Here is a list of the best Bug Tracking Tools: Track Defects Efficiently With These Top Issue or Defect Tracking Tools
We are testers – in other words, bug finders. Defect/Bug/Issue/Fault/Failure/Incident – whatever we choose to call – our primary job description revolves around finding, recording, reporting, managing and tracking these. There is no harm in using an excel sheet to record/track and emails to report/alert/communicate.
As the magnitude of the projects, the number of test cycles, the count of the people involved, grows – it becomes absolutely important to have a much stronger mechanism that will make the management of these issues simpler and consistent. We can concentrate harder on finding more issues in the AUT than managing the ones already found.
To enable the same, the QA market has seen the emergence of various bug tracking systems or defect management tools over the years.
As is the general rule, all the tools that belong to a certain ‘genre’ consist of certain common/similar features that we can bank on.
For Bug tracking software, it is essential to have:
- Reporting facility – complete with fields that will let you provide information about the bug, environment, module, severity, screenshots, etc.
- Assigning – What good is a bug when all you can do is find it and keep it to yourself, right?
- Progressing through life cycle stages – Workflow
- History/work logs/comments
- Reports – graphs or charts
- Storage and Retrieval – Every entity in a testing process needs to be uniquely identifiable. The same rule applies to bugs too. A bug tracking tool must provide a way to have an ID that can be used to store, retrieve (search) and organize bug information.
Mentioned above are the features of the essence, which means these are absolutely necessary for any system that claims to be a bug tracking system. Apart from that, there might be additional features of convenience, like watching, saving searches, etc., and some of the assurances, like voting, showing the bug info in a live stream and so on.
While features of convenience and assurance are nice to have, it is the features of essence that become the game-changers during the evaluation and making a choice as to what tool to use. Then, there are economics to consider too.
We know that the tools available in the market are innumerable – with some of them being a perfect fit for you and others that just won’t cut it. The remainder of this article is primarily going to focus on some of the crème de le crème of the bug tracking tools available and introduce you to them briefly.
What You Will Learn:
Benefits of Using a Bug Tracking System
Can a Defect Management Tool Make You a Better Tester?
I am not a big fan of tools that are single-purpose. Whether the tool in question is a kitchen gadget or a work management software, you want it to serve you in multiple ways.
The benefit of a defect tracking tool is not just effective management but, did you know that defect tracking tools could help you be a better tester?
In this part of the article, let’s explore how.
First, Why Use a Defect Tracking Tool?
In the absence of a Bug Tracking Tool, teams use spreadsheets to report, track and transport their bugs. While this might be a good temporary solution for small-sized teams and projects, this is not a sustainable method.
Here is why?
Spreadsheets/Excel sheets pose a ton of challenges when you use them as your primary method of defect tracking and management.
A few of them are listed below:
#1) Too many bulky emails: Does this ring a bell? Excel sheets with screenshot attachments are sometimes over a few MB. I often have these spreadsheets with emails attached sitting in my outbox waiting to be sent or receiving a mailbox full alert as soon as I get one.
#2) Lack of real-time visibility into bug discovery and progress/status: We don’t hear of an issue as soon as it is found. We also don’t know if an issue has been retested or returned, etc. in real-time.
Since there is no automatic alerting system, defects do not call for any attention to them unless someone is deliberately looking.
#3) Work Assignment issues: We don’t know who has what issue and what they are doing. If it has been picked up for resolution, what priority is set, etc. is never as easily visible as you would like it to be.
You may have to call, email or send an IM to find out what is happening.
#4) Lack of a Central Repository: Too many folders, release-wise, module-wise or something-else-wise.
If you want to get back to a defect that was reported in the previous release or maybe a few releases behind it, which was commented on by the developer in a certain way – you are simply playing a guessing game as to where the defect might be.
Even if you did find it, you might not have all the comments on it, all the history of it, etc.
#5) Manual gathering and consolidation of Defect Statistics for insights into the Quality of the product.
Imagine collecting raw defect data from each team member, entering it into an excel template, organizing it to show a pattern or trend, and finally plotting a chart or graph. This process is time and labor-intensive. And also, rigid.
Say, if your team wants to view a new kind of report, you are looking at the additional effort and creating new templates, etc. So you have limited your choices of what defect trends you can and will see.
