Top 10 UI Automation Tools You Should Try

As applications are designed and developed for varied platforms, spanning mobile, desktop, and cloud. Testing the user interface has turned into an increasingly complicated and risk-prone job. While having its series of challenges and loopholes, automated UI testing is gaining traction. UI test tools can effortlessly help in automated tests of software and applications that contain user interfaces. 

These mind-blowing software testing tools utilize test cases to make sure that the software and application meet its specification and performs the proposed functions. Such test automation tools not only provide smart automation but also offer intelligent analytics to address any test challenges.

Statistics Overview

Some stats that prove that UI should not be taken lightly ever:

• By 2020, there will be around 6.1 billion Smartphone users

• 75% of all site traffic at present mainly runs through search engine-Google

• 90% of audiences stopped using applications because of poor performance.

• 55% of businesses conduct UX testing

• Only 1% of users say e-commerce sites meet user’s expectations each time

• 52% of users state that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to connect and engage with a business or company

10 Best UI Automation Testing Tools

Here's an overview of the most popular and trending UI Automation Tools to help all the software testers out there:

1. Selenium 

Selenium is a popular open-source test automation tool, nowadays in demand, and extensively used tool in the test market. It can automate manifold OS like Linux, Mac, Windows, and browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, as well as Headless Browsers. It has increasingly become the industry standard because of its flexibility to be used on various third-party IDEs and using significant modern programing languages.  

Highlights of the Selenium: 

• The test script can be easily written in varied programming languages such as C#, Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, and JavaScript

• It offers record & playback features with the browser add-on Selenium Integrated development environment (IDE). 

• The intelligent Selenium WebDriver allows you to generate complicated and advanced automated test scripts

• This incredible automation testing tool offers a record and playback features with its browser add-on Selenium IDE

• It integrates well with Jenkins, Jira, as well as VS Team Services, but this integration is not as clear-cut as other in-stack alternatives (UTC with Quality Center or CodedUI with VSTS)

2. TestProject

TestProject is a great platform that offers an all-in-one completely free test automation solution. With TestProject you can test web, mobile (both Android and iOS), and even APIs! It is built on basic standards of open-source test automation tools Appium and Selenium, but it reduces the intricacy to manage and install drivers for every browser and platform that you need to test, making an effortless experience for automation testing. TestProject is the top free tool (according to Gartner) with an average rating of 4.6/ 5stars.  

Highlights of TestProject:

• TestProject is the world’s first free cloud-based, community-powered automation testing platform that is completely featured and can easily get started, with even if you do not have any coding skills.

• It can easily support so many platforms like macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and Webservices. 

• It provides users with powerful cloud-based record & playback abilities with a developer SDK and the competence to employ & create add-ons to extend the capabilities as needed.

• This platform is also the most popular free SaaS automation test development framework which is specifically created for agile expert teams! 

• It is made with industry-standard FREE tools, supports various operating systems, and most significantly it allows a team-first approach to automated tests that make it easy for the software team to test Web, iOS, and Android apps effortlessly.

• It has many built-in integrations for Sauce Labs, BrowserStack, Jenkins, Slack, and more!

3. UFT (United Functional Testing )/QTP (Quick Test Professional)

QTP (Quick Test Professional) is now referred to as HPE UFT (United Functional Testing). UFT offers test automation for regression and functional testing for software applications. In Jan 2020, Microfocus released the newest version of UFT (v15.0). The updated version offers new features that streamline the test processes, improve test efficiencies, and maintain quality while lowering testing time.

Highlights of the UFT (United Functional Testing): 

• UFT is a popular commercial tool to test desktop, mobile, web, and RPA apps

• It uses Visual Basic (VB) Script Edition as its scripts language to register the test procedure and operates several objects and controls in testing the apps

• It supports Desktop and Web and has protocols that relieve scripting of some ERP or CRM applications like Oracle and SAP.

• Tests’ parameters, activities, and actions can be visualized in diagrams. It has an intuitive user interface for creating, implementing, and reporting API tests

• It has error handling mechanism and unique smart object recognition

4. Katalon Studio 

Katalon Studio is a free test automation solution developed by Katalon LLC. It is a powerful and all-inclusive automation solution for testing API, mobile, desktop, and web app testing. Katalon Studio is also a 2020 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Software Test Automation, which proves that the tool is now the big player in the market. In this year, Katalon has released its new upgraded version ‘Katalon Studio 7.3’ with major improvements that solves the awaiting issue in Selenium, support scalable projects, sharing test artifacts across manifold projects, and more.

Highlights of Katalon Studio:

• It comprises rich features that help overcome complex challenges in web UI test automation

• Katalon Studio supports multiple platforms including Linux, Windows, and macOS.

• It has its user interface that allows for script editing and recording without programming skills. It also has a scripts view for programmers to work on more complex scripts.

• Entire features unified in the same UI (user interface) package: Reports, Test Runner, Editor, etc.

• It also supports Continuous Integration (CI) tools like TeamCity and Jenkins

5. TestComplete

TestComplete is proprietary and simple to use UI test automation tool by SmartBear. It enables testing teams to build, run, and maintain UI testing for mobile, desktop, and web apps. This tool by SmartBear allows the test team to speed and scale the testing efforts to deliver faster and ensure top quality software. Its updated version 14.4 was released in April 2020 counts enhancement in its integration with Jira. 

Highlights of TestComplete:

• TestComplete requires less or no programming skills for easy test cases. It has a less steep learning curve in contrast   to other offerings

• It has its UI (user interface) with comprehensive solid features.

