{"id":344,"date":"2023-08-23T21:13:37","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T21:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rainforestqa.com\/codeless-automation-testing\/"},"modified":"2025-03-17T19:02:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T19:02:38","slug":"codeless-automation-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/codeless-automation-testing","title":{"rendered":"10 codeless test automation tools and what you should know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you and your team are ready to transition from the slog of&nbsp;manual testing to faster automated tests, codeless test automation tools&nbsp;might hold a lot of appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chances are, you don\u2019t have and don\u2019t want to hire (expensive) QA engineers to wrangle complex,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/free-test-automation-tools\">open source\u00a0testing solutions<\/a>\u00a0like\u00a0Selenium. You want your front-end developers focused on shipping code, not getting mired in\u00a0test suite\u00a0maintenance in Cypress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So you\u2019re hoping the relative simplicity and flexibility of a&nbsp;codeless test automation tool&nbsp;will help your&nbsp;software development&nbsp;team \u2014 including non-technical members \u2014 quickly ramp up automated&nbsp;test coverage. Since there\u2019s not any code involved, it should be pretty straightforward for your&nbsp;testers&nbsp;to figure out, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Unless you choose the right tool, it won\u2019t be as easy as you think. Choosing the&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><em>wrong<\/em><\/strong><strong>&nbsp;tool could be a drag on your release process.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this piece, I\u2019m going to explain three big frustrations startup teams have when they adopt (most)&nbsp;codeless test automation tools. I\u2019ll use specific examples from some of the most popular&nbsp;codeless test automation tools, including: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rainforest QA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Squish<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ghost Inspector<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>mabl<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Katalon Studio<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>TestComplete<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>TestRigor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ranorex Studio<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Testim<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Perfecto<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n<div id=\"highlight-block_fe609fb9119d545636a90f86f68b98ab\" class=\"highlight\">\r\n    <p>We\u2019ve designed our no-code test automation platform, <strong>Rainforest QA<\/strong>, to address the challenges software teams encounter in other codeless tools. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/talk-to-sales\">Talk to us<\/a> about getting a personalized demo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/codeless-automation-testing\/#%E2%80%9CNo_code%E2%80%9D_often_means_%E2%80%9Csome_code%E2%80%9D\" >\u201cNo code\u201d often means \u201csome code\u201d<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/codeless-automation-testing\/#Most_codeless_tools_are_complex_and_difficult_to_learn\" >Most&nbsp;codeless&nbsp;tools are complex and difficult to learn<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/codeless-automation-testing\/#Most_codeless_tools_focus_on_functional_testing_not_visual_testing\" >Most&nbsp;codeless&nbsp;tools focus on functional testing, not visual testing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/codeless-automation-testing\/#Make_the_right_trade-offs_for_your_team\" >Make the right trade-offs for your team<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.syp61nk9q1e8\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CNo_code%E2%80%9D_often_means_%E2%80%9Csome_code%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>\u201cNo code\u201d often means \u201csome code\u201d<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve already hired a technical&nbsp;QA team, a complex, full-code&nbsp;test automation solution&nbsp;like&nbsp;Selenium&nbsp;can make sense when you\u2019re ready to automate your&nbsp;regression test suite. But for many other teams,&nbsp;no-code is the only workable path to test automation, since it&nbsp;<em>presumably<\/em>&nbsp;allows more of your existing headcount \u2014 technical or not \u2014 to contribute to test coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem is: with many \u201ccodeless\u201d test automation tools,&nbsp;<strong>you can avoid code when you\u2019re&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><em>creating&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><strong>a test, but when you inevitably have to&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><em>update<\/em><\/strong><strong>&nbsp;your tests, you\u2019ll have to interact with code.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be clear,&nbsp;<strong>I\u2019m not talking about having the&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><em>option&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><strong>to use code&nbsp;<\/strong>like JavaScript to customize&nbsp;test scripts, as some&nbsp;low-code&nbsp;tools offer. This feature can be pretty appealing to some teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>I\u2019m talking about&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><em>not having the choice to avoid code<\/em><\/strong><strong>&nbsp;when you\u2019re performing one of the most frequent&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>workflows<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;of test automation: maintaining your tests.