Teams will no longer be inclined to invest time in monitoring and measuring and this means a lack of visibility and confidence about the quality of the product. Some problems could be solved by the use of a shared document on a remote/network drive, but not all. So, most test teams use a defect tracking tool to handle this process effectively.
Defect Management/Bug Tracking tools offer a single point of truth for all your defects, provide real-time updates, aid collaboration with the team members, trace the defects back to the requirements and generate real-time reports.
Everyone knows about this, what’s new?
Here are some great ways you can make your bug tracking tool multi-task.
3 Intangible Benefits Of Using a Bug Tracking System
I guarantee you that the defects in your report will be superior, valid, and easier to understand, and will have a higher ‘picked-for-resolution’ rate.
#1) Understand Defect Trends
We are not talking Defect density or Defects per requirement, etc. We are talking about getting a deeper understanding of the system under test.
Let’s say, you are new to testing an application. If you are in the process of understanding the system, check out your Bug Tracking tool for the kind of bugs previously reported.
Pay attention to some of the following points:
- Is there a component/module/functional area of the application that records more bugs than the others?
- Are there platform/compatibility related issues before?
- Are the testing teams allowed to make enhancement suggestions? Check if testers before you did this?
- Were there any problems related to the environment and are they treated as typical defects by this team?
- What was the defect turn around time? How long did it take between Defect Reporting and fixing/closing?
- What is the average age of the defects?
#2) Understand Defect Reporting standards
Now, every company, every project, every team, and every individual are different. So, even though a few common guidelines on how to write defect reports exist, nothing prepares you as your own in-house research does.
How do you do that?
Check your Defect Tracking tool for the following:
- Which defect reports were returned as “Not enough information”?
- What defects were outright rejected by developers as ‘Not a defect’ or ‘works as intended’. And, why?
- What enhancement suggestions were considered?
- What defects are still open?
- Do reports with screenshots have a higher rate of being fixed?
- For the defect, if the developers changed the severity, check out why? This might let you know what is “serious” about the team and what is not.
Recommended read => Defect Triage Process
#3) Prevent duplicates and invalid suggestions
Once you know your application, your team’s work style, your development team, then you automatically become a better tester. This way you will know what has already been reported or what has already been suggested and rejected.
You can now focus on uncovering new bugs, exploring the application deeper and tailoring your reports in a way that you can get through to your development team better.
Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it. – Edmund Burke
So, let’s know :)
Most Popular Bug Tracking Software
Here we go!!
#1) Backlog
Backlog is an online bug tracking and project management software built for development teams. It’s easy for anyone to report bugs with a full history of issue updates, comments, and status changes. Reported issues are easy to find with search and filters.
In addition to tracking bugs, it’s also widely used to manage IT projects with features like sub-tasking, Kanban-style boards, Gantt and burndown charts, Git and SVN repositories, Wiki’s, and IP access control. Native iOS and Android apps are a plus!
#2) Katalon Platform
Katalon Platform is a free, powerful orchestration platform that helps with your bug tracking process. It gives testing and DevOps teams a clear, connected picture of their tests, resources, and environments to run the right test, in the right environment, at the right time.
- Deployable on Cloud, Desktop: Window and Linux system.
- Compatible with almost all testing frameworks available: Jasmine, JUnit, Pytest, Mocha, etc; CI/CD tools: Jenkins, CircleCI, and management platforms: Jira, Slack.
- Real-time data tracking for fast, accurate debugging.
- Live and comprehensive reports on test execution to identify root causes of any issues.
- Plan efficiently with Smart Scheduling to optimize the test cycle while maintaining high quality.
- Evaluate release readiness to boost release confidence.
- Enhance collaboration and increase transparency through comments, dashboards, KPI tracking, actionable insights – all in one place.
- Streamlined result collection and analysis through robust failure analysis across any framework.
#3) JIRA
Atlassian JIRA, primarily an incident management tool, is also commonly used for bug-tracking. It provides a complete set of recording, reporting, workflow, and other convenience-related features.
It is a tool that integrates directly with the code development environment thus making it a perfect fit for developers as well. Also, due to its capability to track any and all kinds of issues, it is not necessarily concentrated on only the software development industry and renders itself quite efficiently to help desks, leave management systems, etc.
