Mobile Testing Tools market overview
“The number of smartphone users worldwide is expected to grow by one billion in five years. Samsung and Apple are leading smartphone vendors, with about 18 percent of the market share each.” ( by Statista Research Department). This figure is increasing and make both IOS, Android applications market have become a billion-dollar industry. Then the mobile testing tools market’s growth is predicted to continue blooming and hit its value at $13.3B by 2026.
There are some criteria to select the right mobile testing tools based on the complicated of Mobile testing( regression testing, resource constraints, network connections, etc.):
- Integration capabilities: Agile and DevOps have been talking about in recent years. It states the high demand for seamless integration in software testing in general, and mobile testing in particular.
- Diversity of operating systems: Diverse operating systems are challenging for mobile testing. Either the reusability and the ability to run tests across multiple operating systems play an essential role.
- Required level of programming skills: More and more non-technical testers have participated in the automation transformation. It creates a demand for low-code and no-code mobile testing solutions that are easy for anyone to adopt.
- Supported Mobile Locator Strategies: Dynamic elements or objects in mobile applications are challenging for the automation tool to locate them correctly. Testers should be able to set the locator strategies intentionally with two or more alternatives.
1. APPIUM:
The tool has been at the leading position in the automation mobile testing field for many years. Appium is an open-source made for mobile web, automating native, and hybrid applications on Android mobile, iOS mobile, and Windows desktop platform. Appium was developed by Dan Cuellar in 2011 as “iOSAuto” in C#. Appium was motivated to be rewritten its code in Node.js since Sauce Labs funds Appium’s development. In 2014, it won the Bossie award of InfoWorld and Open Source Rookie of the Year by Black Duck Software. In 2020, Appium’s code can be written by Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, JavaScript, and C#.
Highlight features:
- Appium can firmly integrate with other tools and CI/CD processes.
- Appium supports multiple scripting languages and a wide range of operating systems.
- It uses one same API for cross-platform testing, which maximizes the script reusability.
Appium is the right solution for mobile testing teams with a relatively high level of programming skills (Appium derives its roots from Selenium, and it uses JSONWireProtocol internally to interact with iOS and Android). Its sturdy nature and advanced features allow testers to create and execute test cases.
Website: http://appium.io/
Price: Free
2. Katalon Studio:
Katalon Studio is an all-in-one automation testing solution. Katalon is recognized as a March 2019 and March 2020 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Software Test Automation after three years published. Mobile testing features in Katalon Studio inherit vigorous frameworks of Appium and Selenium, which are made to suit the requirement of QA teams at any level. Besides, Katalon helps reduce the learning curve significantly. Katalon Studio supports all types of automation under test, from Mobile testing, Web testing, Desktop application testing, and API testing.
Highlight features:
- Additional utilities to speed up the automation process: Mobile Object Spy mode that populates object repository; and Mobile Recorder that generates test scripts from record actions
- Katalon Studio supports almost all testing capabilities from Appium with simpler setup requirements and less effort for script creation. Also, the tool offers built-in frameworks and keyword libraries that are available to use without any extra setups needed.
- It has a comprehensive and frequently-updated resources hub with documents, tutorials, and guidelines.
- Powerful integration capabilities with external tools (Jira, Git, Jenkin, etc.) and mobile platforms (Lambda Test, Sauces Lab, etc.)
If you have just begun with automation mobile testing, Katalon Studio is the right solution to get started. Katalon Studio is now available for both free and paid versions. So, you can try the free version before using the paid one.
Website: https://katalon.com/
Price: Free – $759 per year
3. Ranorex Studio
Ranorex Studio is a commercial automation solution provided by Ranorex GmbH. This tool is made for multiple testing purposes, including web, mobile, desktop, and API testing. It is another mobile testing tool that made it easy for beginners with its no-code interface and crucial wizards. Moreover, Ranorex supports the development of automated test modules using standard programming languages such as C#.
Highlight features:
- The tool increases test efficiency with native and cross-browser testing and reuses your tests across testing platforms and systems.
- Ranorex Studio offers powerful object recognition capability that eliminates device fragmentation.
- Its Instrumentation Wizard helps identify the UI elements of a particular technology more correctly and reducing jailbreaking.
Ranorex Studio is fit for mobile testers with little knowledge of programming.
Website: https://www.ranorex.com/
Price: Perpetual licenses from €2,290
4. TestComplete
TestComplete is a paid automation platform developed by SmartBear Software. It automates functional testing and back-end testing like database testing.
This platform provides test solutions for multiple types of the application under test, including mobile testing. For mobile testing, TestComplete users can run tests on both native and hybrid applications. The tool supports popular programming languages such as C#, C++, VB, and Python.
Highlight features:
- Low-code and no-code modes are available for non-technical testers to apply the tool easily.
- The tool can convert both recorded GUI tests and keyword-driven test scripts into the supported scripting languages.
- TestComplete also allows manual script creation with Code Editor.
TestComplete would be a useful tool for mobile QA teams with limited technical knowledge. Further, the tool still fits advanced testing needs with the ability to generate scripts manually. Since 2003, TestComplete won many Awards such as The World of Software Development – Dr. Dobb’s Jolt Awards and Delphi Informant Readers Choice Awards as the Best in the Testing/QA Tool category: 2003
Website: https://smartbear.com/product/testcomplete/overview/
Price: From $5,800 per year
References:
- Top Software Test Automation Software of 2022 — Gartner Peer Insights
- Best Automation Testing Tools for 2022
- Top 10 API Testing Tools (Details & Updates Done for You!)
- Top 15 mobile testing tools for 2022 (latest updated) by Brian Anderson