Manual/Functional testing Vs Test Automation

Sometimes it seems that everyone and everything has shifted to Test Automation and pretty soon all of us will be replaced with robots that will do what used to be our previous jobs. this line of thinking can be seen in this simple question is manual testing dead?   Sounds kinda scary right ?

Well the truth is, that although Automation Testing clearly has obvious advantages there are some shortcoming. The answer, as in many other cases, is to use a combination of tools, methods and solutions to cover all of your testing needs. We have prepared some guidelines to help you know when it is better to use each of the Testing Methods as well as a list of recommended tools.

Test Automation-

All non functional testing i.e: security , compliance, performance, load testing etc.

Manual testing-

No one can understand user human behavior than a human tester. testing  scenarios is best done by humans who can. 

We have created a short list of tools you for both categories:

Test Automation Tools:

• Selenium– This free and open source set of tools allow users automating web applications for testing purposes. Web-based administration tasks can also be automated, thus allowing testers to be more efficient at their work.
• Test complete–This SmartBear product helps users create repeatable and accurate automated tests across multiple devices, platforms, and environments easily and quickly. A 30 days free trial is available. Pricing ranges from $599/year. certification programs are also available.

• HP Unified functional testing– This HP product,formerly known as QTP, helps testers automate tests in order to identify errors, defects and gaps from desired results of the tested application. A 30 days free trial is available.

Manual Testing tools- Bug tracking tools to manage and track bugs

• JIRA– Available both on cloud and server versions, this Atlassian product is thought by many as best in breed. It allows users to Track anything – issues, bugs, user stories, tasks, deadlines, hours – to stay on top of every team’s activity. Jira offers a wide range of integrations to help you with any need you might have. The company also has collaboration tools as well as a chat solution and dev tools. They offer a 7 days free trial. Pricing starts at $10/month

• Pivotal Tracker– Tracker is a free, award winning, agile project management tool that enables real time collaboration around a shared, prioritized backlog. This product offers a 30 days free trial. Tracker is free for public projects, qualified nonprofits, and academic institutions. Prices for commercial use range from $15-$300 for up to 50 collaborators and can be billed on a monthly/yearly basis.

• Bugzilla–This free product by Mozilla has been around for many years, making it a well known option for many projects, it is a Defect Tracking System designed to help you manage software development. It is simple and limited, but it does the job it aims to do, allowing individual or groups of developers to keep track of outstanding bugs in their product effectively.

• Redmine – Redmine is an open source, flexible project management web application. Written using the Ruby on Rails framework, it is cross-platform and cross-database.