Software testing tools are used by software developers, testers, and quality assurance (QA) teams to ensure that software products perform as intended and look as expected. Testing tools are used throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC) to test everything from individual units of code to entire software applications. When using effective software testing tools, companies can ensure that the software they are developing meets specifications and requirements, provides a superior user experience, and is relatively free of flaws and defects.

Types of software testing tools

Software testing tools are developed to manage many different types of functional and non-functional tests. Functional tests are designed to determine whether an application delivers all the functionality and features specified in the project requirements. Non-functional testing evaluates the software’s performance, usability, reliability, security, and other factors to determine how well it performs and what kind of user experience it offers.

There are a number of common software testing tools used by development teams today.

Test management tools manage many aspects of the testing protocol by tracking activity, analyzing data, managing test cases, executing automated tests, and planning and tracking manual testing.
Unit testing tools help to ensure that individual modules or units of code work as intended. Unit tests are the most basic element of software testing.
Integration testing tools are designed to find bugs that occur when different units are combined.
Regression testing tools determine whether new code or features added to software break or degrade existing functionality.
Performance testing tools, also known as load testing tools, evaluate the performance of a piece of software under different loads and as it scales to accommodate more users and larger amounts of data.
Bug tracking tools help to find bugs in the testing stage and keep a record of bug fixes.
Automation testing tools help to manage the process of preparing and executing automated tests and tracking and communicating results.
Cross-browser testing tools evaluate how well an application works in multiple browsers, devices, and platforms.
Security testing tools look for any vulnerabilities within the software that might be exploited by malicious actors.
UI testing tools evaluate the user interface to ensure that the software offers a superior experience.

Benefits of software testing tools

Software testing tools offer many benefits for developers, testers, and QA teams.

Higher product quality. Software testing tools help deliver higher quality applications by improving the accuracy of tests, increasing the coverage of code that is tested, accelerating the pace of testing, and delivering feedback to developers earlier in the process.
Improved security. Cybercrime is a substantial threat to organizations large and small, and software vulnerabilities are a significant target for malicious actors. Software testing tools help ensure that applications are free of flaws and vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers, protecting companies, their users, partners, and customers from exposure to cyber criminals.
More cost-effective development. By uncovering defects and design issues earlier in the software developer lifecycle, software testing tools enable developers to fix bugs more easily and cost-effectively.
Ensure compatibility. Software testing tools can help ensure that a piece of software will work across multiple browsers, operating systems, and devices.
Greater customer satisfaction. Ultimately, software testing tools help development organizations deliver products that satisfy customer requirements and expectations.

Best practices for software testing:

Keep clear objectives. Each test should have a clear goal and focus on testing a single feature or a specific aspect of software such as security or the user interface.
Start with unit and integration tests. Unit tests examine individual modules or components of an app. Integration tests evaluate subsystems made of various units.
Use regression tests frequently. Every new feature or new addition to code should initiate a regression test to ensure that previous functionality hasn’t been broken.
Track bugs diligently. Establish a clear system for reporting and tracking bugs, including the type of information required for each defect.
Test a variety of environments and scenarios. Use different devices, operating systems, user profiles, and browsers.
Trust analytics. Track the results of every test and aggregate data to identify the most likely location of defects and to establish new tests that examine problem areas.
Test the UI. Use functional and exploratory testing and scenarios to get a sense of the user experience.

Automated vs. manual testing

Software tests may be automated or conducted manually. In manual tests, software testers execute test cases without using automation tools. In automated testing, testers write scripts that are automatically executed without the intervention of manual tester. Both methods of software testing have their own advantages and typically find different types of bugs.

Manual testing tools can help testers and developers to:

Organize and keep track of test materials
Improve visibility of test results
Track issues and bugs found through manual testing
Check how a user interface works across multiple browser platforms
Test the functionality, security requirements, performance, and reliability of APIs
Capture screenshots that help communicate deficiencies accurately

Automated testing tools can help to:

Increase the accuracy and speed of tests
Improve test coverage, ensuring that a higher percentage of code is tested in a specific period of time
Integrate testing more easily into Agile and DevOps methodologies
Automatically share results and insights with a variety of stakeholders
Free testers and QA teams to spend more time writing insightful test cases and less time executing endless tests
Quickly determine the stability of a build

Software testing tools from Tricentis

Tricentis has reinvented software testing for DevOps with the industry’s #1 Continuous Testing platform. Offering Agile test management and advanced test automation for 160+ technologies, Tricentis enables testing to be a catalyst for innovation rather than a roadblock to progress.

The Tricentis platform includes a variety of solutions that top any test automation tools list for their ability to accelerate release speed, reduce testing costs, and increase software quality. Tricentis offers:

A full testing lifecycle. Tricentis supports all phases of testing with a common information model that facilitates collaboration between developers, testers, and business users.
Unified analytics and insights. Real-life time analytics provide comprehensive visibility and insight into all testing activities in a central location.
Traceability. Trace production deployments back to business and functional requirements with best-in-class Jira testing tools and DevOps ecosystem integrations.
AI and machine learning for smarter, faster testing. Advanced ML technologies allow teams to test smarter and faster, and to reduce the business risk of application changes.
An open platform. Integrate continuous testing with the CI/CD toolchain to orchestrate a broad range of open-source and commercial technologies.

Additionally, the Tricentis platform offers solutions for Agile test management, data integrity testing, smart impact analysis, performance testing, ServiceNow testing, and SAP testing.

FAQs

What is software testing?

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Software testing is the process of testing a piece of software during development to find bugs or defects, and to ensure the final product is as free of flaws as possible. Software testing is also performed to make sure the product meets specific requirements, and to ensure that the application offers a compelling user experience.

What are software testing tools?

Software testing tools are applications that can be used to assist developers and testers in performing manual or automated tests. Various tools perform specific functions such as unit testing, integration testing, regression testing, end-to-end testing, performance testing, compliance testing, and security testing.

What is crowdtesting?

Crowdtesting uses dozens, hundreds, or thousands of QA testers to test an application on a broad array of operating systems, devices, and networks. With crowdtesting, testers can cover a larger range of scenarios and find more bugs in a shorter period of time.

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