not compromised.

Selenium is a well-known tool amongst testers as it is versatile and robust to use. The ability to automate the browser functions and support various programming languages makes it an easily flexible and suitable tool in many scenarios.

Moreover, tools like TestComplete, Appium, SoapUI, etc., are worth considering and depend on your particular testing needs. The final choice of picking any web application testing tool will depend on your needs, budget, and expertise. By using any of these top tools, one can streamline the testing process, search for bugs, solve them, and finally deliver high-quality web apps which provide a beautiful user experience.

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