Introduction 

Software Testing is the process carried out throughout software development. Above all, this is checking, verifying, and validating the product. Initially, manual testing was done, but in today’s world, everyone needs a smooth life. Then why not software testers? With this motto, automation testing came into the frame, and boom, then things changed drastically.

So, in this, the CodeStore Software Testing team is trying to show a difference between both Manual testing and the Automation testing process. Let’s read the blog and know more about what is the difference between both processes.

What is Manual Testing? 

Manual Testing is the process of testing the software manually. When we use human resources to perform testing then we can consider the testing as Manual. In other words, in this type, we execute test cases manually. Moreover, the skills, knowledge, and experience of the testers play an important role in Manual Testing.

What is Automation Testing?

Usage of automation tools for executing test cases is known as Automation Testing. It is a type of testing for which we need resources with the knowledge of scripting, etc.

Selenium, QTP, UFT are some examples of automation tools. Selenium comes with C#, JAVA, Pearl, PHP, Python, and Ruby. Hence knowing any of these listed languages will work.

Popular Automation Testing Tools

Katalon:- 

Katalon is a test automation tool based on the automation frameworks of Selenium and Appium. The platform stands out for its multiple purposes and easiness of use, considering it can create and reuse UI test scripts without requiring any code. Moreover, it is easy to deploy and can deploy on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Selenium:- 

Selenium is a popular open-source (released under the Apache License 2.0) automation testing framework. Originally developed in 2004 by Jason Hugging, Selenium remains a widely-known and used tool for testing web applications. It operates across multiple browsers and platforms (macOS, Windows, and Linux) and can write tests in various programming languages, such as Python, Java, C#, Scala, Groovy, Ruby, Perl, and PHP.

LambdaTest:- 

LambdaTest is a cloud-based automation testing tool for desktop and mobile applications. This tool allows for manual and automated cross-browser testing across more than 2000 operating systems, browsers, and devices.

LambdaTest allows testers to record real-time browser compatibility testing. Moreover, it enables screen recording and automated screenshot testing on several combinations at a time.

EggPlant:- 

The eggplant was developed by TestPlant to provide testers the possibility to execute different types of testing. Similar to Selenium, Eggplant is not a single tool but rather a suite of tools for automation testing, and each tool performs different types of testing.

In that sense, on the one hand, Eggplant performance is used for performance, stress testing, and load. On the other hand, the functional testing tool is precisely focused on what the name indicates. One of the greatest features is that it allows testers to interact with the applications in the same way the end users will.

Why Automation? 

Manual Testing has some limitations. Moreover, many times we have to do repetitive testing, and doing things repetitively can be boring. Testing with valid and invalid inputs can make you irate. To err is human and when it comes to quality we just can’t compromise.

Time constraint is the most important thing when we talk about the release of the software. If development teams fail to complete the development process before the deadline, then the company loses customers and no one can afford this.

Moreover, Cost is the major constraint for any software development process. Above all, maintenance costs can be a major issue for undetected defects. Automation comes into the picture to conquer all the above issues.

Below-Mentioned are a few of the points justifying the reason for using Automation Testing 

• Automation testing helps in delivering a product of good quality.
• Above all, It helps in increasing the test coverage.
• Beneficial to test multilingual websites.
• Moreover, automation testing saves a lot of time.
• It allows the tester to test the software in multiple browsers.
• Moreover, it increases the speed of automation.

Automation testing helps in generating the report for Test Execution, one just can’t modify it and hence it is useful for team leads or managers.

Table of Comparison Between Manual and Automation Testing

Manual Testing	Automation Testing
Test cases are executed manually.	Test cases are executed with the help of tools.
Reliability is less.	Reliability is more.
For some test cases, it consumes time.	As it is a machine it takes less time to execute cases.
Sometimes it becomes difficult to execute all the test cases and it impacts test coverages.	In automation testing, we can achieve the test coverage target.
For manual, it may be difficult to test the application on different browsers.	Automation testing gives users the advantage to test the software on different browsers. Selenium grid allows users to test applications on different browsers.
Manual Testing is less costly.	Automation testing is costlier as compared to manual testing.
As this includes human intervention, it is beneficial to check the ease of accessing the application.	It includes tools to check usability or accessibility.
In manual testing, the tester needs to sit in front of the screen and execute test cases as it includes human interventions.	The automation tester just needs to run the automation script and boom everything is done.
In this type of testing the tester has to create reports on their own.	Here tools will generate a test case execution report. TestNG is the framework which will generate reports for the testers.