<\/strong>&nbsp;It feels like a half-truth when these tools present themselves as \u201ccodeless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the best-case scenario, dealing with bits of code in&nbsp;test steps&nbsp;instead of plain&nbsp;English&nbsp;will slow you down, regardless of whether you\u2019ve got&nbsp;coding skills&nbsp;or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In the worst cases, some tools completely exclude non-technical people from a critical part of the testing&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>workflow<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take record-and-playback tools, for example. They can record your steps as you interact with your&nbsp;app&nbsp;and automatically transform those steps into a&nbsp;test script. It\u2019s generally a&nbsp;no-code&nbsp;way to create tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first problem with some of these tools \u2014 like&nbsp;Selenium&nbsp;IDE&nbsp;\u2014 is that you can only use them to create very basic tests. You\u2019ll need&nbsp;coding skills&nbsp;to create&nbsp;test steps&nbsp;involving even minor complexity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A number of the record-and-playback tools, however, allow you to record tests for moderately-complex&nbsp;test scenarios&nbsp;without using any code.&nbsp;<strong>But what happens when you need to&nbsp;<em>update<\/em>&nbsp;a test?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Squish<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Squish&nbsp;represents the worst case: its recording&nbsp;functionality&nbsp;only creates&nbsp;test scripts&nbsp;in one of its supported&nbsp;programming languages&nbsp;(JavaScript, Python, Perl, Ruby, and Tcl). Only a&nbsp;tester&nbsp;with the right programming knowledge can edit \u2014 or even understand \u2014 a test in Squish once it\u2019s been created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-zoooom\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/squish-test-script.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"530\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/squish-test-script.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1619\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/squish-test-script.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/squish-test-script-300x159.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/squish-test-script-768x407.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A test script created in Squish. <strong>Click images in this post to expand them.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ghost Inspector<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Ghost Inspector&nbsp;is somewhat better than Squish in that the actions in each step (e.g., click, keypress, assign) are in plain&nbsp;English. But the&nbsp;app&nbsp;elements that correspond to those actions are only described by CSS classes or Xpath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-zoooom\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ghost-inspector-edit-steps.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"680\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ghost-inspector-edit-steps.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1620\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ghost-inspector-edit-steps.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ghost-inspector-edit-steps-300x204.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ghost-inspector-edit-steps-768x522.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ghost Inspector&#8217;s test editor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine having to update this test. Hopefully it\u2019s easy to interpret most of your CSS classes \u2014 otherwise you\u2019ll have to constantly dig around in the front-end code (or \u201cDOM\u201d) of your&nbsp;app&nbsp;to understand what&nbsp;app&nbsp;element each CSS class or Xpath represents. Working with plain-English&nbsp;test steps&nbsp;is going to be faster and require less mental overhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">mabl<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Cross-browser tests&nbsp;recorded with&nbsp;mabl<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>are indeed (mostly) in plain&nbsp;English. But the mabl test recorder (\u201cmabl trainer\u201d) will generally ask for additional user input to confirm the best way to identify&nbsp;app&nbsp;elements you\u2019ve interacted with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unless you\u2019re familiar with the CSS of your&nbsp;app&nbsp;and know the CSS will remain stable, you probably won\u2019t know how to respond with any confidence. And without being able to correctly identify elements in your&nbsp;app, mabl tests will be unreliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-zoooom\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mabl-trainer-sidebar.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"556\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mabl-trainer-sidebar.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1621\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mabl-trainer-sidebar.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mabl-trainer-sidebar-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mabl-trainer-sidebar-768x427.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">mabl&#8217;s &#8220;Trainer&#8221; asking for additional input on a test element&#8217;s locators<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless, this is yet&nbsp;<strong>another not-so-codeless step that\u2019ll slow down the testing&nbsp;workflows&nbsp;in your&nbsp;software development&nbsp;lifecycle (SDLC)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to look for<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When you&#8217;re considering the adoption of a codeless automated testing tool, check to see if it&#8217;s <em>truly<\/em> codeless, or if it simply offers a way to <em>create<\/em> tests without (much) code. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have to interact with or use code when creating or updating tests, it&#8217;s going to prevent non-technical members of the team from contributing to test maintenance, and\/or it&#8217;s going to slow down the test maintenance process, even for team members with coding skills. Either way, it&#8217;s going to bottleneck your processes.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"highlight-block_7dc7518b1c17a07a8bfb4fad94ea017d\" class=\"highlight\">\r\n    <p><b>Rainforest QA<\/b> <b>requires zero code to create, update, and execute tests, and to analyze test results.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> In fact, you\u2019ll never see any code when you\u2019re performing these workflows (though you can integrate Rainforest tests into your release workflow with our API or CI integrations).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>When you visit the Rainforest visual editor, Rainforest previews your app on a virtual machine. To create a test step, select an action (e.g., \u201cClick\u201d, \u201cFill\u201d, \u201cScroll\u201d) and then drag-and-drop a box to select the element to apply the action to.