AI

AI is a rapidly developing tech, so we will look at cutting-edge tech rather than the baseline. Here’s what you should expect from an AI-powered test management solution:

Analyse your workspace to get QA context
Create test cases, defects, and even requirements from a plain text description
Complete test case drafts
Prioritise tests
Remove duplicate tests and defects

Artificial intelligence in QA has usually been an underwhelming effort. The only exception would be UI testing tools that compare pixels — but is that your dream AI?

aqua adopted OpenAI’s GPT language model before it went mainstream to offer truly AI features. You can create tests just from a text description or ask the AI Copilot to complete drafts. Unlike ChatGPT, aqua knows the context of your software and iterates upon your test suite.

Auto-train AI Copilot with your tests	No AI capabilities
Generate entire tests with AI	No AI capabilities
Complete test drafts	No AI capabilities
Prioritise tests	No AI capabilities
Remove duplicates	No AI capabilities


Auto-train AI Copilot with your tests
Generate entire tests with AI
Complete test drafts
Prioritise tests
Remove duplicates


No AI capabilities
No AI capabilities
No AI capabilities
No AI capabilities
No AI capabilities

Test management

Test management is the main reason we are looking at these two tools. You should consider various aspects of handling test cases as well as traceability-minded features. These include:

Create, execute, share, and manage test cases in the workspace
Group tests into test scenarios, segment them into folders, assign labels
Quickly navigate the test suite, apply filters, use individual and shared views
See the entire execution history for a test case
Store a full log of changes for compliance
Visualise requirements coverage and dependencies between requirements, test cases, and defects

aqua and TestRail both excel at their primary functionality. You can create and run tests, store execution history, quickly navigate your test suite, and share info with regulators if necessary. The biggest difference lies in pricing: TestRail provides compliance features only in their Enterprise plan even though a small company may need them too.

On a similar note, TestRail does not have native defect management. You will have to use third-party solutions that will cost you extra time and potentially money as well.


Test cases, test scenarios, bulk test edits, custom fields Execution history Quick navigation, filters, views Timestamped item change history for compliance


Test cases, test scenarios, bulk test edits, custom fields Execution history Quick navigation, filters, views Timestamped item change history for compliance

Native defect management	Not out of the box: External defect management only
Test parameterisation	Enterprise only: test parameterisation
Test case approvals, test case version control, audit log	Enterprise only: test case approvals, test case version control, audit log


Native defect management
Test parameterisation
Test case approvals, test case version control, audit log


Not out of the box: External defect management only
Enterprise only: test parameterisation
Enterprise only: test case approvals, test case version control, audit log

Verdict: aqua wins by defect management and value

Integrations

Most tools rely on automation via common third-party tools that QA specialists have been using for over a decade. The experience is much better when your test management solution has native integrations for industry-leading tools. REST API support is a must if you do not want to be at the vendor’s mercy for integrations.

First-party framework automation or third-party integrations with test automation tools
Native third-party integrations: Selenium, Jenkins, JMeter, SoapUI, Ranorex
Jira integration and/or Jira plugin
REST API support for integrating any tool

Both tools rely on third-party solutions for test automation. aqua, however, has a much bigger list of native QA integrations while TestRail makes you use REST API to connect tools. aqua also has a very powerful integration with Capture, a bug reporting tool that automatically records execution and stores system information.


Jira integration with real-time project sync REST API


Jira integration with real-time project sync REST API

Selenium, Jenkins, UFT, JMeter, SoapUI, Ranorex, Database MSSQL, Database Oracle for test automation	Jenkins, Ranorex, Cypress, Functionize for test automation
Test recording tool Capture	No native test recording integration
Not available	Other issue tracking software


Selenium, Jenkins, UFT, JMeter, SoapUI, Ranorex, Database MSSQL, Database Oracle for test automation
Test recording tool Capture
Not available


Jenkins, Ranorex, Cypress, Functionize for test automation
No native test recording integration
Other issue tracking software

Verdict: aqua wins by extra native QA integrations

Pricing flexibility

Tools differ in how much money they request upfront and what scaling looks like. Some criteria here are:

Monthly or annual billing
Free licences for browsing or even executing tests
High setup costs
Dependency on paying for other tools

aqua and TestRail both do not cost extra to set up, but that is where similarities end. TestRail offers monthly billing only in their regular plan, but it has a few glaring omissions including traceability. TestRail’s Enterprise plan is billed annually, and there are no free licences for some of your staff.

