Deployment models
aqua and Kualitee both provide Cloud and On-Premise offerings. The latter make these tools suitable for heavily regulated domains, such as banking and government agencies.
aqua deployment models
You’re looking at two solid options here. Both aqua and Kualitee have stepped up their game with private cloud hosting that sits perfectly between full cloud and on-premise setups. This sweet spot means you get enterprise-level data control without the headache of managing your own infrastructure.
If you’re in a regulated industry, start by mapping out your specific compliance requirements before diving into either platform. Both handle security well, but knowing exactly what boxes you need to tick will help you configure whichever solution faster.
Most teams find that private cloud actually speeds up their deployment timeline compared to traditional on-premise.
Vendor Cloud
Private Cloud
On-Premise
User Management
Flexible user management is a great asset even if you work outside of heavily regulated industries. For example, itās not uncommon for young B2C startups to find QA solace in crowd testing. You, however, wouldnāt want eager individuals to do something on your server that they shouldnāt, especially when working in ALM. In that sense, individual user permissions are better than presets.
Kualitee’s user management
aqua’s permission editor
Default user roles
Custom roles
Permissions for roles
Individual permissions
Lower user limit
SSO
Test Management
You’ll find both platforms handle test management well, but here’s what matters for your decision. Kualitee recently rolled out smart features that automatically spot duplicate test cases:Ā something that can cut your suite cleanup time nearly in half. Their AI suggestions for related tests are genuinely helpful when you’re expanding coverage.
If your team needs serious traceability or complex test organisation, aqua still leads with better nesting and change tracking.
Bulk editing in Kualitee
Test management with aqua
Test cases
Test scenarios
Test reports
Execution history
Nested test cases
Bulk edits
Scripts
Release planning
Labelling
Custom fields
Parametrisation
Filters
Folders
Views
Shared views
Workflows
Logging
Item change history
Change reversal
Comments
Attachments
Mentions
Email nudging
AI-Powered Features Comparison
Both tools have jumped on the AI bandwagon, but they’re taking pretty different routes. aqua’s AI Copilot gets nerdy with predictive analytics and can actually generate test cases straight from your requirements in seconds.
Kualitee’s AI has a different approach: it hunts down duplicate tests, suggests related ones you might’ve missed, and builds smart execution plans based on what’s failed before.
Here’s the thing – aqua shines when you’re dealing with regulatory environments where missing coverage could cost you big time. If you’re drowning in manual test case creation, aqua’s generative features can nearly double your coverage speed. But if your main headache is running the same redundant tests over and over, Kualitee’s optimisation engine will save you hours each sprint.
Integrations & Automated Testing
Kualitee and aqua both cultivate the third-approach for automation testing. They enable you to connect the industryās best automation tools either out-of-the-box or via REST API. The latter makes both solutions future-proof, as you can hook external tools even if Kualitee or aqua stop active development.
aqua also brings a unique integration among test management solutions ā a Chrome extension to run tests and immediately document them. aqua Test Recorder enables you to record interactions, edit captured data, leave comments, annotate screenshots, and then send everything to your companyās aqua server. This approach saves time on all the tab switching, and immediate documentation ensures the QA specialists share everything they observed.
For context, virtually all aqua competitors lack a first-party Chrome extension. They have to rely on third-party solutions that often cost extra money and lack native integrations with test management solutions.
Chrome extension
Management Integrations
Automation integrations
First-party automation
REST API
External versioning
Auto-translation in workspace
Misc. integrations
Full list of aqua integrations
Dashboards
Dashboards are a great tool for testers. Lead testers can see the progress of their team, while the other QA specialists can identify trends, e.g. certain automated tests flopping too much. Thereās also value in visualized high-level overview for developers and the product team, too.
Both aqua and Kualitee offer solid dashboards with some nice-to-haves. The embedded filter functionality is a nice touch from Kualitee, while aqua is much more flexible regarding displayed data.
Kualiteeās multi-project dashboard
aqua dashboard with KPI Alert at work
Dashboards
Data
Custom fields data
Graph types
KPI Alerts
KPI Alerts are a major time saver for any scale. Once you set up dashboards, you don’t have to look at them ever again unless aqua notifies you there is a problem. One less routine to worry about, more hours to do something innovative.
Create dashboards that auto-notify you about issues
Reporting
Kualiteeās reporting functionality is quite restrictive. You can pick between one of the six report types which, while covering the bases, canāt be customised any further. In fact, you canāt even add anything other than the data from the test management solution (and not all of it).
Kualitee test case traceability report
aqua report example
Template library
Custom reports
Pulling any data
Custom layout
External text & imagery
Drag-and-drop
Custom bands
Text formatting
Image formatting
Diagrams
Pivot tables
Scripts
Parametrisation
ALM
Both tools have Application Lifecycle Management features. While aqua is a test management solution that can be used as ALM, Kualitee advertises itself as an āALM alternativeā. It is perhaps a good way to describe the toolās limited project management functionality. Kualitee wonāt let you to natively apply popular software development methodology, such as Agile. aqua also comes out ahead with the workflow functionality that defines the ticket lifecycle across the server or within a project.
Test case management
Requirements management
Defect management
Software dev. methodology
Workflow
Project management
Kualiteeās build manager
Kualiteeās requirements manager
aqua project plan
aqua workflow
Setting up
Kualitee matches aquaās offering of first-party migration tool for a free transition. Both solutions are pretty simple when it comes to getting started with the Cloud version. On-premise, however, is a much more time- and money-consuming endeavour with Kualitee.
Quick Cloud set up
Owned migration tool
On-Premise set up
On-Premise installation cost
On-Premise rental
On-Premise one-time purchase
Misc.
Letās look at everything else that didnāt quite fit other categories.
No-hassle trial
Free licences for browsing
Customer support response
Best Practices for Maximising AI in Test Management Tools
Want to squeeze real value from your AI-powered test management tools? Here’s what actually works: kick things off with a targeted pilot project, maybe test case generation or redundancy analysis. Think of AI output as your smart first draft, not the final word. Your QA expertise is what turns those suggestions into something useful.
Connect your tool directly to your CI/CD pipeline and project management systems. This integration nearly doubles the impact of AI insights, according to recent industry data. Track specific outcomes like regression testing time cuts or defect detection improvements. These numbers don’t lie: they’ll show you where AI is pulling its weight and where you need to adjust your approach.
Conclusion
aqua has a small lead on Kualitee when it comes to test management features and dashboards. Kualitee, however, is seriously behind on reporting, user management, integrations & automated testing, and project management. Kualiteeās migration & setup are a red flag for on-premise clients: you pay a setup fee to wait a month before you can use a tool that you donāt even own.
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