Nowadays the quality and user experience of a software application affects its popularity and profitability directly. Hence, it becomes essential for enterprises to identify and eliminate all defects and performance issues in the software before its deployment. An enterprise can further get the bugs or defects identified in an application before its deployment to save time, effort and money. But it is also important for the enterprise to automate its manual testing efforts to enhance test coverage and obtain more reliable test results. Also, the web application testing tools will enable testers to evaluate various aspects of application – functionality, performance, security and code quality -under varying conditions within a shorter amount of time. Hence, it is always important for the business to understand the pros and cons of some of the widely uses test automation tools.
Brief Overview of 10 Widely Used Web Application Testing Tools in 2018
1) Apache JMeter
The open-source and cross-platform load testing tool is written in Java programming language. It is designed with features to assess the performance of a web application and determine its maximum operating capacity. In addition to being extensible, JMeter also supports a variety of servers or protocols including SOAP, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, POP and IMAP. Also, the tool further makes it easier for testers to build and debug test cases by providing a graphical user interface (GUI). You can read more on effectiveness of JMeter for load testing.
2) NeoLoad
The free software testing tool enables users to assess the performance and determine the maximum operating capacity of a website by simulating user behaviour and monitoring infrastructure. NeoLoad further supports an array of new web technologies including HTML5, WebSocket, AngularJS, and Oracle Forms. Also, it simplifies test design creation by supporting drag-and-drop controls. Also, the testers have option to customize the test designs by using JavaScript.
3) Selenium
At present, Selenium is one of the most effective web application testing tools. In addition to being open source, Selenium also supports multiple operating systems, web browsers and programming languages. The Selenium testing professionals also have option to choose from an array of products included in Selenium Suite – Selenium IDE, Selenium WebDriver, Selenium Grid and Selenium RC. They can take advantage of the features and tools provided by Selenium to perform functional testing of web applications efficiently across multiple platforms and browsers.
4) TestCafe
The commercial functional testing tool for web applications supports major operating systems, browsers and devices. Unlike other web application testing tools, TestCafe does not require users to install browser plug-ins for recording and executing tests. Hence, the testers can easily record and execute tests without installing and managing a large number of plug-ins. Further, they can take advantage of the test recorder provided by TestCafe to evaluate the application efficiently across multiple web browsers both locally and remotely.
5) HP Unified Functional Testing (UFT)
The Window-based software testing tool helps users to test both desktop, web, and mobile applications. Despite supporting only Windows platform, UFT supports several widely used technologies including Java, .NET, SAP, Oracle, Peoplesoft, Delphi, Web Services, Terminal Emulator and Silverlight. The integrated development environment (IDE) provided by UFT further enables testers to combine manual, automated and framework-based testing seamlessly, while automating all types of functional testing with a single graphical user interface.
6) SpringTrax
Often the usability and user experience of a website is impacted by broken and wrong needs. Hence, the testers must identify and repair all these broken/wrong links to keep the visitors engaged. SpringTrax is hugely popular as a cross-platform link checker. It enables testers to identify, fix and repair all 404 errors. Also, the testers can take advantage of the JavaScript tracker code provided by SpringTrax to monitor the website visitors individually and identify the 404 errors in a website almost instantaneously.
7) AppSpider
The Window-based software testing tools helps users to identify the security vulnerabilities in a web application by scanning its source code rapidly. AppSpider is designed with features to assess the complex security of modern web applications efficiently. Also, the commercial security testing tool enable testers to assess the security of the website by using a variety of evolving security attack patterns, and perform security tests regularly according to predefined schedule.
8) SiteDigger
The free tool from McAfee helps web application testers to identify the vulnerabilities, configuration issues, security nuggets and errors in a website based on Google’s cache. The users can further install and use SiteDigger by following some simple steps. But they must install Microsoft .NET Framework v3.5 before downloading the version 3.0 of SiteDigger. But SiteDigger 3.0 comes with a number of advanced features including real-time results, configurable result set, and improved user interface. It further allows users to save the signatures and results for future reference.
9) Browsera
At present, all web browsers do not support the latest version of HTML, CSS and JavaScript fully. Hence, the developers need tools to identify the layout issues in a web application by performing elaborate cross-browser testing. Browsera enables testers to identify all cross-browser layout issues in a web application based on a detailed report. It further highlights the problematic areas in a website and indicates each problematic area clearly through screen shots. But the testers have to choose from four distinct versions of Browsera – free, project, standard and premium.
10) Telerik Test Studio
The commercial software testing tool enables testing professionals to perform functionality, regression testing, and load testing of desktop, web, and mobile applications. Test Studio further supports major web browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera, and widely used web technologies like HTML, JavaScript, AJAX, ASP.NET, C# and Silverlight. Test Studio further enables enterprises to identify and repair all errors in the code almost immediately by implementing continuous integration (CI) process.
However, an enterprise must not pick the software testing tools based only on its popularity and market share. It must assess the features and tools provided by each software testing tool according to the specific needs of each project. Also, the business can consider combining multiple web application testing tools to reduce the testing time significantly and obtain more accurate and reliable test results.
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