It also supports agile projects as well. It is a commercially licensed product with many add-ins that support extensibility.
#4) QACoverage
QACoverage is your one-stop destination for efficiently managing all your testing processes so that you can produce high-quality and bug-free products. It has a defect management module that will allow you to control defects from the initial identification stage all the way to closure.
The defect tracking process can be customized and configured per client needs. In addition to tracking defects, QACoverage has capabilities to track risks, issues, enhancements, suggestions, and recommendations. It also has the full capabilities of sophisticated test management solutions including requirement management, test case design, test case execution, and reporting.
Features:
- Control the complete workflow for various Ticket Types including risks, issues, tasks, and enhancement management.
- Generate comprehensive metrics for identifying root causes and severity levels.
- Support various defect supportive information via attachments.
- Design and establish workflows for improved re-test visibility via automatic notifications.
- Graphical reports based on severity, priority, defect type, defect category, expected fix date, and much more.
- Jira integration and much more.
Pricing: It starts from only $11.99 per month for a complete test management platform. Start your 2-week free trial now.
#5) Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a task management software. It is an online tool that will let you create Projects, milestones, tasks, bugs, reports, documents, and so on. The bug tracker module by itself has all the features of essence that you generally look for. The product is commercial but not very expensive.
You can also try it for free for a limited time and see how it fits your needs.
#6) BugHerd
BugHerd is the easiest way to track bugs, gather and manage feedback for web pages. Your team and clients pin feedback to elements on a web page, for precise locating of issues.
BugHerd also captures the information you need to replicate and resolve bugs fast, such as the browser, CSS selector data, operating system, and even a screenshot.
Bugs and feedback, along with technical information, are fed to the Kanban-style Task Board, where bugs can be assigned and managed through to completion. BugHerd can also integrate with your existing project management tools, helping keep your team on the same page with bug resolution.
#7) Userback
Userback is the fastest way to report bugs and feedback from your websites and applications.
Developers love using Userback as it gives them everything they need to fix bugs faster. With Userback, it’s easy for anyone to report bugs with annotated screenshots, video recordings, console logs, event tracking, browser info, and more.
Built for software companies, developers, and designers, Userback will save you time by managing feedback for all your projects in one place. It even lets you streamline your workflows by integrating with looks like Jira, Slack, GitHub, and more.
#8) Marker.io
Report bugs and track issues, directly on live websites with visual annotations. Get developer-friendly bug reports with screenshots, browser, operating system, page URL, console logs, and custom metadata.
Perfect for digital agencies, project managers, developers, designers, and QA testers.
#9) Kualitee
Kualitee is for development and QA teams who are looking beyond just assigning and tracking bugs. It lets you build high-quality software through lesser bugs, faster QA cycles, and overall better control over your builds.
The comprehensive suite includes all the functionalities of a good defect management tool and also has test case and test execution workflows built seamlessly into it. You wouldn’t have to mix and match different tools; instead, you can manage all your testing from one place.
Features:
- Create, assign, and track defects
- Traceability between defects, requirements, and tests
- Easily reusable defects, test cases, and test cycles
- Customizable permissions, fields, and reporting
- Interactive and insightful dashboard
- Third-party integrations and REST API’s
- Intuitive and user-friendly interface
Pricing: It starts at $15/user/month. Kualitee also offers a free 7-day trial.
#10) Bugzilla
Bugzilla has been a leading Bug Tracking tool widely used by many organizations for quite some time now. It is very simple to use, a web-based interface. It has all the features of the essence, convenience, and assurance. It is completely open sourced and is free to use.
For more info, visit Bugzilla
#11) Mantis
I have one thing to say about this tool – do not be deceived by its simple exterior. In terms of simplicity and ease of use, this tool wins the crown.
It has every feature you can hope for and then some. To catch up with the changing times, Mantis not only comes as a web application but also has its own mobile version. It is implemented in PHP and is free for use. If you would like it to be hosted, they do charge a price, but it’s quite affordable, I must say.
Website: Mantis
#12) Trac
Trac is not necessarily a specialized bug tracking system. It is an issue tracking system.
