Are you struggling to keep up with the demands of software testing in your business?
Do you want to accelerate your agile software development process?
But do you have the best tool to streamline your testing efforts and optimize your business operations?
That's where Katalon testing comes in, a comprehensive solution that promises to transform your testing process.
But can the tool live up to its promises?
Or is it just another claim?
Let’s find out.
What Is Katalon testing?
According to recent surveys, over 50% of software development projects are still plagued with testing issues, including missed defects and delays in testing cycles.
Because the testing phase in the software development cycle has not evolved, it remains one of the bottlenecks impacting the velocity and throughput of digital innovation.
Businesses can’t release their products fast because a lot of time is spent on executing and designing test cases that mimic user behavior through the applications.
It can impact the quality of your product or service because of complex, slow, brittle, and expensive approaches to software quality management.
That’s where Katalon testing can bridge the gap.
Being a robust automation tool, Katalon is a Selenium-based engine. It is designed to create and reuse automated test scripts without coding.
Katalon Studio is an advanced test automation tool that supports the creation and execution of automated test cases across various platforms, including mobile apps and desktop apps.
The software provides a range of features to support test planning, including cross-browser testing, custom keywords, and the ability to record and playback test steps.
The tool can help you accelerate the agile software development process as it helps to design, execute, and manage automated tests for web, API, desktop, and mobile applications.
Katalon offers a free version with limited features and a paid version with additional advanced features and support.
Its range of features includes:
- A robust test case management system
- Keyword-driven testing
- Data-driven testing
- Integration with popular test management tools like Jira, Jenkins, and Git.
But wait, there's more.
Katalon Studio offers multiple products to help you achieve your desired testing goals without hassles.
Let’s look closer at each Katalon product.
Katalon Features
The platform offers multiple capabilities to minimize the troubletroubles during your testing process. Here are a few:
1. API testing
Unlike Ranorex and Selenium, Katalon Studio can help you test APIs without additional integrations. You can conduct end-to-end API testing, automate scripting, and maintain your tests.
A few of the primary features are:
- Auto-completion
- Code inspection
- Code snippeting
- References
- Debugger
The API testing mode also enables you to import tests from API testing and editing tools like Swagger, Postman, and WSDL.
Katalon’s API testing has an inbuilt response viewer with auto-formatting and searches for access to artifacts.
2. Web testing
Katalon offers an end-to-end web testing solution with inbuilt DevOps and Continuous delivery integrations.
The automation testing platform is Selenium compliant and has code-assist utilities like:
- Built-in object spy
- Code refactoring
- In-context references
It also offers an intelligent XPath location mechanism and multiple reporting options. Besides, native plugins integrate with Git, Jenkins, JIRA, and qTest.
Katalon’s web-testing execution framework uses multiple datasets and configurations. It also paves the way for customizing execution workflow and running it on automation.
3. Mobile testing
Katalon Studio offers a range of features specifically designed for mobile testing, making it a powerful tool for testing mobile applications.
It has native integration using Appium, which supports testing for the latest mobile platforms and devices with no additional installations.
Katalon supports testing mobile user interfaces (UI), allowing teams to perform functional, regression, and cross-device testing. You also get cross-environment execution capabilities to execute tests locally and remotely on real devices or simulators.
It allows teams to test their mobile applications across multiple platforms, including Android and iOS, ensuring compatibility and functionality across different devices.
You can also use the record and playback functionality for mobile testing, allowing testers to create test cases by recording their actions and replaying them later.
4. Desktop testing
Katalon supports automation testing for desktop apps written on:
- Classic Windows (Win32)
- Windows Forms (WinForms)
- Universal Windows Platform (UWP)
- Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
It has a rich set of built-in and custom Windows keywords to strengthen your testing process. Its primary functionalities are:
- Record Windows Action to record test actions, inspect all running app objects, and present them in a tree view.
- Spy Windows Objects for locating, capturing, and analyzing all app objects.
5. Katalon Runtime Engine
The Katalon Runtime Engine (KRE) is a component of Katalon Studio that provides a powerful and efficient way to execute automated tests.
It is designed to be scalable and can handle the execution of large test suites across multiple environments, making it ideal for enterprise-level testing.
KRE can be activated only on a paid version with a node-locked or floating license model. You can get more details on the pricing page.
Now that you have understood the features, let’s analyze the pros and cons separately for making an informed decision about the platform.
Pros of Katalon Testing
Katalon Studio is a comprehensive automated testing software that allows for the efficient test execution of multiple tests. With its intuitive user interface, testers with limited programming skills can quickly create and execute automated test suites.
It also supports test data, making it easy to create data-driven test cases. Using external sources such as CSV, Excel, or databases, testers can easily input large amounts of test data into their automated tests.
The list of advantages doesn’t end here. Let's explore deeper aspects:
1. Solid integration capabilities
You don’t require additional extensions to run tests, as Katalon offers many handy integrations.
You can also integrate with other SDLC management platforms like JIRA, TestRail, and TestLink. It integrates multiple tools to support CI/CD and DevOps, like Jenkins, TeamCity, CircleCI, Bamboo, and Travis CI.
Katalon Studio supports integrations with collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams, Git, and Slack and execution platforms like SauceLabs, BrowserStack, Selenium Grid, and Kobiton.
