Software development will be one of the fastest-growing technology sectors in 2024. Surprising? Not so much. This is true every year, and 2024 won’t be the exception. Revenue from the software-building market is predicted to grow almost 6% in 2024 alone.
Even though an abundance of cash will make people from every trade jump onto the bandwagon, programmers know better than anyone that a popular market doesn't mean that software is an easy-to-engineer product.
Quite on the contrary, software is highly susceptible to the slightest mistake. Code testing tools are the best ally to turn this headache into a strength.
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What are software testing tools?
Code testing tools are sets of software that help test code. They help carry out software testing.
Software testing is, in turn, carried out on a product to ensure that it is error-free. Consider a scenario where a product is shipped without software testing or quality assurance processes. (If you think this is unrealistic, just check the news on the rollout of the video game Cyberpunk 2077.) You’ll realise the problems that users might stumble upon because of no testing can be disastrous, even if the overall quality of the product is premium. That’s just the pessimistic lookout. The various benefits of software testing include lower costs, improved security, efficiency, and, above all, quality products that will earn you stars galore on ProductHunt or Steam.
Bearing this in mind, developers use the functionalities and operations provided by software testing tools to execute an adequate and convincing test.
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The types of software testing tools
There are multiple possible tool classifications according to diverse criteria. One of the most common divisions is static testing, on one side, and dynamic testing, on the other.
- Static Test Tools: work without running the program.
- Dynamic Test Tools: work while running the program.
To share some examples, other helpful categorisations are based on different functionalities, including test management tools, cross-browser testing tools, or automated testing tools.
💡Nearly 1 in 5 projects with unit tests did not have them written by the current developers.
Other categorisations of the code testing tools respond to the most typical kinds of analysis. Some tests get their name from the amount of code you’re testing on. The most typical measure you’ll read about is unit tests. A unit is the smallest amount of source code you can check on. From our experience, there are no “unit testing tools,” because that’s a given. Tools should do much more than that.
Of course, code-testing tools can be grouped into more than one category. That is why, for instance, most of the tools selected in our list are automated while they also accomplish an additional and specific function.
Top 8 software testing tools for developers
This list of tools is not exhaustive; many other options are available on the market today. There’s no one-size-fits-all tool that will be ideal for everyone. The selection of software testing tools is primarily determined by what you consider your weakest spots.
Still, to help you decide on where to start, we have selected some top software testing tools.
- Selenium - Selenium is an open-source automation testing tool. It provides a playback tool for authoring tests across most web browsers and platforms, without the need to learn a test scripting language and frequent testing capabilities. Note that only web apps can be tested with Selenium. It is not possible to use it to test desktop or mobile apps. There are some frameworks that’ll help you use it for native apps. One of those is Appium, which also features on this list.
- LoadRunner - It is the market leader in the performance testing domain. It supports various development tools and communication protocols for performance testing. One benefit of utilising LoadRunner is its well-established reputation. Online users seem to agree that no other performance testing tool matches this one.
- JMeter - Designed by Apache, JMeter is an open-source software testing tool that can be used for performance, unit, or spike testing on various apps. It provides various browser plugins at the time, it supports several tests and protocols with a friendly GUI.
- TestRail - TestRail is a test management tool that enables you to keep track of the entire testing process with dashboards and metrics to visualise the performance. The advantage of using a test management tool is that you will be able to monitor each and every activity involved in the entire testing life cycle. Think of it as a CRM, but for your testing. You will be capable of getting real-time insights into your QA progress.
- Invicti, formerly known as NetSparker - Invicti is a security testing tool to detect security vulnerabilities in websites and web apps. Their pitch is: It scales. So if you’re worried your site has too many fronts or web apps a sneaky hit-and-runner could attack on, they’ll cover you as you grow. Invicti is a fully automated tool, and some of its advantages are its integrations and its ease of configuration.
- SoapUI - SoapUI is an open-source tool that works with SOA, REST JMS and AMF services. It is used for functional and API testing, a type of testing typically performed at the integration level. In addition, it supports tools with security functionalities.
- LambdaTest - Some multi-million dollar companies base their products on browsers, and it could be too costly to have a visual workspace work only on Chrome but not on Safari. LambdaTest addresses that point. It is a cross-browser testing tool that runs both on mobile and desktop. LambdaTest aids in assessing how a web application behaves when viewed in various browser configurations, and at the same time, it can be used to perform test cases. Other features included in this tool are that it lets the professionals test the whole website hosted locally, responsive testing and debugging support for the website.
- Appium - Another open-source choice that’s often mentioned along the same lines as Selenium. Even though their site pitches it as something else, users praise Appium as an open-source cross-platform testing tool. It can test compatibility in automated native, mobile web, and hybrid apps on iOS, Android and Windows. Some outlets call it “mobile-testing,” but it’s clearly more than that, since it can help check devices apart from phones that also run Android. Since it supports several systems, it allows devs to create a test for all of them using the same API. We suggest you explore their site — there appears to be much more to Appium than what’s on the surface.
Interested in getting a job as a software developer or tester?
We said it right away: the software development market grows and grows, and your fellow devs will need people just like yourself to test their source code. Our mission at WeAreDevelopers is to connect the finest organisations in Germany, the UK, and beyond with the talented software developers and IT professionals that make up Europe's largest community. See our job board for the most recent openings in software development. Best of luck!