It is written using Python and is web-based. When you integrate Trac with an SCM system, you can use it to browse through the code, view changes, view history, etc. The issues/incidents in Trac are referred to as “tickets” and the ticket management system can be used for defect management as well, if you wish to do so.
It is open-sourced and can be obtained from Trac
#13) Redmine
Redmine is an open-source issue tracking system that integrates with SCM (Source Code Management systems) too. Even though it is not a ‘bug tracking’ tool it involves working with issues where issues can be features, tasks, bugs/defects, etc. It is a web application that works across many platforms but will need Ruby to be available.
For more info, check out: Redmine
Also read =>> How to use Redmine tool
#14) Micro Focus ALM/Quality Center
Well, no list of bug tracking tools will be complete without the Micro Focus QC, will it? Micro Focus ALM is an end-to-end test management solution with a robust integrated bug tracking mechanism within it. Micro Focus ALM’s bug tracking mechanism is easy, efficient and everything you can ask for.
It supports Agile projects too. It is one of the pricey tools available in the market, which continues to be a prime source of criticism along with the fact that it is not very friendly with all the web browsers.
It is commercial and has a free trial available at Micro Focus Quality Center.
#15) FogBugz
FogBugz is also a web-based bug tracking system that refers to defects as ‘cases’. It allows you to create, list, assign and work on cases created. Also, the project information can be created in terms of milestones so that the progress of the cases can be evaluated against the milestones.
It’s very simple to use and has all the features of the essence for sure. Additionally, with FogBugz, you can create wikis to be made available to the general public. It is a commercial product but very reasonably priced.
You can try it for free for 45 days at FogBugz
#16) IBM Rational ClearQuest
Clear Quest is a client-server based web application that supports the defect management process. It provides integration with various automation tools which can be considered an additional feature. Other than that, it has an end-to-end, customizable defect tracking system. It is a commercial product and can seem a little costly. You can try it for free for 30 days.
For more information and trial, check out: IBM Rational ClearQuest
#17) Lighthouse
Lighthouse is an issue tracker that is web-based and is also compatible with your mobile devices. It is simple and organized. All the issues are referred to as tickets here too. There is an activity stream, milestones, etc. Another nice feature is that lighthouse lets you store a project document online in its interface itself.
It is a commercial product with a free trial available atLighthouse
#18) The Bug Genie
Though the name sounds like it must be a bug-tracking tool – that is not all Bug Genie is.
It is a complete project management and issue tracking tool that involves defect management to be one of its aspects along with integration with many SCM systems, project creation and handling features, issue tracking mechanism, integrated wiki, and easy to use web interface. Support Agile projects also.
The product is not free when hosted but there is a version available for a free trial atThe Bug Genie.
#19) BugHost
A web-based defect tracking system that is very simple and has all the features that you will need to manage issues for your project effectively. There is also a nifty little service WebHost that you can use for the users (the end customer) to create an issue directly into your project. Though commercial, it is very affordable.
Check out all its features at BugHost
#20) Bird Eats Bug
Bird Eats Bug is a browser extension that helps anyone create interactive data-rich bug reports. While a user makes a screen recording of the issue, Bird’s browser extension automatically augments it with valuable technical data like console logs, network errors, browser information, etc.
QAs get to cut a lot of back and forth with developers and report bugs much faster. Developers receive detailed, reproducible bug reports directly in their bug tracker.
Additional Tools
#21) DevTrack
Devtrack cannot be categorized as your average defect tracker, although it does function well if that is what you have in mind. It can be obtained as a stand-alone component or it comes along with Agile Studio, DevTest studio or the DevSuite. As the name implies, it is a comprehensive solution to the implementation track.
Supports both agile and waterfall projects. It is a commercial product. A free trial is available too.
Website: DevTrack
#22) BugNET
BugNET belongs to the “Issue management” group of tools – quite a good one at that. The issue could be features, tasks or defects. It has all the features of creating projects, managing them, creating issues against them and tracking them to completion, search, reports, wiki pages, etc.
There is a pro version for this tool that is licensed and commercial, but the regular version is free to use.
Check out more information at BugNET
#23) eTraxis
eTraxis is another tracking tool that can be used to track bugs, but again, that is not all. You can choose to track basically anything. So, the target audience is not confined to software systems.