<em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/add-a-step-click-a-button-webflow-aug-11-23.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"950\" height=\"617\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/add-a-step-click-a-button-webflow-aug-11-23.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1586\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Anyone on your team can help maintain your automated test coverage, and no one has to dig around to match CSS classes or Xpaths to your app elements \u2014 which can slow down even your technical team members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/talk-to-sales\">Talk to us<\/a> about setting up a Rainforest account and see how you can kick off your first automated test in five minutes or less.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.6y5ywke1b1ro\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Most_codeless_tools_are_complex_and_difficult_to_learn\"><\/span>Most&nbsp;codeless&nbsp;tools are complex and difficult to learn<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite its connotations,&nbsp;<strong>\u201c<\/strong><strong>no code<\/strong><strong>\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201ceasy to use.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This concept explains the biggest challenge teams encounter when they test-drive these tools:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Most&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>codeless test automation tools<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;are complex (some more than others) and require a considerable&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>learning curve<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;to use with any success.&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These tools have complicated&nbsp;workflows&nbsp;and user interfaces (UIs) \u2014 you can\u2019t just jump in and expect to start creating automated tests just because you don\u2019t need to know how to code. You\u2019ll need time to learn and absorb the intricacies of whatever tool you\u2019re using. (And that\u2019s not even considering the additional drag on your productivity when you have to deal with code as part of&nbsp;test maintenance.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Katalon Studio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Take&nbsp;Katalon, for example. To create the most basic of tests (e.g., clicking buttons and entering text into fields) without using any code, you can use its recorder. But for everything else, you\u2019ll need to build tests step-by-step in its test editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>There are&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><em>over one hundred<\/em><\/strong><strong>&nbsp;different types of actions (or \u201ckeywords\u201d) you can add to a&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>test step<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Katalon Studio<\/strong><strong>\u2019s test editor<\/strong>. Some of them have meanings you can understand intuitively, like&nbsp;<em>Click, Delete All Cookies<\/em>, and&nbsp;<em>Mouse Over.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-zoooom\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-test-actions.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"528\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-test-actions.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1622\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-test-actions.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-test-actions-300x158.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-test-actions-768x406.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Some of Katalon&#8217;s 100+ test actions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But what about&nbsp;<em>Switch to&nbsp;<\/em><em>Window<\/em><em>&nbsp;Index, Wait for Angular Load<\/em>, and&nbsp;<em>Switch to Default Content?<\/em>&nbsp;What do they do, and when would you want to use them in a test?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having a lot of options is great for expert power users, but otherwise it just means it\u2019s going to take a lot of learning and practice to effectively write (and to understand) more than just basic tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, for a&nbsp;workflow&nbsp;as common and basic as testing login&nbsp;functionality, how would a new Katalon user know that you don\u2019t use the&nbsp;<em>Set Text&nbsp;<\/em>action to enter text into a password field, but rather the&nbsp;<em>Set Encrypted Text<\/em>&nbsp;action?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-zoooom\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-set-text.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"537\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-set-text.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1623\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-set-text.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-set-text-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/katalon-set-text-768x412.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Just one example of the Katalon&#8217;s nuanced requirements: entering text in a password field in Katalon requires the <em>Set Encrypted Text <\/em>action, not the <em>Set Text <\/em>action<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are just so many nuances and minutia to learn, and that\u2019s not even considering the tool\u2019s complicated&nbsp;workflows, settings, and UI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">TestComplete<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>But to be fair, Katalon isn\u2019t even the most complicated&nbsp;no-code&nbsp;testing tool out there. That distinction probably goes to&nbsp;TestComplete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While recorded&nbsp;test steps&nbsp;don\u2019t include conventional code,&nbsp;<strong>TestComplete\u2019s puzzling naming conventions for test actions and other features make tests&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><em>look<\/em><\/strong><strong>&nbsp;like they might as well have been written in code<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The developers of TestComplete likely know how difficult it is to read a test in their tool: they specifically include a \u201cDescription\u201d field for every step, so a test author can explain in plain language what\u2019s actually happening at each stage of the test. