Best Open Source Test Automation Tools:
In this tutorial, we have covered the top open source automation testing tools that are available in the market.
These testing tools aid in areas of testing like automation & manual testing, functionality, regression, load, performance, stress & unit testing, web, mobile & desktop testing, etc.
Some of these software testing tools are licensed and some are open source. In this tutorial, we are going to take an in-depth look at Open source testing tools.
Any software tool is known as open source if its source code is available for free for use & modification over the original design. In contrast to licensed tools, open source tools don’t have a commercial license.
All such open source tools that serve a specific purpose of software testing are known as open source testing tools.
Now the question arises which open source testing tool should one choose for testing? Well, the selection will always depend upon the purpose of your testing (automated, manual, functional and so on).
However, given below is a list of useful open source testing tools that are definitely going to help you in selecting the right tool.
The list includes open source software testing tools, open source functional testing tools, open source web application testing tools, open source performance testing tools, open source mobile testing tools, open source load testing tools, and many other open source testing tools in it.
What You Will Learn:
Top Open Source Automation Testing Tools
Given below is a list of the most popular open-source testing tools.
- Katalon Platform
- QA Wolf
- Selenium
- Appium
- Robotium
- Cucumber
- Watir
- Sikuli
- Apache JMeter
- WatiN
- SoapUI
- Capybara
- Testia Tarantula
- Testlink
- Windmill
- TestNG
- Marathon
- httest
- Xmind
- Wiremock
- k6
Here we go !!!
#1) Katalon Platform
Katalon Platform is an all-in-one solution that supports web, API, mobile, and desktop app test automation. It is powerful in enabling cross-functional operations for product development teams at scale.
As a codeless solution, Katalon Platform is easy to use, robust to expand, yet contains the necessary components for advanced needs with built-in keywords and project templates.
Further Reading => Learn How to Start Automation Tests Quickly
In addition, it provides a host of seamless integrations with SDLC management, CI/CD pipeline, team collaborate applications, etc. Users can leverage Katalon Store – a plugin and extension marketplace, to add more features and optimize their test automation strategies.
Katalon Platform has been recognized by Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice in 2020 and is trusted by over 65,000+ companies worldwide.
#2) QA Wolf
QA Wolf is an open-source end-to-end automated testing tool and one of the fastest ways to create QA tests that we’ve seen. It’s fully hosted, so no downloads or installation are required.
Its automatic code generation and low learning curve enable your entire team to get involved in test creation from the non-technical members to the senior developers.
#3) Selenium
Needless to say, selenium is one of the best open source testing tools that is available today. Being compatible with quite a lot of programming languages, testing frameworks, browsers and operating systems, Selenium is an awesome automation testing tool for web apps.
It helps you to create very effective test scripts for regression testing, exploratory testing, and quick bug reproduction.
Visit Selenium Website here
=> Want to learn more about Selenium tool? Check out our series of tutorials
#4) Appium
Appium open source test automation framework is primarily envisioned for mobile apps. Built on client/server architecture, Appium automates the applications that are created for iOS and Android.
It is a well-liked mobile automation testing tool attributable to its easy installation and usage.
Visit Appium Website here
Recommended Read => Informative Tutorials on Appium Series
#5) Robotium
Robotium is an open-source tool that acts as a test automation framework which is mainly intended for Android UI testing. It supports graybox UI testing, system testing, functional testing and user acceptance testing for both native and hybrid Android based applications.
Visit Robotium Website here
#6) Cucumber
It is an open-source tool based upon the concept of Behavioral Driven Development Using which Cucumber allows you to do automated acceptance testing by executing examples that optimally describe the behavior of the application.
It has cross-platform OS support and compatibility with programming languages like Ruby, Java and.NET.
The best part is that Cucumber allows you to have a single live document for both specification and test documentation.
Visit Cucumber Website here
#7) Watir
Watir (enunciated as water) is the short form for Web Application Testing in Ruby. This is an extremely lightweight, technology independent open source testing tool for web automation testing.