2. Powerful analytics and reporting
Katalon's data-driven testing module enables users to analyze tests based on recorded scenarios. The software provides built-in reports that are visually intuitive, easy to work with, and can be exported in PDF, HTML, Excel, or CSV format.
Katalon Studio Enterprise provides additional reporting options such as test suite collection reports, report history, and videos for headless browsers. Moreover, integration with the TestOps tool delivers even more reporting and analytical capabilities.
3. Multiple test support
Katalon Studio offers various types of automated tests, including:
- Keywords-driven tests
The keywords-driven approach in Katalon Studio enables testers who aren't proficient in scripting to run automated tests.
It uses keywords that represent users' actions on the Applications Under Test (AUT), and these keywords can be customized as per the requirements.
- Data-driven
The data-driven approach in Katalon Studio is a test execution strategy that involves reading test scripts from data sources such as data pools, ADO objects, Excel files, CSV files, and ODBC sources.
This approach allows you to execute tests with different data sets, enhancing test coverage and accuracy.
- API testing
It supports XML, XLS data sources, and databases with dynamic mapping for better test coverage. Additionally, the tests comply with Cucumber, a BDD-based (behavior-driven development) framework for acceptance tests of web applications.
- Cross-browser
Katalon allows you to run automated tests on all popular browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Edge, Remote, Headless, and custom environments.
It makes it easier to ensure that your web application works consistently across multiple browsers, reducing the risk of unexpected behavior or bugs appearing in a particular browser.
4. Simple-to-use UI
Katalon is known for its user-friendly interface and intuitive features that simplify test automation for technical and non-technical users.
It offers rich graphics with tree tables, views, and menus, allowing users to manage test artifacts easily.
With a drag-and-drop interface and pre-built keywords, Katalon allows users to easily create automated tests without requiring extensive programming knowledge.
Cons of Katalon Testing
Here are the significant cons of the test management software:
1. Limited support
While Katalon has a helpful community forum and documentation, it may provide limited support than testing tools. It was developed in 2015, so the community needs to be more mature.
2. Performance Issues
Some users have reported performance issues running large test suites or working with complex applications.
Common issues reported with Katalon include freezing or lagging of the tool, difficulty with text and object verification within iframes, and slower mobile testing due to the need to capture and write code.
3. Not open-source
One concern of Katalon is that it's not an open-source tool, unlike its peers. Katalon has a closed source code, meaning fewer developers in the community can contribute to its development and customization.
4. Lacks scripting language
A major limitation of Katalon is that it only supports the Groovy scripting language, which is part of the Java family.
While this makes it accessible to Java developers, it may not be ideal for those who prefer other programming languages. Users have expressed a desire for Katalon to support more languages to increase its flexibility and appeal to a wider audience.
5. Scalability issues
Katalon Studio may not be suitable for large-scale test automation projects as it may struggle with scalability issues. The tool may struggle to handle many test cases, and the test execution speed may slow down significantly.
6. Costly
The overall pricing of Katalon is high compared to other test automation tools in the market. Although you can access the free version of the software, accessing a paid plan is necessary if you want to utilize the best features for your testing process.
These cons can be a serious concern while implementing your testing process.
Also, other testing tools in the market offer similar features at a more affordable price.
Alternative for Katalon Testing
Allure TestOps can be a good alternative to Katalon testing as it offers a robust solution for test management, execution, and reporting.
With its ability to support manual test cases, exploratory testing, and ad hoc testing sessions, Allure TestOps is a versatile tool that can help you manage your testing process more efficiently.
Its integration with best-in-class issue-tracking tools and CI pipelines makes it ideal for organizations that value test automation and continuous integration.
Here are some features of Allure TestOps that make it a great alternative:
1. Multi-language support
Allure TestOps supports multiple scripting languages, including Java, Kotlin, JavaScript, and Python, making it flexible for developers and testers.
2. Open-source
Unlike Katalon, Allure TestOps has an OSS brother Allure Report which allows users to create integrations and adaptors for both systems API.
3. Scalable
Allure TestOps is designed to handle large-scale test automation projects, making it an ideal choice for enterprise-level testing.
4. Comprehensive reporting
Allure TestOps offers comprehensive reporting capabilities, providing users with detailed insights into their test results, including test execution history, trends, and analytics.
5. Integration with popular testing tools
Allure TestOps integrates with popular testing tools like Selenium, Appium, TestNG, JUnit, and Cucumber, making it easy to integrate into existing test automation frameworks.
Moreover, it’s highly cost-effective as the basic pricing option is $30 per month for 5 users, and the premium version (cloud) will cost you only $39 per month.
Learn more about Allure TestOps.
Takeaway
Katalon Testing is a powerful tool for automating tests in an agile software development environment.
However, it does have limitations, such as its steep learning curve and a lack of flexibility in certain areas, closed-source code and lack of support for multiple scripting languages, which may limit its flexibility and customization options.
Unlike Katalon Studio, Allure TestOps offers a more robust and scalable solution focusing on collaboration, reporting, and analytics.
Access the community forum to learn, share, and understand experiences with other Allure TestOps users.
You can address all your queries by contacting the support team or enrolling for a 14-day free trial to transform your testing experience.
