In this article, we are intending to make a comparison of aqua ALM and PractiTest, two similar and very productive test management tools currently popular in the market.
Both tools present themselves as application lifecycle management platforms and one-in-one testing management solutions. And telling the truth it is pretty difficult to distinguish the stark contrast between them. With both of them, you can manage your testing processes from A to Z, adjust requirements, plan tests and write test cases. However, there are a couple of subtle but very significant differences between them that can be fundamental for your decision.
Users opinion
It is unsurprising that both tools have very high ratings on reviews websites. Amongst minor cons of PractiTest, you can find only small details such as interface issues, lags while working and some difficulties to get used to the interface of dashboards. Here is one of the recent reviews from Capterra written by an anonymous verified user:
“Minimal UI for developers as well as testers”
Pros: Different Status options for Issue/Defect, Allows testers to define how critical the issue is, Allows to attach multiple documents with the support of multiple formats like jpg, png, doc, etc.
Cons: User Interface lags sometimes, Design looks old and can be improved.
In order to compare how the same problems occur in aqua ALM, we chose a similar review from the user Clemens S., quality manager. However, based on this review, we can see those interface problems of aqua arise more likely not due to lags, but due to lack of experience with this toolkit, which with can be easily acquired within a short period of time:
“Multifarious tool, with a lot of helpful functions for the test”
Pros: - modern and clean surface - supports all phases of the fundamental test process -> helpful functions for the test planning -> promotes the control of the tests (transparent inspection through the active test analysis and execution -> structured test design -> easy documentation of the test execution -> detailed reporting - individual and adaptable reports - helpful wiki.
Cons: - the abundance of functions is not only a blessing, it's also a curse -> at the beginning it's not easy to understand all the different Buttons, functions, tabs and so on.
Test management and ALM
As we already said aqua ALM and PractiTest are two ALM and test management tools that are created to remove the aggravation of testing from the entire software development team including top-level management. We specified some criteria to compare how these tools meet the needs of testers and developers.
Quick feedback after QA activities
Hundreds of different chats and emails can blur the final goal of any communication. It is very essential to have a way to collaborate with your team after every interaction with tests and the internal systems. A bigger advantage of a tool could be an instant notification of your team without losing track and order of communication.
Notification about a new issue
Notification about changes
Comment section under an item
Email notifications
Visualisation of test results and automation
PractiTest’s visualisation
aqua’s visualisation of automated tests and their status
The option to review and analyse the results without the need to read into the actual data can accelerate the further adjusting of a testing strategy. The same story with automation. We understand that automation is an inseparable part of any QA measures. Visualisation of test automation makes it more clear to understand where improvements are needed. As well the team would operate more efficient by having a visual presentation of a workflow — the itinerary they can follow on their way to success and goals achievement.
Visualisation of test results
Visualisation of test automation
Visualisation of workflow
Traceable processes and easy access to login history
PractiTest’s login history
aqua’s data records
It is not a secret that traceability of processes is one of the most important criteria when obtaining regulatory compliance. The strictly regulated industries such as Insurance, Banking or Government often struggle to comply because of a lack of traceability in the systems that they use.
Visualised traceability (dependencies, tracks, changes)
Login history
Permissions
In addition to this, some regulators require detailed reports of the performance and test coverage. So here is one more requirement within this criteria — reporting options. The good thing is that aqua ALM and PractiTest both have the potential to provide tons of different metrics and results from testing.
Customised reports
Reports templates
Permissions
It might be quite unfair to compare aqua ALM and PractiTest in this criteria since PractiTest provides only a SaaS solution that doesn’t require to be compatible with any devise type but nevertheless accesses to the local version of a product might play a significant role for some testers. In its turn, aqua ALM has a version available for desktop.
Windows
Linux
Mac
Tablet
Mobile
Regulatory compliance
Data security is always essential and strictly superintended by regulators. Whether a company decides to place its applications in the cloud or on the premises, they need to make sure that their data is secured 100%.
“According to on-premise, companies are required to manage and maintain their servers internally, especially when backups and upgrades are being performed.” by Gräbner-Omahna IT Consulting
That’s why regulated companies prefer to store their data within hosted servers entirely avoiding compromising by the third parties.
Providing the opportunity to use a test management tool on-premise version in this situation is a must-have.
On-premise
SaaS (Cloud)
Advanced support for support compliance
Price
Price is definitely the decision-maker in terms of comparing two almost similar tools. But even when the prices are head to head, there are still a couple of details that companies should take into account like demo calls, free trials, the price for users and extra costs for additional licences. Especially it relates to companies that require customised plans and specific features. You probably won’t pay the same price specified in a pricing list for one license when you have 100 testers in your team.
Price starts from (Standard license)
Customised plan
Customised features
Free trial
Demo
PractiTest overview
PractiTest doesn’t provide its tool as a local version, only as SaaS. It can be advantages and disadvantages too. It is an advantage because it doesn’t need to be compatible with a specific OS or device. You can always access this via the web version. But from another side, let’s consider this a slight disadvantage; there are some circumstances when you need to have access to your test management tool offline. And it makes it inconvenient when your test management tool is available only online.
Especially local version is necessary for regulated spheres. Without an on-premise version, it is impossible for banks, governmental offices, etc. to use this management tool.
Another detail that testers shared about using PractiTest is that interface is not intuitive enough, and it takes a while to get used to operating there. And taking into account the fact that the average sprint length for Scrum and Agile teams is two weeks, 14 days of free trial is not enough to master all functions provided by PractiTest to understand if it serves its goals. Either than these factors, PractiTest is an excellent instrument that is worth trying by anyone who deals with QA or software development.
aqua ALM overview
The aqua ALM interface seems at first glance to be inconvenient and non-intuitive. However, after a couple of interactions with aqua’s dashboards, it becomes clear that aqua’s functionality is quite easy to use and does not take much time to adapt.
In addition to this, aqua ALM meets most of the regulations and helps to improve testing processes through a wide range of functions.
It seems that there are no impossible tasks for aqua. If you want to track changes in tests, log in and see who and when changed them. Not satisfied with the current workflow — roll back and rebuild it again. Partners require reports on some “tricky” metrics — use the report builder.
aqua’s workflow
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.
Final thoughts
Both tools can rightfully be called effective solutions for software development and quality assurance departments. Not inferior to each other as provided functions, they are nevertheless created for different purposes.
aqua ALM solves problems and covers the requirements for quality testing of digital products and applications and helps the management team obtain regulatory approval, comply with the requirements, and manage the entire company’s work using one solution. It is a great test management tool for banking software among other heavily regulated industries.
PractiTest, in turn, is designed rather only for test management and bug tracking. Even having ALM functionality in its functionality, we cannot say that it is as effective and easily manageable as aqua. The interfaces need to be improved, and some of the lags present in the system need to be addressed.
We can also note that the pricing policy of both instruments is almost identical, so when choosing between them, you can not rely on the financial factor. The only thing we would like to note is that no matter which tool you choose, it is advisable to order a demo and a trial period to experience a significant difference in test management.
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