It allows you to write simple, adaptable readable and maintainable automated tests.
Visit Watir Website here
#8) Sikuli
Sikuli is an open source testing tool which is built upon the concept of image recognition and possesses the ability to automate anything that is seen on the screen. It is very useful to automate non-web-based desktop applications.
It is also known for its quick bug reproduction.
Visit Sikuli Website here
#9) Apache JMeter
Apache JMeter is an open source Java desktop app which is intended mainly for web applications’ load testing. It also supports unit testing and limited functional testing.
It has a lot of good features like dynamic reporting, portability, powerful Test IDE, etc and supports different type of applications, protocols, shell scripts, Java objects, and databases.
Visit JMeter Website here
#10) WatiN
It is the short form for Web Application Testing in.NET. WatiN is an open source test automation framework that aids in UI and functional web app testing. This tool is mainly intended for Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.
Visit WatiN Website here
#11) SoapUI
SoapUI is a very popular open source API Test Automation Framework for SOAP & REST. It supports functional testing, performance testing, data-driven testing and test reporting as well.
Visit SoapUI Website here
#12) Capybara
Capybara is an open source acceptance test framework that is helpful in testing web applications. It simulates the behavior of a real user that interacts with the application.
It can be used in conjunction with other testing tools like Cucumber, RSpec, Minitest, etc.
Visit Capybara Website here
#13) Testia Tarantula
This free and open source tool is created by one of the leading software company – Prove Expertise in Finland. It is a modern web tool for software test management mainly intended for agile projects.
Test executions can be quickly planned by using its tagging features and easy drag & drop interface.
Smart tags for fix verification and dashboard for managers are also some of its cool features.
Visit Tarantula Website here
#14) Testlink
Test Link is an open source web-based test management tool which is primarily featured for test plans, test cases, user roles, test projects and test specifications.
It offers cross-platform OS support and gets well integrated with other bug tracking systems like JIRA, Bugzilla, Redmine, etc.
Visit TestLink Website here
#15) Windmill
Windmill is an open source web testing tool created for automating and debugging the web applications. It offers cross browser and cross platform support for web app testing.
By May 2016, Windmill was actively maintained. But now, it is covered by web driver/selenium 2.
Visit Windmill Website here
#16) TestNG
TestNG is an open source testing framework enthused by Junit and Nunit with some new features added to make it a more powerful tool? It supports almost all kinds of testing like unit testing, functional testing, integration testing, data-driven testing, end-to-end testing, etc.
A few of its cool features include annotations, large thread pools, flexible test configuration, support for parameters, different tools, plug-ins, etc.
Visit TestNG Website here
#17) Marathon
Marathon is an open source test automation framework which is designed to test Java-based GUI applications. This tool is mainly intended for acceptance testing.
It allows you to record and replay the tests and generate test reports as well. You should use Marathon if you are testing a small project and if your application screen size is limited to 10 screens.
Note: Marathon ITE is a successor to Marathon which allows you to come up with resilient test suites for large and complex projects. However, it is a licensed tool. But you can check for its free trial.
Visit Marathon Website here
#18) httest
Httest is used to implement all types of Http-based tests. It offers a range of Http based functionalities. It allows testing of complex scenarios very effectively.
Visit httest Website here
#19) Xmind
It is an open source and free mind mapping software useful for regression testing. It is built on java platform and has cross-OS support. It’s a light-weight app, provides good encapsulation and also produces an artifact that tells about the total time spent on testing.
Visit Xmind Website here
#20) Wiremock
It is an open source testing tool for Http based application programming interfaces. It acts as a service virtualization tool that mocks the API for providing quick and powerful end to end testing.