The best feature of this tool is the flexibility it provides with regards to the creation of custom workflows- in other words, you can choose to define the rules that need to be followed in the process of tracking and progressing a certain aspect through its lifecycle stages. These custom workflows are referred to as templates and they can be very handy.
The product is not free, although a free limited version is available for trial. Visit eTraxis for more information.
#24) Lean Testing
Lean Testing is a free bug tracking and test case management software designed by testers. It has a browser extension to report bugs on websites quickly and easily as well as in-app reporting tools to allow users to report bugs directly from within mobile apps.
The system has everything you’d expect from a bug tracker and test case manager, but the great emphasis has been placed on making sure that everything is intuitive and easy to use. Lean Testing is web-based and requires no installation.
For more information, visit:Lean Testing
#25) ReQtest
ReQtest is a powerful bug tracking software that allows Developers & Testers to collaborate on fixing bugs using the “Agile board”. There is a dedicated bug module to report bugs.
You can also import bug reports from a CSV file. You can also track the progress of bug tracking initiatives with reports. ReQtest also offers a desktop app for capturing bugs with video or images and seamlessly uploading them to ReQtest.
You can integrate your JIRA projects with ReQtest projects using a JIRA add-on. The bugs in ReQtest can be synchronized with Jira issues.
List of a few more Defect Tracking software that are prominent:
#26) DoneDone
A commercial issue tracker that has all the features common to this category of tools. It helps with the creation of issues, assigning, tracking and setting the statuses, SVN and Git integration, file sharing, etc.
#27) Request Tracker
Request Tracker, as the name implies track tickets. If your particular situation will guide you to treat each bug you receive a ticket for, then, by all means, you might want to try this tool out. It is absolutely free.
#28) WebIssues
Open source issue tracking systems with a desktop client as well as a web-based interface. The typical features of an issue tracking system too.
#29) OnTime Bug Tracker
Defect/Issue tracker specifically built for agile projects. One feature I like is how it lets you drag and drop attachments. It is not free, but there is a free trial version.
#30) YouTrack
Agile centric project and issue management tools. It has all the features that will let you handle agile projects – backlogs, scrum boards, custom workflows – in the works. Bug tracking is also integrated, so if that is what you are looking for, you are covered. It is a commercial product with a free trial.
#31) Unfuddle
A developer-centric bug tracking system (but a bug tracking system nevertheless) with integration to Git and Subversion, it deals with issues such as tickets and has a web-based repository browser to inspect changes in files. It is a commercial with a free trial available.
#32) InformUp
Ticket/issue/task – whatever you need to track, you have this tool up your alley along with the other tracking systems. It is commercial.
#33) Gemini
Gemini is a commercial application lifecycle management system in the lines of Micro Focus QC. It has all the features necessary to carry out all your Project management and test management activities along with bug tracking. While it is a commercial product, there is a free starter pack available.
#34) BugAware
A simple tool that can be used to manage bugs or just manage to-do lists that have nothing to do with software, this tool can be a good option. Commercial product but it does have a free trial.
#35) TestTrack
This tool falls into the section of ALM tools and provides a comprehensive solution for test case creation, execution and defect management of course. It is a licensed product.
Conclusion
Defect management system, when used correctly – as a tester, you understand your ecosystem better and as a team, it will improve the overall efficiency.
Therefore, if you are still using the primitive spreadsheet method for bug tracking, it’s time to change.
There are many options for Bug Tracking tools.
- If you are using a Test management tool, you will have access to defect tracking as well. You are good to go!
- Some companies create in-house bug tracking tools. They are similar to the commercial ones available. They do the job just fine.
- Commercial, yet affordable tools. For example, JIRA or FogBugz
- Finally, if all your team needs is a tool for defect tracking and if the entire testing is still maintained manually, your best option is to go with an open-source defect management/bug tracking system.
I hope this article has persuaded you to think beyond your Defect Management tool as a spreadsheet alternative and treat it as a huge historical data asset.
Over to you
That is quite a big list, isn’t it? Surprisingly, the list is not exhaustive. In addition to these tools, some software companies have their own internal bug tracking systems that they build and use for their projects.
Let us know which defect tracking software you use on your projects.
