Can the hip tool keep up?

aqua and Qase both offer solid foundations: test cases, test plans, custom fields, execution history, and change logs. Qase adds its own query language for advanced filtering and a test case review workflow from the Business plan upward. aqua includes configurable workflows, shared views, test case parametrisation, and adaptive field logic on all paid plans, making these efficiency features available to every team regardless of plan tier. aqua also provides real-time two-way Jira project sync, going beyond a basic integration.

aqua offers 14+ native integrations covering the established QA automation stack: Jira, Jenkins, Confluence, JMeter, PowerShell, Database MSSQL, UnixShell, SoapUI, Ranorex, Database Oracle, REST API, Azure DevOps, UFT, and Selenium. Jira integration includes real-time two-way project sync. aqua Capture, a native bug recording and reporting tool, is included in all paid plans. Qase focuses on the developer ecosystem with 35+ integrations including GitHub, GitLab, Cypress, Playwright, Azure DevOps, Slack, Asana, monday.com, ClickUp, Linear, and YouTrack, plus REST API and webhooks from the Startup plan. Qase does not offer a comparable screen capture tool.

aqua uses modular per-product pricing. The Test Management and Requirement Management modules are each €89/month per user (billed annually) or €119/month (billed monthly). The Test Runner DEV add-on licence is €19/month (annual), designed for developers and QA specialists who execute tests but are not involved in test or requirement management. Free unlimited Guest seats are included in every plan. Qase prices in USD: the Business plan is $30/user/month (annual) or $36/month (monthly). Both offer a 20% annual discount and free read-only access. Qase also provides a free plan for up to 3 users and a 14-day free trial. aqua has no free plan but offers a free demo and free Guest licences on every plan. aqua’s modular structure lets teams purchase only the modules they actually need.

aqua has offered On-Premise deployment since its first release and continues to provide it under the aqua Suite Enterprise plan alongside Private Cloud. Qase explicitly states on its product page that it does not offer a self-hosted or on-premise version. Qase Enterprise customers can access a dedicated cluster hosted within a private virtual private cloud, which provides additional isolation while remaining a fully managed cloud environment.

aqua offers fully custom dashboards across all paid plans, drawing on any data from the workspace, and includes KPI Alerts that notify users when a metric moves above or below a defined threshold. Qase offers widgetized dashboards from the Startup plan upward, covering coverage, pass rates, failure trends, flakiness, and cycle time. Qase dashboards are shareable via read-only seats. Both tools make dashboards accessible without requiring a higher-tier plan, but aqua’s KPI Alert capability has no equivalent in Qase and provides proactive rather than reactive quality monitoring.

aqua provides a fully configurable reporting system including drag-and-drop layouts, pivot tables, custom scripts, parametrised reports, external text and image insertion, and both template-based and fully bespoke report creation. Reports can be shared externally with stakeholders outside the tool. Qase offers widgetized dashboards with quality metrics from the Startup plan but does not offer dedicated custom reporting, saved report templates, pivot tables, scripted automation, or purpose-built external report sharing. Teams that need to deliver structured QA reports to management, auditors, or clients will find aqua significantly more capable.

aqua includes granular roles and permissions on all paid plans, with custom roles available to every customer without a plan restriction. Per-user permission overrides go beyond role-level assignments. Qase adds role-based access control only from its Business plan and restricts SSO to Enterprise, though it can be purchased as a paid add-on at the Business tier. Qase Enterprise supports SCIM user provisioning; aqua Enterprise supports LDAP.

aqua provides full ALM coverage through its three modules: Requirement Management, Test Management, and Defect Management. Each can be purchased individually or together. Qase includes requirements management from the Startup plan and covers the full lifecycle at a lower entry price point, though without the modular flexibility or configurable workflow depth of aqua.