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
One major difference between the tools is that aqua provides a private cloud option while Kualitee lacks it. Private cloud is a solid option if you want to be independent from the vendor’s server infrastructure but don’t need the hassle or extra costs of going On-Premise.
Deployment model
Kualitee
aqua
Vendor Cloud
Yes
Yes
Private Cloud
No
Yes
On-Premise
Yes
Yes
User Management
Flexible user management is a great asset even if you work outside of heavily regulated industries. For example, it’s not uncommon for young B2C startups to find QA solace in crowd testing. You, however, wouldn’t want eager individuals to do something on your server that they shouldn’t, especially when working in ALM. In that sense, individual user permissions are better than presets.
Kualitee’s user management
aqua’s permission editor
Criteria
Kualitee
aqua
Default user roles
Yes
Yes
Custom roles
Yes
Yes
Permissions for roles
6
100+
Individual permissions
No
Yes
Lower user limit
Min. 10 users
∞
SSO
Yes
Yes
Test Management
Both tools offer solid test management functionality. Kualitee, however, is lacking when it comes to some efficiency-minded features, e.g. nested test cases and labels. It also doesn’t store a history of changes to the test case — a serious violation of traceability requirements found in some industries.
Bulk editing in Kualitee
Test management with aqua
Feature
Kualitee
aqua
Test cases
+
+
Test scenarios
+
+
Test reports
+
+
Execution history
+
+
Nested test cases
-
+
Bulk edits
+
+
Scripts
-
+
Release planning
Versions
Versions, Agile sprints
Labelling
-
+
Custom fields
+
+
Parametrisation
+
+
Filters
+
+
Folders
-
+
Views
+
+
Shared views
-
+
Workflows
-
+
Logging
-
+
Item change history
-
+
Change reversal
-
+
Comments
+
+
Attachments
+
+
Mentions
-
+
Email nudging
-
+
Integrations & Automated Testing
Kualitee and aqua both cultivate the third-approach for automation testing. They enable you to connect the industry’s 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 — 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 company’s 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.
Feature
Kualitee
aqua
Chrome extension
No
Yes
Management Integrations
Yes (Jira, Redmine, Asana, ClickUp)
Yes (Jira link, Jira sync)
Automation integrations
Yes (Selenium)
Yes (10 tools)
First-party automation
No
No
REST API
Yes
Yes
External versioning
Yes (Github, Gitlab)
No
Auto-translation in workspace
No
Yes
Misc. integrations
Yes (Azure DevOps)
No
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. There’s 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.
Kualitee’s multi-project dashboard
aqua dashboard with KPI Alert at work
Feature
Kualitee
aqua
Dashboards
Yes
Yes
Data
15 widgets
Any data
Custom fields data
No
Yes
Graph types
Pie chart, line graph
Pie, bar, stacked bar chart; table chart
KPI Alerts
No
Yes
Reporting
Kualitee’s reporting functionality is quite restrictive. You can pick between one of the six report types which, while covering the bases, can’t be customised any further. In fact, you can’t 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
Feature
Kualitee
aqua
Template library
Yes (6 report types)
Yes (7 sample reports)
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, although Kualitee advertises itself as an “ALM alternative”. It is perhaps a good way to describe the tool’s limited project management functionality. Kualitee won’t 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.
Feature
Kualitee
aqua
Test case management
+
+
Requirements management
+
+
Defect management
+
+
Software dev. methodology
-
Agile, Waterfall, Extreme Programming
Workflows
-
+
Project management
+
+
Kualitee’s build manager
Kualitee’s requirements manager
aqua project plan
aqua workflow
Setting up
Kualitee matches aqua’s 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.
Criteria
Kualitee
aqua
Quick Cloud set up
Yes
Yes
Owned migration tool
Yes
Yes
On-Premise set up
3-4 weeks
1 day (avg)
On-Premise installation cost
$2,000
$0
On-Premise rental
Yes
Yes
On-Premise one-time purchase
No
Yes
Misc.
Let’s look at everything else that didn’t quite fit other categories.
Feature
Kualitee
aqua
No-hassle trial
7-day trial
30-day trial
Free licences for browsing
No
Unlimited
Customer support response
Several hours
24 hours
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. Kualitee’s 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 don’t even own.
