Testing is a buzzword in the world of application and software development. It enables developers to take new features to the market faster and without bugs.
Developers test applications to deliver reliable products that meet the stated requirements. Be it manual or automated testing – the process helps ensure the quality of the application and a great user experience eventually.
You have a whole lot of categories in the extensive testing landscape, like performance testing and load testing – some of which are better suited for automation testing and some for manual.
This article will guide you towards the best option in app testing – Manual or automated.
Let’s explore.
What is Manual Testing?
Manual testing is the process in which testing is done, step-by-step, by a human tester without any test scripts.
The QA analysts conduct the test to feature any issues and make the application bug-free before it’s live.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Manual Testing
Here are some advantages and disadvantages of manual testing services.
Advantages-
- Manual testing uses human intelligence to test the functionality, usability, and performance of the software program. Testers can use their domain knowledge and prior experience to develop test cases, figure out faults, improve quality, etc.
- The process is adaptable and can be modified according to changing software needs. Usability, ad-hoc, exploratory testing, etc., which are done to find fresh issues are best suited for manual testing.
- Since it doesn’t require expensive automation tools and frameworks – manual testing is cost-effective.
- Tester’s comments help enhance the product’s functionality, thus, adding a personal touch to the process.
- It avoids the hassle of expensive rework in the development cycle allowing for early and quick detection of flaws.
- It is simple and easy to use and doesn’t require any particular training. Manual testing can be done by anyone with a fundamental understanding of software.
Disadvantages –
- The process is time-consuming as testing takes time.
- It stands the risk of human error by making mistakes in execution or failing to test particular scenarios.
- It can be expensive in scenarios like big projects or where frequent releases are needed. It will require a lot of human resources, which can become costly.
- You can’t quantify or test the efficiency of the process since you can’t count the quantity of test cases execution, coverage, and errors.
What is Automated Testing?
Automated testing is where the tests are done automatically through test automation frameworks and other tools. Testers write test scripts resulting in the automation of the process.
The tests are conducted to assess the performance of the product and make it bug-free.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Automate Testing
Let’s find out what automation testing services have to offer.
Advantages-
- The tests can run around the clock. It is far more challenging to set up a team of testers to function 24/7. The QA specialist has to set up the test script, which will automatically run overnight .
- It ensures a better return on investment as testers can run tests more meticulously (every time the source code is changed). Testers can make sure that all parts of the app run as planned.
- It allows reusability, i.e., the developers can repeat tests when the source code is changed.
- Testers can use the test scripts for different projects, saving time and ensuring faster delivery to the market.
- Automated tests allow for faster bug testing in the early stages of the development life cycle. Bugs like memory leaks are easily detectable post multiple simultaneous tests. Testers can check for a wide range of issues in a short time. Also, they can reuse the test scripts in later development stages (without the need to rewrite the new ones), saving time and effort.
- It increases reliability by avoiding human error. The developers know that there will be same steps in each execution.
- You can multitask here by running multiple tests on a broad range of systems simultaneously, not so much possible in manual testing.
Disadvantages-
- Maintenance is a little difficult, i.e., if you frequently upgrade to new versions, you will have to rewrite/edit previously written test scripts as well.
- You can’t fully assess the user experience as automated tests are not usually efficient for complex scenarios like knowing the long user journey.
- Automated testing is not flexible as it relies on a set of tools. If your company doesn’t have an expensive testing suite, you get faced with a lot of software-based limitations.
- It is slow and wasteful to test automated testing for simple features or small-scale applications.
Key Difference Between Automated Vs. Manual
Both testing processes have their place in the SDLC. Various factors dictate the choice between manual and automated testing, like project requirements, time & budget, system complexity, team expertise, etc.
Now that we know the benefits and challenges in App Testing of both testing processes – let’s explore the key differences.
| Criteria | Manual testing | Automated testing |
| Scalability | Not too efficient when testing is done at a large scale | Highly efficient for large-scale testing |
| Turnaround time | High turnaround time since it takes more time to complete a testing cycle | Turnaround time is much lower |
| Cost | Costly as you need experts | Cost efficient as once you have the software infrastructure, it works for a long time. |
| Specialization | Best for usability, ad-hoc, exploratory testing | Best for regression, load, and performance testing (for best results- repeated execution) |
| Accuracy | Low accuracy as chances of human error | Computer-based testing so higher accuracy |
| User experience | Higher UX as human observation and cognitive abilities involved | It doesn’t guarantee a great UX |
| skills | Fewer skills required | Requires more skills for the knowledge of programming and scripting |
To sum it up
It is imperative to strike the right balance between the two processes to build high-quality, bug-free applications.
As a developer, you need to figure out the parts best for manual testing and what bears well with automated testing.
Also, map out the capacity planning for manual (number of users) and automated testing (number of users and parallels). This way, you will be able to chalk out the right solution that’s speed, coverage, and cost-optimized.
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