Pros And Cons Of Katalon Software Quality Management Platform
Why do we need a testing platform?
Quality management is the key factor to the success of any software released on the market today. Testing teams have been implementing automated testing tools and adopting Continuous Testing to accommodate the ever-growing demand for quality and fast releases.
Automated testing tools indeed brought great benefits to QA teams, yet they also present a whole new range of challenges. For instance, testing teams have to adopt a variety of tools that serve their diverse testing needs. After that comes the painstaking process of purchase approval, onboarding, and integrating the tools into the software development pipeline.
QA teams don’t want to adopt a whole range of fragmented tools. They need a software quality management platform that serves their organization-specific testing needs, integrates seamlessly into their existing Agile and DevOps processes, empowers collaboration, and has robust reporting/insights capabilities.
It is easy to see why having a “testing tool” is not enough. QA teams need a “testing platform” to deliver continuous quality processes.
What is Katalon Platform?
Katalon, now known as the Katalon Platform, is a modern, comprehensive software quality management platform developed by Katalon, Inc. The platform is built on top of the open-source automation frameworks Selenium and Appium. Katalon Platform allows automation teams to efficiently create, maintain, manage, and improve test scripts for web, API, mobile, and desktop applications, all in one place, without coding.
There is a full-code scripting interface option for more experienced users wanting customization. This full-code mode supports Groovy (Java) with code-support features including syntax highlighting, code suggestion, and debugging. For faster test authoring, Katalon provides a record-and-playback feature where testers can auto-capture test objects, properties, and locators.
Katalon has an artifact architecture consisting of templates for test cases, test suites, test objects, and reports. These test artifacts can be reused across API, web, and mobile platforms, allowing testers to quickly create tests for repetitive scenarios instead of having to build everything from scratch.
The platform also includes a cloud-based test execution feature where testers can run their test scripts in parallel across a wide range of devices and OS. Test analytics will then be displayed in detail for real-time visibility and actionable insights. In this article, we give you a Katalon Platform overview to help you understand more about this product.
API testing with Katalon Platform review
The API Testing mode of Katalon Platform supports all of the aforementioned features, including end-to-end API Testing, auto-completion, code inspection, snippets, dual interface, debugger, and many more.
This testing mode is API-centric, supporting all types of REST, SOAP/1.1 and SOAP/1.2 requests. You can import your tests from Swagger, Postman, and WSDL. Popular data source formats (e.g. XLS, CSV, XML) and databases are supported for fast and simple data-driven testing.
Katalon also supports BDD with Cucumber files and native Gherkin editor. Built-in integrations allow QA testers to enable CI and DevOps best practices.
Web testing with Katalon review
Katalon inherits entirely the web testing capabilities of Selenium, but with built-in functionalities and native CI/CD and DevOps integrations.
Katalon web testing offers many unique features, including Smart Wait, which automatically waits for all webpage front-end processes to complete before taking the next steps, preventing unintended testing outputs.
It also offers many code-assist utilities, including object spying, recording, code refactoring, and custom keywords for fast test authoring. Besides, to adapt to AUT changes, the Katalon Platform has an AI-powered XPath location mechanism where automation teams can generate full sets of XPath options.
There are plenty of native plugins available to integrate with most of the popular CI tools (e.g. Jenkins, Bamboo). For more customization, testers can visit Katalon Store to shop for plugins contributed by a thriving community of QA professionals.
Mobile Testing With Katalon Platform Review
Automation teams can test native apps, web apps, or hybrid apps with the Katalon Platform, which leverages the popular mobile testing framework Appium.
What’s better is that tests can be executed locally and remotely with real devices, simulators, or cloud-based devices. Testers can now gain access to thousands of devices, models, OS to run tests without having to invest into a never-ending list of costly physical machines. This means more coverage, but cost-effective.
Desktop Testing with Katalon Review
Testers can perform desktop testing with Katalon Platform locally (on MacOs and Linux) or remotely to test the app from a different Windows device. Testers can analyze and capture the desktop app objects and add them to object repositories for easier test creation with the Spy Windows feature, saving lots of time on object locating. Other smart features, including Record Windows (record test actions), Smart Elements locating, and rich built-in keywords are all built to improve efficiency.
AI Visual Testing With Katalon Platform Review
As a comprehensive testing platform, Katalon also supports visual testing alongside functional testing. Leveraging AI/ML, Katalon reduces false positives in visual testing with smart features (e.g. Layout Comparison, Text-to-text Comparison) allowing testers to save time and effort and achieve visual quality along with usability.