Visit Wiremock Website here
#21) k6
k6 is an open source load and performance testing tool for testing cloud-native applications, APIs and microservices. It’s a modern developer-centric CLI tool with test cases written in ES6 JavaScript and with builtin support for HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2 and WebSocket protocols.
k6 is purposefully built for automation, and can easily be introduced into automation pipelines in Jenkins, GitLab, Azure DevOps Pipelines, CircleCI and other CI/CD tools for performance regression testing.
Visit k6 Website here
#22) Maven
Maven is basically an open source build automation tool mainly intended for java projects. We have the maven plugins available for testing. The “surefire:test” goal provided by the plugin is associated with a testing phase of software management lifecycle.
Visit maven Website here
#23) Espresso
It is an open source UI testing framework for Android that is helpful in creating reliable user interface tests within a single app. The auto sync feature of this app is really cool.
Visit Espresso Website here
#24) FitNesse
FitNesse is an open source automation acceptance testing framework. It is centered over the framework for an integrated test. It helps in coming up with high-quality tests.
Visit FitNesse Website here
#25) JUnit
It is an open source unit testing framework for Java. This tool is helpful for writing repeatable tests. It is a part of Xunit and has a cross-platform OS support.
Visit Junit Website here
#26) The Grinder
The Grinder is a free and open source java based load testing framework. It utilizes multiple load injector machines which turn out running a distributed test quite easily.
Its main features include generic approach, flexible scripting, distributed framework and mature Http support.
Visit Grinder Website here
#27) Tsung
Tsung is a free and open source load and stress testing tool. It is compatible with multiple protocols and servers like HTTP, SOAP, LDAP, etc. It distributes the load while testing and this turns out as one of its contributing feature towards the high performance of the tool.
Visit Tsung Website here
#28) Gatling
Gatling is an open source load and performance testing tool intended for web applications. It detects the bottlenecks in early development phase which help in reducing the overall debugging effort. It offers continuous integration.
You can use Gatling with Jenkins which helps in better regression performance testing and faster delivery.
Visit Gatling Website here
#29) Multi-Mechanize
It is an open source performance & scalability testing framework for web apps. It executes parallel python scripts to generate load against a site.
Visit Multi-mechanize Website here
#30) Selendroid
It is an open source test automation framework for Android applications and mobile web. It supports scaling and parallel testing.
Visit Selendroid Website here
#31) Keep it Functional
KIF(Keep it functional) is an open source iOS functional testing framework. Some of its features include minimal indirection, easy configuration, auto integration with Xcode tools, user simulation tests and wide OS coverage.
Visit KIF Website here
#32) iMacros
iMacros is obtainable as a free browser add-on for FF, IE and Chrome browsers. It is helpful for automating functional, regression and performance tests. One of its cool features is its built-in stopwatch command that allows you to capture response times of the webpage.
Free iMacros for browsers can be downloaded from here
Visit iMacros Website here
#33) Linux Desktop Testing Project
LDTP is an open source automated testing tool for GUI testing.
Visit LDTP Website here
#34) OpenTest
OpenTest is a spectacular automation tool for web, Apps, and APIs.
Visit OpenTest Website here
#35) Testerum
Testerum is a free and open-source test automation framework that enables users to test Web Applications, REST APIs, initialize & verify databases, and mock 3rd party APIs. This framework allows users to create custom integrations.
Using Testerum you can define acceptance criteria, use them as manual tests or transform them into automated tests. This can be done from an easy to use UI where no programming knowledge is required.
Visit Testerum Website here
Conclusion
There are many advantages of using Open source testing tools. There is no direct cost involved and open source permits customization. However, there are certain limitations as well.
Lack of professional technical support, limited protocol support and script maintenance can be challenging at times.
In order to choose the right open source testing tool, you should ensure that the tool is actively maintained, the type of tool matches the skills of your team and you have the experts in the team.
The features, benefits, and challenges offered by the tool should align with your testing requirements and organizational goals.
So, before choosing the tool, you must do a careful study such that the tool can meet all your testing needs and aid you well in performing the testing.