What tool for a beginner in Test Automation?

🙋 Questions
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:sos: As a Software tester looking to explore test automation and gain new skills, I’ve compiled a list of popular tools (Selenium, Cucumber, Playwright, TestNG, Cypress, and JUnit) and used ChatGPT to generate a comparison table to help me choose a starting point.
However, as I’m not an automation expert “yet” :wink: , I’m not sure about the accuracy of the data.
Could you please verify the details and provide guidance on selecting the most suitable tool for a beginner in TestAutomation :pray: ?

automation tools_comparision
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I’m a bit biased because i work for Katalon,
but i honestly do think it’s an easy tool to start with from scratch. Low Code, and a very good free version. (it’s selenium on the backend).
Be sure to utilize the free courses and certifications in Academy.

Cheers

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The frameworks you mentioned are “mostly” used for UI automation, there is also API automation. So depending on what you’ll like to do and learn, you chose.

Getting to know a framework and programming language is a big choice, so look at what your current project NEEDS and if they are open to having automation there, you can choose accordingly. If your dev team uses C# and hates Java, obviously don’t pick Java. Since they can help you with coding (another win).
If your web app is made with Angular, pick a framework that supports angular… otherwise it’s going to be a hell :smiley:

But there is no “best” framework to start with, only a “best” framework for your situation right now and you have to pick that one.

I wonder what made you write that Cypress is easy and Playwright Moderately Complex, they are kind of the same (kind of). Same for the installation.

So if you are going to have to pick a framework look at:

  • What does my team/project need?
  • Can my team support me?
  • What kind of web app do I use?
  • Am I willing to learn X or Y and how much time am I willing to spent a week on it due to a learning curve
  • Do I pick up a programming-basic course before deep diving into this or am I just going to copy-paste from online blogs? (I think this one is really important… since you have to start with the basics)
  • Look at support of the framework, integration, reporting etc…
  • Do I really want to learn UI automation or go for API automation? * hint*

I don’t think we can make this decision for you, since we don’t know about your project or situation :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’m not a beginner in test but in test automation of web gui applications. And I did not have a problem to set up some simple tests using Chatgpt and Cypress with no knowledge of GUI automation testing.

I have none whatsoever urge to become senior in test automation, being a troubleshooter with interest in computer systems but not in programming, but I found no problem in setting up some simple tests that really has become useful.

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Go with Playwright and look for the future where trend is going :wink:

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There’s a new free tool that just started a public beta that is incredibly powerful. I think many people will find this very interesting. It’s called Alchemy.

It’s codeless but you can also create custom actions. It generates portable Selenium code. One of the best features imho is it is vendor independent. You can generate executable .jar files and run them anywhere without having to install anything.

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