Popular Codeless Open Source Testing Tools

Programming languages have always been an integral part of automation testing, automation testers, frameworks and even job descriptions. If a legacy project is already tested using Java, the company finds people with expertise in Java for that project. Similarly, if it is a new project and you have to start testing from scratch, the first thing you take a vote on is the most common language known to your team.

If nobody knows Python, you probably wouldn’t waste your time training them in it. This process is followed again when choosing a framework for testing. If the decided language is Java, you need a test automation framework supporting Java. Also, vice-versa is true for a legacy project.

This list can get as long as it needs to while the conclusion remains the same that the tester becomes a bit restricted in this approach. Practically, a good tester may or may not be good at coding, but he should be perfect in observing functionalities and the application behavior.

In short, he should be good at “testing”.

We are rolling into a code free era.

Codeless tools, as you can guess from the name, follow a similar approach. If you are good at testing software, don’t worry about syntaxes and libraries too much. In the same direction, in this post, we try to explore all the tools that work on two awesome philosophies - being codeless and being open source because software should be for everyone and by everyone. 

Being a programmer myself I understand that if you are good at programming, you probably could get an urge to skip this section or maybe the entire post. But the fact is that even if we do love programming, not everybody does and especially in the test automation sector. In a survey done by Katalon with KMS technology on test automation challenges, lack of qualified resources ranked second overall.

Not only this, only 56% of people think that they themselves or their team has enough technical skills to automate and maintain tests. This is a huge problem and codeless tools seem to solve this.

Codeless tools do not require programming for writing test cases. Each tool uses a unique approach like using the English language for test cases, drag and drop UI elements or directly record-and-replay. 

Open-source tools work in a different domain. It is not concerned about the usage of the framework but rather the development of one. Open-source tools’ development is open to everyone. You and I both can just approach the contribution page and start contributing in whatever way we feel comfortable (given that they are currently accepting contributions).

With these briefs, we can proceed towards exploring the tools that work on this combo technology of codeless and open-source.

The following tools offer a codeless approach with open-source methodology. Please note that the order of appearance of these tools does not resemble any type of priority.

Testsigma is a cloud-based automation testing tool that allows accelerated test development than conventional ones. With Testsigma you can directly sign-up on the cloud with no setup, or deploy locally using docker image as well as create test scripts in simple English or record user actions, auto-converted to editable steps. You can also run tests directly on the cloud on various browsers and devices. So rather than writing 

Webdriver driver;
String URL = “https://testsigma.com”
driver.get(URL);

You can just write

Navigate to https://www.testsigma.com

The latter one is easier to understand and remember.

The platform has built-in visual testing, parametrized or data-driven testing, 2FA testing, and more advanced features for easy test automation.

For mobile testing, Testsigma uses real devices and has an innovative mobile test recorder in place to save time. The recorder can convert a user’s actions into tests (in English) and vice-versa. These actions can then be saved or further edited.

The tool also uses artificial intelligence for maintenance and can be run locally or on the cloud. Giving the cloud option helps Testsigma provide smooth collaboration between teams and share reports anywhere in the world with a couple of clicks. Furthermore, you can extend the platform using built-in addons and use Testsigma’s SDK to create your own custom addons.

You can access Testsigma’s official GitHub repository to know more about it.

Selenium IDE is a codeless and open-source tool for web testing. The tool requires the user to install the extension on the browser you will be testing the web application on. Selenium IDE uses the “record and playback” philosophy in the codeless world. This philosophy asks the user to interact with the application and all these actions are then recorded by the IDE. Later, the same actions can be used on other versions or different test suites. 

Selenium IDE can also be used with the command line control with a few additional installations:

 For extending the functionality of Selenium IDE, the tester can also opt for additional plugins. They can introduce you to additional commands or extend support for third-party apps.

You can access Selenium IDE’s official GitHub repository to know more about it.

The official website of SikuliX states that “SikuliX automates anything you see on the screen of your desktop computer running Windows, Mac or some Linux/Unix.” which is a powerful statement in itself.

SikuliX works in a codeless way by identifying various GUI elements through image recognition technology powered by OpenCV. It does not require checking out the source code of the application making it easier to operate. SikuliX can also imitate mouse and keyboard interactions.  

You can access SikuliX’s official GitHub repository to know more about it.

Rapise is a codeless and open-source test automation tool for web testing, mobile app testing and desktop app testing. In short, Rapise can test anything a tester wants. The tool uses record-and-playback functionality in codeless architecture and extends it to another level by providing editing capabilities.

With Rapise, the tester can playback the tests in any browser with live validations during recording. It provides a spreadsheet-based editor for editing the recorded tests which look as follows:

Rapise also comes with artificial intelligence-based testing technologies that self-heal the objects on change. You can also integrate data-driven tests and keyword-driven tests at the same place. As Rapise says, “You can expand your tests to multiple technologies.”

You can access Rapise’s official GitHub repository to know more about it.

Testproject is free-to-use but not truly open source (promoted as scriptless) automation testing tool for web, mobile testing as well as API testing. The tool works on all the major platforms (Windows, macOS and Linux) and can be used to test any browser, version or mobile device (thanks to cross-browser testing collaborations).

The cloud-based infrastructure helps testers and teams work together collaboratively from anywhere. Offers add-on support for tool enhancement and integrations from various companies to collaborate and use their features from within the tool. 

Testproject works with the recorder and can be combined with Selenium and Appium for people who like scripting.

Codeless automation tools bring testers closer to the software without worrying about the programming language he is an expert in or the legacy testing language. Codeless testing lets the tester focus more on the observational part to find the bugs and save time, which in turn leads to faster delivery. But still, tool developers need to assign common criteria through which people would be able to test the software, if not programming.

This makes every codeless tool unique. Not to mention how open-source nature brings developers together and enhances even more by contributing in every way possible.

I hope after reading this post your heart must have fallen on one of the codeless testing strategies like these. If you have another codeless open-source tool on which you work, drop them in the comments.

Happy codeless testing!