If you asked someone five years ago which are the best software testing tools available on the market, you’d probably get a significantly different answer from what you’d get if you asked the same question today. The landscape of the best software testing tools is rapidly evolving, so it’s important to make sure you keep up with the latest developments in this space.

For any software team looking to better understand which software testing tools are the best to start using, there is an additional layer of decision-making related to what the team actually needs specifically.

To help your team get off to the right start in your search for the best software testing tools, we’ve created this simple guide to empower you with all the information you need to make the right choices.

How should you decide which are the best software testing tools for your needs?

When choosing which software testing tools to use, it’s important to start with the needs and priorities of your team. Make sure you spend the right amount of time to sit down and focus on planning out your decision, and avoid choosing too quickly.

Here are some of the most important considerations to make when thinking about what your team needs.

What are the testing requirements of your project?

When starting the process of deciding which software testing tools to use, it’s crucial to begin with a clear understanding of the testing requirements of your software project.

For example, what types of software do you have and what types of technologies and interfaces are used? Is there a mobile app component? Is it purely API services with no GUI to test?

Another aspect of testing requirements for a software project can come from the operating agreements of your business and the industries you serve. For example, the healthcare and finance industries tend to have strict rules around personally identifiable information and other sensitive data, as well as high sensitivity to bugs appearing in production.

What attributes does your team have?

Take a moment to assess the coding and testing skills of the team that will be using the software testing tools, as well as any other relevant attributes of the team like experience with tools and processes.

Some testing tools are more geared towards specific sets of languages or testing frameworks, so having team members who are already familiar with these languages or frameworks can help ensure everyone gets up to speed quickly and smoothly.

To go a step further, for teams where developers with coding experience are scarce, choosing automation tools with less reliance on coding ability can help facilitate testing without utilizing scarce coding resources.

Finally, not all software development teams have extensive experience with testing tools if the developers on the team have mostly focused on new development over the years. Ease of use and learning curve may be useful to consider for teams where testing experience is not robust.

What is your budget? What is the value you’re getting in return?

At some point, you’re likely going to need to explain to someone what the cost of the software testing tools you want to use are, and why it’s valuable for your organization to use them.

If you know your budget up front, you’ll likely need to choose only software testing tools that fit that budget or find ways to scale implementation of the tools in a way that works with your budget. Some software testing tools are open source, while others are meant to be enterprise software testing tools for bigger teams with bigger budgets and more complex needs.

Aside from direct monetary cost, consider what value you’re getting and other less obvious costs. For example, tools with steep learning curves have a labor cost to implement and use, as well as an opportunity cost of losing whatever other work those team members could have been doing.

Similarly, older, cumbersome tools that can slow the process down can also represent potentially unacceptable costs.

Another form of value that a software testing tool can provide is support and size of community to collaborate with. Both of these aspects can help resolve issues quickly if you can’t afford to have team members spend a lot of time self-troubleshooting.

In general, which are some of the best software testing tools for modern teams?

Now that we’ve covered what you need to know to properly guide your decision when considering which software testing tool is the best for your team, here are some specific software testing tools on the market for you to consider.


testRigor

A quickly emerging player in the software testing space, testRigor is a cloud-based, end-to-end testing system that allows users to write tests in plain English and features artificial intelligence powered technology. Key points about testRigor:

WebDriverIO

A Javascript-based custom extension of Selenium WebDriver, WebDriver is neutral to languages and operating systems and enables introspection and control of user interfaces within the software. Key points about WebDriverIO:


Cypress JS

A technical testing framework, Cypress JS is typically used by developers and QA engineers who are building web apps with Javascript frameworks and used for front end browser testing. Key points about Cypress JS:

Robot Framework

A generic Python automation framework designed primarily for acceptance test driven development, Robot Framework supports various test case styles like behaviour-driven and data-driven test cases. Key points about Robot Framework:


Selenide

A browser testing framework, Selenide is a wrapper library around Selenium webdriver that allows for creating free tests with open source tools. Key points about Selenide:

Ranorex

A Microsoft Windows based testing tool, Ranorex has Selenium built into it and can be used for different platform types to create multiple test suites. Key points about Ranorex:


Tricentis Tosca

A fully automated system, Tricentis Tosca is AI-driven and enables end-to-end continuous testing. Key points about Tricentis Tosca:

Unified Functional Testing (UFT)

UFT is a functional and regression test automation tool designed to be used for applications, and was previously known as HP QuickTest Professional (QTP). Key points about UFT:


TestComplete (SmartBear)

Designed to be a single tool for all UI test automation, TestComplete aims to be usable by all team members of different skill levels. Key points about TestComplete: