In 2024, QA teams have a range of automated testing tools at their disposal to improve the efficiency of test processes.
With so many choices, it can be difficult to filter them down to those that best match your testing needs, budget and in-house technical capabilities.
In this article, we detail our selection of the 5 best automated testing tools in 2024.
Choosing an automated test tool - where to start?
As in any field, the term "best" is necessarily subjective. Quality depends on the extent to which the product in question meets the varied expectations of its potential users.
Before exploring the automated test solutions that could meet your needs, it's essential to answer the following preliminary questions:
- What features are you looking for?
- Who will use the tool for testing? Developers or QA teams?
- What technical skills do users have?
- Can it be integrated into CI/CD pipelines or tool chains?
- How easy is it to manage scripts and reuse test resources?
- What's your team's budget?
- Where can you get help with technical problems?
Depending on the answers to these questions, companies choose between an open source tool and a paid tool that is more intuitive to use.
Of these two types of automated testing tools, the 5 detailed above are part of our slightly biased selection:
1. Selenium - The ultimate open source testing tool
Launched in 2004, Selenium is one of the best-known, if not the best-known, (free) open source frameworks for Web test automation.
Its software suite includes Selenium WebDriver, Selenium Grid and Selenium IDE.
In another 20 years, Selenium will surely still be around. Given that your teams have the skills to use this robust platform to its full potential, there's little you can't do in the way of Web testing with Selenium.
Its key advantageous features :
- Wide range of programming languages supported: Java, C#, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, PHP, etc.
- Supported browsers: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari, etc.
- Tests on local or remote machines via the Selenium server
- Parallel and multi-browser execution to reduce runtime and increase test coverage
- Integrations with other test frameworks (e.g. TestNG for reporting) and CI/CD tools
2. TestComplete - A complete UI testing solution
As its name suggests, TestComplete is a complete automated testing platform for functional test automation.
Developed by SmartBear, the tool enables the rapid creation of reusable tests for desktop and mobile applications, supporting a variety of scripting languages while allowing the creation of keyword-based or data-driven no-code tests.
The solution features an intuitive user interface and an extensive library of ready-to-use modules such as CrossBrowser testing or SoapUI Pro for API testing.
With built-in support for over 500 third-party controls and frameworks, TestComplete can manage and identify dynamic elements in almost any UI.
Its key advantageous features :
- Programming languages supported: JavaScript, Python, VBScript, JScript, Delphi, C++, C#
- Flexible test design methods: record and playback, manual modes and scripting with embedded keywords
- Object identification with property-based visual recognition and AI
- Parallel, multi-browser and multi-device testing
- Integrations with other test frameworks, CI/CD tools and the SmartBear ecosystem
3. Applitools - Powered by Visual AI
Applitools stands out as an automated visual testing tool that uses AI to mimic the human eye to recognize and analyze visual elements on a web page or application.
Applitools' main advantage lies in its ability to dramatically reduce the time needed to create, run and maintain automated tests, by replacing traditional functional testing with artificial intelligence.
Applitools reduces manual work throughout the entire testing process, from test creation to analysis, maintenance and execution, enabling teams to extend test coverage.
Its key advantageous features :
- Applitools uses intelligent technology to accurately detect visual anomalies, guaranteeing precise visual matching.
- Cross-platform visual testing
- Applitools skilfully handles dynamic content, such as new data or updates, minimizing the risk of false positives during tests.
- Access detailed reports and insights, enabling you to understand visual changes over time and improve test efficiency.
- Automatically identifies the root causes of visual discrepancies, simplifying the process of resolving and correcting any problems.
4. Tricentis - A versatile model-based platform
Tricentis Tosca is a no-code testing solution appreciated for its testing approach based on easily reusable templates. These templates can be quickly applied to different applications and environments.
The solution supports a wide range of testing activities, including functional, performance and security testing.
Its key advantageous features :
- Easily create reusable tests without code
- Risk-based test optimization with intelligent test design and requirements prioritization
- Create realistic test environments
- Extended support for API technologies
- Parallel and multiplatform testing
- Integrations with other test frameworks and CI/CD tools
5. Mr Suricate - The no-code tool that detects all bugs on all platforms
Mr Suricate is a code-free French solution that guarantees the smooth running of the user experience by detecting bugs before and after production launch.
The solution makes it easy to test applications and websites on different browsers, operating systems and platforms to identify potential bugs by reproducing user journeys at regular intervals.
It stands out for its ease of use, enabling non-technical profiles to create automated functional test scripts, run them on different browsers and analyze detailed results with easy-to-interpret reports.
Its key advantageous features :
- Test script creation and execution can be easily carried out thanks to an easy-to-use user interface.
- Its template-based approach saves you time when creating tests.
- Alert system that immediately informs testers when a test fails, exceeds a predefined threshold or when undesirable behavior is detected.
- All-in-one solution (Web, mobile app, API, accessibility, SEO, performance, load and datalayer)
- Personalized support and full assistance in using the platform.
