Quality Assurance is an important part of the software development. There are many tools available that help with a variety of problems in this domain. At work, we have already been using quite a few of them – mostly those that deal with automated testing – PHPUnit, PHP CodeSniffer, Nightwatch.js, TravisCI, BitBucket Pipelines, and more.
But the above tools are mostly for software developers. With the expansion of our quality assurance efforts, I am looking at some more tools and this time around, those that are aimed more towards QA engineers and testers. One particular area that I am currently very interested in is the tool for test (and requirements) management.
My experience in this area is very limited. I just know that such tools do exist. Most of them are propitiatory and expensive, and are used by large organizations. We are not a large company. Our needs are simpler. And our budget for this is not great yet.
So, here is what I’m looking for:
- A web-based tool to manage test cases, test plans, test runs, and test results.
- This tool should support git version control.
- This tool should integrate well with GitHub and BitBucket.
- This tool should integrate well with TravisCI and BitBucket Pipelines.
- This tool should integrate well with Redmine.
- This tool should integrate well with HipChat.
- This tool must support multiple projects.
- This tool must support both manual and automated tests.
- Preferably, the tool should be Open Source software.
- Preferably, the tool should be free (as in money).
- Preferably, the tool should be written in PHP, as that’s what where we have a lot of in-house expertise.
If you know of a tool that matches all or most of the above, please let me know.
Here are some of the applications that I found. Some I tried, some I didn’t.
TestLink
TestLink was one of the first applications that I found to match most of my requirements. TestLink is web-based, Open Source, free software, written in PHP, with quite a bit of functionality. The demo site is currently down, so I downloaded, installed, and played around with it.
If I won’t find anything better, that’s probably what I will end up using. But I would prefer something with an easier user interface. TestLink looks, feels, and behaves like a very early days web application. Navigating around and performing actions takes quite a bit of figuring out. Other than the UI, it seems good.
SquashTM
SquashTM seems to have similar UI issues to TestLink. It is also implemented in Java, which is a stopper for me now. I’ll leave the holy wars for another time.
Kiwi TCMS
Kiwi TCMS is a nice web-based Open Source test case management system, written in Python. It is also a strong contender for my choice. The user interface seems a lot easier than the other systems I’ve looked at, and it has an impressive list of features and integrations.
FitNesse
FitNesse is a tool with slightly different approach than the previous ones. It strongly relies on the Wiki approach, which I’m not convinced about just yet. It’s also written and Java, which, as I said, is not great for me.
Mozilla Testopia
Mozilla Testopia is a test management application that extends Bugzilla bug tracker with additional functionality for the QA engineers. It’s a viable option, but I haven’t tried it myself yet, as I’m not using or planning to use Bugzilla any time soon. When it comes to bug tracking, Bugzilla is a monster of an application. It’s huge and powerful, but it’s not as easy to use for smaller teams.
There are few other applications that I still have to check. Here’s a couple of links that list a few alternatives to the above:
- Open Source Test Management Software
- Alternative To – list of alternatives to TestLink with Open Source license