Automation Testing Vs. Manual Testing: What’s the Difference?

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Software Testing is the process that is carried out throughout software development. It is the process of checking, verifying and validating the requirements with the product. We are committed to providing quality products to the customers, hence we check the product functionality before its release.

In this article, we are going to find out the difference between manual and automation testing. Before anything else, it is important to understand the two testing processes in detail. Let us start with what the two testing processes are and how do they differ from each other.

What is Software Testing?

Software testing is a process, to evaluate the functionality of a software application with an intent to find whether the developed software met the specified requirements or not and to identify the defects to ensure that the product is defect-free in order to produce a quality product.

It is categorized into two areas namely Manual Testing & Automation Testing. Both manual testing and automation testing have their own advantages and disadvantages but it’s worth knowing the difference between manual & automation testing and when to you use manual testing and when to use automated testing.

Manual Testing:

Manual testing is the process in which QA analysts execute tests one-by-one in an individual manner. The purpose of manual testing is to catch bugs and feature issues before a software application goes live.

Types of Manual Testing:

Manual testing can be performed via different types of testing including the following:

1. White Box Testing
2. Black Box Testing
3. Gray Box testing

Manual Testing Pros and Cons

Pros of Manual Testing:

• Get fast and accurate visual feedback
• Manual testing can be done on all kinds of applications
• It is preferable for short life cycle products
• It is less expensive as you don’t need to spend your budget for the automation tools and process
• It allows tester to perform adhoc testing

Cons of Manual Testing:

• The manual testing process can’t be recorded, so it is not possible to reuse the manual test
• Manual Testing is time-consuming mainly while doing regression testing
• Expensive over automation testing in the long run
• It requires human resources

Automation Testing

Automation testing is a process of changing any manual test case into the test scripts by using automation testing tools, and scripting or programming language is called automation.

Automation testing is used to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and coverage of Software testing.

Types of Automation Testing:

There are different types of automation testing including the following:

1. Smoke Testing
2. Unit Testing
3. Integration Testing
4. Functional Testing
5. Keyword Testing
6. Regression Testing
7. Data-Driven Testing
8. Black Box Testing
9. Acceptance Testing

Automation Testing Pros and Cons

Pros of Automation Testing:

• Automation testing is faster in execution
• Does not require human intervention. Test scripts can be run unattended
• Automated testing helps you to find more bugs compare to a human tester
• Automation process can be recorded. This allows you to reuse and execute the same kind of testing operations
• It can easily increase productivity because it provides fast & accurate testing result

Cons of Automated Testing:

• The tools to run automation testing can be expensive, which may increase the cost of the testing project
• Huge maintenance in case of repeated changes in the requirements
• It is recommended only for stable products
• Without human element, it’s difficult to get insight into visual aspects of your UI like colors, font, sizes, contrast or button sizes

Difference Between Automation Testing and Manual Testing

Hope you liked it. If you have any requirement related to Software Development feel free to connect with Revaalo labs your one stop solution for Digital Transformation needs.