• It provides GUI UI object recognition abilities that identify and update UI (user interface) objects automatically.

• TestComplete supports keyword-driven testing, object-driven testing, data-driven testing, along with database testing   support

• Robust record-and-replay traits to script in a series of languages like VBScript, JavaScript, C#Script, DelphiScript, or Python, to effortlessly create tests without or with programming knowledge. 

6. TestIM

TestIM is a SaaS app, developed by developers who were anxious about spending energy and time managing test automation environments, as an easy bug fix might break different section of the app. Hence, they created this smart simple-to-use resolution for UI testing. It is mainly designed for businesses searching for an out-of-the-box resolution for UI tests that concentrate on execution paths for complicated workflows.

Highlights of TestIM:

• Tests are impressive simple to create, with the assistance of an intuitive UI

• It offers an integrated solution for test automation. It proposes smart locators, together with a smart strategy to maintain them

• TestIM has an amazing self-healing ability as a division of their Smart Locator technology

• With the introduction Dynamic locators concept, they concentrate more on testing types like end-to-end testing, functional testing, and UI testing

• It increases the stability and extensibility of your test suites. Gives the teams and the companies, the flexibility to broaden the functionalities of the platform using complicated programming logic with HTML and JavaScript 

6. Ranorex Studio

Ranorex Studio is a commercial Windows GUI automated test tool opted by over 4000 companies globally for comprehensive testing on desktop, mobile, and web apps in a single license. Ranorex 9.3 introduces enhanced Jira and TestRail reporting. The latest version, Ranorex Studio 9.3.1 (2020) provides the Ranorex Instrumentation Wizard to quit iOS IPA packages with code signing v2.0 (previously signed).

Highlights of Ranorex Studio:

• It is best for beginners with a codeless easy and-go interface and beneficial wizards, but useful for automation experts with a full IDE

• Leveraging its practice in desktop-based automated test, Ranorex has sophisticated abilities for UI element detection, editing, and management

• Ranorex can even be integrated with Selenium Grid to allow distributed tests together with parallel test implementation

• Like Katalon Studio, Ranorex makes test automation easy for QA team with its friendly and intuitive GUI, features of record/playback, and script generation

• Ranorex Studio can effortlessly integrate with tools like Jenkins, Jira, TestRail, Travis CI, Git, and more. With this intelligent tool, you and your team will spend less time- solving issues with unstable tests and more time counting the quality of your application

7. Squish 

Testing the UI (user interface) of the present’s apps is complicated and error-prone work. Automating this job is tough and challenging, but if approached appropriately it is worthwhile. The Squish GUI expert is the preferred choice for countless companies worldwide and a 100% cross-platform tool, features

Highlights of Squish:

• Competent of testing apps based on a series of GUI technologies – comprising Android, Mac, Windows, Java, iOS, Qt and more

• To save extra time in the current Agile Days, we have a smart automation tool to test GUI. Squish Automation Tool is one of the best tools in terms of GUI Automation Tools

• One can easily use Squish for the automation of the cross-platform mobile, desktop, embedded and web GUI testing

• Utilizes property-based object identification plus it is capable to record & replay scripts written in Perl, JavaScript, Python, Tcl, or Ruby

• Provides wide integration options counting CI (continuous integration), test management build integration, & software project management integrations 

8. Rapise 

Rapise offers an all-in-one test automation solution. Rapise provides robust built-in support for testing desktop and web apps in multiple browsers, Windows, Java, .NET, Qt, Flash, SWT, WPF, Silverlight apps, Ajax, REST/SOAP web services, and complicated apps (MSDynamics, SAP fiori, Salesforce,) in one simple to use package. Now in its 6th updated version, it gives scriptless automated tests through Rapise Visual Language. 

Highlights of Rapise:

• Rapise supports Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and is the crucial tool for automating the routine UI (User Interface) tasks for legacy app

• It uses standard JavaScript with simple-to-use libraries, making it rapid and easy to get up to speed.

• Rapise provides out-of-the-box integration with TFS & allows you to perform your tests through Selenium Grid or WebDriver, & the built-in web browser plugins

• With automated recording, smart playback Learn-And-Go, and built-in test validation features, it is the global market leader in the automated test space. 

• This amazing tool also comprises a growing set of custom libraries for testing a series of famous applications, including Microsoft Dynamics. The updated new version even counts a scriptless keyword-driven framework. 

9.AutonomIQ

AutonomIQ has a strong message around machine learning and Artificial Intelligence, but what does it do? This intelligent tool provides a three-easy-step process for UI (user interface) test automation. It starts by discovering your app through its Artificial Intelligence, & then building test cases from that discovery procedure. The last step is using their analytics engine to scrutinize, examine, and maintain the test cases.  

Highlights of AutonomIQ:

• AutonomIQ is designed for the testers looking for an interesting hybrid amid code and codeless solutions. It can easily run tests against different devices, environments, and browsers

• Head-to-head tests between this smart platform and incumbent automation tools outcome in a test cycle-time reduction (from 200 hrs to merely 5 hrs)

• Strong NLP, ML, and AI and uses the POM (page object model) though only in their generated testing

• Another approach to old and traditional BDD (utilizing proprietary NLP). 

• Self-healing in their implementation and the good thing about it is that it suggests smart locators, through their Chrome Plug-in

Conclusion 

UI testing is significant to improve the quality of any application. Each of the above-mentioned UI Automation tools offers some exceptional features that help to improve the quality of the released software.  You can select any of these UI Automated tools based on your project requirement. Which one do you prefer most? Feel free to share it in the comments section.

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