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-zoooom\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testcomple-ui.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testcomple-ui.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1624\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testcomple-ui.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testcomple-ui-300x155.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testcomple-ui-768x396.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">TestComplete&#8217;s complex user interface, highlighting the &#8220;Description&#8221; field<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>TestComplete feels like it was designed to scare away anyone but people dedicated to spending their working hours becoming experts on this tool. Even important functionality \u2014 like verifying the visual appearance of an element in your application \u2014 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/support.smartbear.com\/testcomplete\/docs\/testing-with\/object-identification\/image-based\/tutorial.html\" target=\"_blank\">requires 15+ steps<\/a> within the configuration windows of an unintuitive UI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">TestRigor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, TestComplete is a bit of an extreme example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider&nbsp;TestRigor, a truly codeless&nbsp;software testing&nbsp;app: anyone can write, read, and update automated tests using&nbsp;natural language&nbsp;in plain&nbsp;English. It\u2019s even got a recorder for creating basic tests. Seems pretty straightforward, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-zoooom\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testrigor-test-steps.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"625\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testrigor-test-steps.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1625\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testrigor-test-steps.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testrigor-test-steps-300x188.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/testrigor-test-steps-768x480.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A natural language test script in TestRigor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s the catch: TestRigor\u2019s language model isn\u2019t like ChatGPT. You can\u2019t just write&nbsp;test steps&nbsp;using whatever words and expressions you want and assume TestRigor will be able to understand\u200c them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>TestRigor supports a list of just over 40 test actions (e.g.,&nbsp;<em>click<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>type<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>scroll<\/em>). Each of those actions will only work correctly if you use them in the correct syntax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, here\u2019s the specific syntax you\u2019d use to create a&nbsp;test step&nbsp;that clicks on a \u2018delete\u2019 link within a table: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><code>click on \"Delete\" within the context of table \"actions\" at row containing \"id1\" and column \"Actions\"<\/code><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s pretty easy to understand when you read it, but TestRigor\u2019s way of describing the&nbsp;location&nbsp;of an element in your&nbsp;app&nbsp;might not align with how&nbsp;<em>you\u2019d<\/em>&nbsp;describe the&nbsp;location&nbsp;of that element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So, TestRigor is much like other record-and-playback tools&nbsp;in that you need to learn the&nbsp;functionalities&nbsp;of its many test actions to create anything but basic tests.&nbsp;<em>Plus<\/em>, you need to learn and practice speaking TestRigor\u2019s version of plain&nbsp;English.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to look for<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to adopt a test automation tool that\u2019ll help your team move quickly while maintaining product quality,&nbsp;<strong>no-code<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;is necessary but not sufficient.<\/strong>&nbsp;No-code&nbsp;allows anyone on the team to contribute to&nbsp;test creation&nbsp;and (ideally)&nbsp;test maintenance, so you don\u2019t have to hire expensive QA engineers or put all the onus of&nbsp;software testing&nbsp;on your developers (who are just trying to ship code).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Your codeless&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>test automation solution<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;needs to be intuitive and its&nbsp;automated <\/strong><strong>test cases<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;need to be in plain&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>English<\/strong>&nbsp;so anyone on the team can quickly interpret and update&nbsp;test steps&nbsp;when necessary. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your team shouldn\u2019t have to learn or memorize complex&nbsp;workflows, terminology, or other minutiae to easily understand and update&nbsp;test cases.&nbsp;<strong>Otherwise, automated&nbsp;test creation&nbsp;and maintenance will become painful bottlenecks in your release process.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"highlight-block_5d454841cb6670f857c3d1e6e06e04be\" class=\"highlight\">\r\n    <p>That\u2019s why <strong>we designed Rainforest QA so anyone can get started right away and execute quickly without any special training.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s intuitive, with a modern,\u00a0user-friendly interface\u00a0and straightforward\u00a0workflows.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>All&nbsp;test steps&nbsp;in Rainforest are in plain&nbsp;English, so anyone can immediately interpret them.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/rainforest-steps-in-plain-english.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"728\" height=\"722\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/rainforest-steps-in-plain-english.