As the demand for Automation is increasing day to day, organizations are getting confused in choosing between manual and automation testing. Here the testing team of CodeStore Technologies has tried their best to clear this confusion. 

If you think automation testing has no flaws then hold on it also has some flaws, hence it is mandatory to know them all and then decide what to choose. 

Scenarios Where Organizations Can Consider Automation Testing

• They can consider stable parts of the automation application.
• They should consider test cases with the possibility of humans making automation mistakes.
• If there is any functionality that is having a high-risk condition, then it needs to be automated.
• Multilingual sites that are unable to perform manually.
• Areas where the organization has to do frequent testing if they need to test some areas after each build.
• They should consider test cases that need to be tested with different browsers and different environments for automation testing.
• Automate the test cases that need to be tested with a unique set of data or a large amount of data.

Let’s have a look at testing types that can be considered for automation testing

Regression Testing:-

Automation is the best thing when it comes to Regression Testing, as it is repetitive testing after changing the code.

Load Testing:-

We can go for Automation as it is suitable for it. Above all, it is the testing in which they tested the system under load to determine the system’s behavior.

Performance Testing:-

Testers do it to test the performance and capability, hence we can consider it for Automation.

Scenarios Where We Should Not Think Of Automation

• They do not frequently consider areas of application that change for automation.
• Test cases that are executed on an ad-hoc basis should not be considered for Automation.
• We should never consider a newly designed test and one that is not executed manually for Automation.

Now, let’s see the Testing Types which can not be considered for Automation

Exploratory Testing:-

This is the type of testing where we need a skilled tester as the requirement specification document is not very descriptive. Moreover, the tester needs to use his skills and knowledge to test the test cases.

Usability Testing:- 

While testing for usability, the tester needs to think like an end-user and check for the user-friendly nature of the application. Indeed a tool can’t think like a human being.

Ad-hoc Testing:-

As the word, Ad-hoc itself tells that it is unplanned, a tester plays an important role.

Testing Types Where an Organization Can Go With Either Manual Testing vs Automation Testing

Black Box Testing:- 

It is a testing type where we just need to check the functionality. Moreover, it does not require coding knowledge as it is not visible to the QA/testers.

White Box Testing:-

White Box Testing is the type of testing where we deal with the internal structure of an application. It is also known as “Glass box testing”. Moreover, it requires knowledge of code systems, branches, paths, conditions, etc.

Integration Testing:-

It is the testing type where we link different modules and tests to see how they work together.

System Testing:- 

In this type of testing, we check if the application is working fine.

Unit Testing:- 

In this type of testing, we test a single module so that we can find a defect at an earlier stage. If we need to find a defect at the early stage, then we can fix it for sure. It is done by developers.

Acceptance Testing:- 

It is the testing type where we have to consider the user’s acceptance as it is done by the end-user. End-user will accept the software only if the product justifies the requirements.

Concluding Words 

Testing is a huge domain and Manual Testing is still as important as Automation. Above all, there are many types of testing where the Automation tool can’t help us and we need to choose Manual Testing. Tool scripts are designed manually. Designed manually, the tool does not require human intervention but requires the command which is given by a human.

Any machine or software is only capable of doing the things which were asked to do and this is the limitation (or sometimes advantage as it can not act smarter than us). Automation tools also have some limitations but eventually, they will evolve and will become smarter.

Both Manual and Automation testing have their pros and cons, and choosing the right one between these completely depends on the requirement of the project. This also depends on the time and most importantly the budget. 

Why CodeStore?

CodeStore is a leading mobile and web app development company with a special focus on delivering the most efficient digital transformation services. We have a team of very efficient and skilled software testers who are capable of doing both manual and automation testing. 

With developing the most flexible and robust web and mobile apps we also focus on delivering bug-free codes to our customers. Moreover, get in touch with us and share your requirements. 

Send your queries at: [email protected].