Who should use the Katalon Platform?
Katalon tools are amazing for software testers who want to efficiently author, manage and optimize their test scripts. Even junior testers with little coding experience can start testing with this low-code solution. More experienced testers can easily utilize the advanced features.
For QA managers, Katalon Platform’s capabilities of planning, executing, organizing, and analyzing test reports give them better visibility over their team’s testing activities for better and more confident decision-making.
For enterprises, the Katalon Platform is an investment into competitiveness. For instance, Liberty Latin America has increased their regression test coverage by 60% while cutting regression testing time by 50% upon adopting Katalon.
Another notable example is the UK-based insurance provider with presence in over 50 countries SAGA, who has more than tripled their testing capacity while reducing their testing time from 2 days to 2 hours.
It is clear that organizations whose business model revolves around their applications, software, or web presence can receive the most value from Katalon Platform.
Pros of using Katalon Platform
1. All-in-one Platform
With its unprecedented depth and breadth of test automation capabilities, Katalon Platform meets the needs of any testing teams and enterprises, providing them functional & visual automation testing solutions in 1 place.
2. AI-powered features
AI/ML features allow QA teams to test faster and more efficiently. Katalon’s AI features, such as Smart Wait or Self-healing, reduce test maintenance effort, while Wait-time control uses machine learning algorithms to determine the optimal waiting time for elements to load, making test scripts more reliable.
3. Cross-environment testing
Katalon Platform allows teams to run tests remotely or locally across a wide range of devices, browsers, models, and OS, increasing test coverage.
4. Easy to use with readily available learning resources
Katalon Platform is simple and easy to learn. Its low-code features allow testers to quickly get used to the product and meet business needs. There is Katalon Academy where new testers can learn how to use the platform for free. Lots of courses are available on YouTube, Coursera, and also Udemy.
5. Affordability
Katalon has flexible pricing with free-to-use tiers, so anyone can experiment with the Platform and try its features.
Of course, the Enterprise version offers more robust capabilities, including AI/ML features as well as access to Katalon plugins. It is advised that individual testers get started with the Free license, then gradually scale to higher plans.
Cons of using Katalon Platform
1. Lack of scripting languages
Katalon only supports Java and Groovy. If you want to migrate from another platform, having your scripts written in Java or Groovy can secure you a headstart. Otherwise, you would be required to rewrite the test scripts if they’re not already in these 2 languages.
2. Not Open-source
Katalon is a commercial automation testing platform and is therefore a closed source. Testers and teams need some investment to unlock more advanced features. However, free features can already bring considerable value, and there is a Katalon Store with community-made plugins to meet your specific testing needs.
3. Performance issues
Users report that they sometimes experience performance issues with the platform, such as freezing, lagging, and some issues with object verification, which slow down their testing activities. However, these issues have been addressed in recent updates, especially version 8.2.
4. Small community
Katalon was a relatively recent product on the market, so its community is also smaller than other more established competitors. Sometimes you may not find enough support for your specific Katalon-related questions on StackOverflow or GitHub, but over time, as the product matures and its community grows, you should soon find more support for the product.
Katalon Platform pricing
Please refer to the following page for more information on Katalon’s flexible pricing plans.
Katalon Platform rating details
Katalon Platform alternatives
Katalon Platform FAQ
Can I integrate Katalon with my existing tools and systems?
Yes, Katalon supports integration with a variety of popular tools and systems, such as JIRA, Slack, Jenkins, even GitHub and Microsoft Teams. This allows you to easily align your testing process with the overall development workflow, collaborate with your teams, and increase productivity.
Here is the full list of Katalon’s integrations.
Does Katalon Platform offer a Free Trial or Free version?
Yes, Katalon offers a free version of its platform, which includes support for functional/API testing and basic reporting and results analysis.
For users who want access to all of the features and tools available in the Katalon Platform, the paid version is available with a 30-day free trial. In this version, users can have access to mobile testing, UI testing, AI-powered features, advanced reporting and results analysis, as well as integration with popular CI/CD tools.
I have already subscribed to Katalon Studio; how do I upgrade to the Katalon Platform?
To upgrade your plan, you can sign in to your account, navigate to Settings > Subscription Management. In the Choose a plan section, you can adjust the number of test results of your plan, then click Upgrade. You will be redirected to the Checkout page to review the price and process the checkout.