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1820\" style=\"width:500px;height:undefinedpx\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/rainforest-steps-in-plain-english.jpg 728w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/rainforest-steps-in-plain-english-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/rainforest-steps-in-plain-english-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Unlike other tools with an overwhelming number of options, there are only ~15 test actions (e.g., \u201cClick\u201d, \u201cFill\u201d, \u201cScroll\u201d) to choose from. Rainforest doesn\u2019t need as many built-in test actions as other tools because its actions are more flexible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plus, all the actions in Rainforest are easy to understand because they represent real-word user actions, not esoteric testing-tool&nbsp;functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/viewing-test-actions-aug-24-2023.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1660\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><em>To try it out, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/talk-to-sales\">talk to us<\/a> about setting up a Rainforest account.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.17cr1r7hpvq0\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Most_codeless_tools_focus_on_functional_testing_not_visual_testing\"><\/span>Most&nbsp;codeless&nbsp;tools focus on functional testing, not visual testing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most&nbsp;codeless automation testing tools&nbsp;focus on testing&nbsp;<em>the&nbsp;functionality<\/em>&nbsp;of an&nbsp;app&nbsp;while disregarding its&nbsp;<em>visual appearance<\/em>. <strong>These tools don\u2019t, by default, test what a user sees on the screen<\/strong> \u2014 they interact with and evaluate what happens in the DOM, the code layer&nbsp;<em>behind<\/em>&nbsp;what appears on the screen. <strong>This puts the user experience at risk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, a DOM-based test looking for the presence of a particular button would pass the test if the button\u2019s&nbsp;locator&nbsp;(e.g., its element ID, CSS class, or Xpath) appeared in the DOM. But the&nbsp;tester&nbsp;wouldn\u2019t know anything about the&nbsp;<em>appearance<\/em>&nbsp;of the button, including its position, size, color, shape, or content. Even if the button was obscured by a popup or accidentally colored to match the background of the page, the test would still pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ranorex Studio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Some of these tools&nbsp;<em>can<\/em>&nbsp;perform&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/automated-ui-testing\">automated&nbsp;UI testing<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 evaluation that includes both&nbsp;functional testing and visual testing \u2014 but they don\u2019t do it without extra,&nbsp;time-consuming&nbsp;work.&nbsp;<\/strong>For each&nbsp;visual test&nbsp;of a screen or element (like a button or headline) you want a test to perform, you, as the user, have to follow an often-complex&nbsp;workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-style-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ranorex-add-visual-validation-step-c.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"536\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ranorex-add-visual-validation-step-c.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1583\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Adding&nbsp;visual testing&nbsp;of a single&nbsp;app&nbsp;element in Ranorex Studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of that, the image-matching&nbsp;algorithms&nbsp;in tools like TestComplete and Ranorex Studio&nbsp;are unsophisticated: a test will fail every time the visual appearance of a tested element doesn\u2019t&nbsp;<em>exactly<\/em>&nbsp;match its baseline image. Even minor tweaks to your&nbsp;app&nbsp;could cause test failures you then have to investigate and resolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Other tools don\u2019t even include the built-in ability to validate the appearance of your&nbsp;app.<\/strong>&nbsp;They require you to pay for and integrate a third-party&nbsp;plugin&nbsp;like Applitools that specializes in adding visual-validation&nbsp;capabilities to other testing tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Testim<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Take&nbsp;Testim, for example. It generally avoids the other two issues we\u2019ve already discussed in this post: it\u2019s relatively easy to use and you can (mostly) avoid interacting with code. But&nbsp;<strong>Testim isn\u2019t capable of testing the appearance of your&nbsp;app&nbsp;without an integration with Applitools, and that option is only available on the plan that starts at $1,000\/month.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/testim-visual-validation-pricing.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"511\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/testim-visual-validation-pricing.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1627\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/testim-visual-validation-pricing.png 1000w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/testim-visual-validation-pricing-300x153.png 300w, https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/testim-visual-validation-pricing-768x392.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An excerpt from Testim&#8217;s pricing page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Perfecto<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Perfecto offers a &#8220;scriptless&#8221; option to automate tests, but if you want to validate the visual appearance of your web or mobile app, <em>you need to use code like Java or C#.<\/em> <strong>There&#8217;s no codeless way to add visual testing to your tests<\/strong> <strong>in Perfecto.<\/strong> &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to look for<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You app can be <em>functional<\/em> without being <em>usable<\/em>. That&#8217;s why <strong>it&#8217;s important to adopt a testing tool that performs both functional testing and visual testing testing, by default<\/strong>. You shouldn&#8217;t have to jump through hoops to do both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further, the algorithms in your testing tool that evaluate the visuals of your app should account for the fact that your app&#8217;s appearance will experience (at least) minor evolutions over time. You don&#8217;t want to have to debug and update failed tests every time there are changes that a human tester wouldn&#8217;t notice or care about. <strong>Avoid &#8220;exact match&#8221; visual testing algorithms and look for ones that will pass minor and expected changes using AI or other intelligent methods. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"highlight-block_05709630ef80acc9e9c55694d2b34f37\" class=\"highlight\">\r\n    <p><strong>Rainforest&#8217;s unique approach combines functional and visual testing in every test step, by default. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rainforest QA\u2019s proprietary automation locates elements in your app using visual appearance, not the DOM \u2014 just like a real user would. Rainforest also <em>interacts<\/em> with these elements via the visual layer of the UI, just like a real user would.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Because of this approach, unlike other tools, Rainforest can locate and interact with anything that appears on a screen \u2014 inside or outside the browser.<\/strong> You can test browser extension settings, download and open files, and do anything else a real user could do on a Windows machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, here&#8217;s a recording of a Rainforest test that downloads and installs Brave browser, including interactions with Windows 10 and its file system:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/test-anywhere-on-screen-install-brave-aug-11-23.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"585\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/test-anywhere-on-screen-install-brave-aug-11-23.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1588\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Plus, Rainforest avoids the test-brittleness issues you find in tools that identify app elements using DOM-based locators. <\/strong>When you use these other testing tools, changing the name of an element\u2019s locator in your code could lead to failed tests even if the functionality and appearance of your app hasn\u2019t changed. (Some tools offer \u201cself-healing\u201d for broken locators, but the effectiveness of these features is hit-or-miss depending on the self-healing method.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rainforest tests fail when they\u2019re supposed to: when functionality doesn&#8217;t work or when UI elements don\u2019t appear as expected. (Using machine learning algorithms, Rainforest can ignore any minor visual changes in your app that a human wouldn\u2019t notice or would otherwise ignore, so you can avoid false-positive test failures.) Unlike other automated tests, they <em>don\u2019t<\/em>&nbsp;fail just because the DOM-based&nbsp;locator&nbsp;(e.g., CSS class) of an element has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/talk-to-sales\">Talk to us<\/a> about setting up a Rainforest plan that fits your needs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h.tgaoo6jpqj69\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Make_the_right_trade-offs_for_your_team\"><\/span>Make the right trade-offs for your team<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Unless you\u2019re already paying for QA engineers who spend all their time dealing with the intricacies of most of these tools, you\u2019re going to struggle to execute with them.&nbsp;Test creation&nbsp;and maintenance will, to some degree, be painful bottlenecks in your release process and agile DevOps workflows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>We\u2019ve specifically designed Rainforest to address the challenges that are otherwise common to complex, not-really-codeless test automation tools. <\/strong>Rainforest\u2019s&nbsp;test-creation&nbsp;and -maintenance&nbsp;workflows&nbsp;are truly zero-code, it\u2019s intuitive, and it presents tests in plain&nbsp;English. Anyone on your team can get started quickly and contribute to your automated&nbsp;test coverage&nbsp;with no special training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plus, Rainforest is the only&nbsp;no-code&nbsp;test automation tool that evaluates both the functionality <em>and <\/em>appearance of your&nbsp;app&nbsp;to protect the&nbsp;user experience&nbsp;and give you confidence when you ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Rainforest is an all-in-one,\u00a0no-code\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/\">test automation platform<\/a>, so you don&#8217;t need to provision any additional products or services to get everything you need to create and run an automated\u00a0test suite:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A proprietary&nbsp;no-code&nbsp;automation framework&nbsp;for creating and maintaining&nbsp;end-to-end&nbsp;tests.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cloud-based&nbsp;Windows and macOS virtual machines (VMs) \u2014 designed for scalability \u2014 running multiple versions of popular browsers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Test reports featuring video recordings, plain-English&nbsp;test steps, HTTP logs, and browser logs for debugging.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Integrations with email, Slack, and MS Teams for&nbsp;notifications&nbsp;and with&nbsp;JIRA&nbsp;for automatically generating tickets for bugs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Test scheduling plus an&nbsp;API, CLI, and CI integrations for continuous testing in your CI\/CD pipeline.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, no one&nbsp;testing solution&nbsp;is going to be perfect for everyone. For example,&nbsp;<strong>Rainforest is optimized for&nbsp;end-to-end,&nbsp;UI testing&nbsp;of&nbsp;web applications&nbsp;\u2014 it&nbsp;<em>doesn\u2019t<\/em>&nbsp;automate mobile testing for native&nbsp;apps<\/strong>, so if testing native apps&nbsp;for iOS or Android mobile devices is your use case, you might want to check out Testim, Katalon. For automated&nbsp;API testing, mabl and Katalon both offer solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/talk-to-sales\">Talk to us<\/a> about setting up a Rainforest plan that fits your needs.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn about the three big challenges software teams encounter with most codeless test automation tools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-automation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":63,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2564,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/2564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rainforestqa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}