Free setup	Free setup
Free licences for manual testers	Full-price licences only
Test parameterisation, test case approvals, test case version control, audit log in regular plan	Test parameterisation, test case approvals, test case version control, audit log in Enterprise plan only
Extra security, SSO, individual rollbacks, and custom functionality in Enterprise plan	Extra security & SSO in Enterprise plan


Free setup
Free licences for manual testers
Test parameterisation, test case approvals, test case version control, audit log in regular plan
Extra security, SSO, individual rollbacks, and custom functionality in Enterprise plan


Free setup
Full-price licences only
Test parameterisation, test case approvals, test case version control, audit log in Enterprise plan only
Extra security & SSO in Enterprise plan

Deployment Models

On-Premise deployment is a must in many industries, yet vendors won’t explicitly say if they don’t offer it. Depending on your security policies and scale, deploying in a non-vendor Cloud is a beneficial option too.

Vendor Cloud
External Cloud: AWS, Azure, etc.
On-Premise

aqua and TestRail both maintain Cloud and On-Premise offerings. You can stay in the vendor’s cloud, pick a third-party cloud data centre, or deploy the test management solution on your server.

On-Premise	On-Premise
GDPR-compliant aqua-hosted German Cloud	TestRail-hosted US Cloud
Isolated Enterprise Custom Cloud (Any Azure data centre)	Custom Cloud


On-Premise
GDPR-compliant aqua-hosted German Cloud
Isolated Enterprise Custom Cloud (Any Azure data centre)


On-Premise
TestRail-hosted US Cloud
Custom Cloud

Verdict: Tie

Dashboards

QA dashboards serve two vital purposes. They help the QA team track their progress, but they also make other teams aware of potential bottlenecks. At a minimum, you should be able to include any data and share dashboards with the team.

Use all data of the workspace
Create private and shared dashboards
Choose between various types of graphs
Set up KPI/values alerts that arrive as email/app notifications

Both solutions provide visual dashboards to display and slice any custom data. There are enough features to make dashboards insightful for any team member. You can also set up KPI Alerts to be notified when a key metric went out of order. TestRail does not offer KPI Alerts, and external sharing of dashboards is lacking as well.

All data including custom fields	All data including custom fields
KPI alerts	Does not offer KPI Alerts
External dashboard sharing	PNG/CSV exports only


All data including custom fields
KPI alerts
External dashboard sharing


All data including custom fields
Does not offer KPI Alerts
PNG/CSV exports only

Verdict: aqua wins by KPI alerts and better sharing

Reporting

Reporting is important for both internal and external stakeholders. The goal here is to get what you need with as little or as much effort as possible. When a tool offers both a template library and rich customisation, that is a good start.

Access vendor-provided template library
Create custom layouts and save them
Use and transform any data
Apply text & image formatting
Add external data and imagery
Employ scripts and parametrisation to auto-update reports

aqua has a fully customisable reports wizard to leverage and organise any data. You can even add external images and texts, too. There is a lot of automation with self-updating diagrams and custom scripts to pull and transform data depending on conditions entered by your specialists.

On the other hand, Zephyr has template-based reporting only. They claim to have 26 templates, but they are essentially 26 tracked metrics rather than 26 combinations of any metric. If QA reporting is a major consideration, aqua is a much better choice. Note that QA will eventually become the key stage to optimise, and good reports help a lot.


Template library Custom reports Diagrams Parametrisation Text & image formatting


Template library Custom reports Diagrams Parametrisation Text & image formatting

Visual Reporting wizard for customisation beyond templates	DIY plugins for customisation beyond templates
Any data (natively)	Any data (custom plugins only)
External data & imagery (natively)	External data & imagery (custom plugins only)
Custom layout (natively)	Custom layout (plugins only)
Drag-and-drop	Not available
Pivot tables	Not available
Scripts (natively)	Scripts (custom plugins only)


Visual Reporting wizard for customisation beyond templates
Any data (natively)
External data & imagery (natively)
Custom layout (natively)
Drag-and-drop
Pivot tables
Scripts (natively)


DIY plugins for customisation beyond templates
Any data (custom plugins only)
External data & imagery (custom plugins only)
Custom layout (plugins only)
Not available
Not available
Scripts (custom plugins only)

Verdict: aqua wins by easier customisation

User management

Precise user management is essential when working on multiple projects and/or working with external specialists. It will also save you a lot of pain from running crowd testing in the same test management solution.

Set default roles
Create custom roles
Apply per-user permissions
Authenticate users via SSO

Granular user permissions are useful for working on multiple projects, conducting user acceptance testing, and working with freelancers. Basic roles functionality is usually fine, but you would hate to be in a situation where you need but can’t set individual permissions. aqua and TestRail both offer individual permissions, but TestRail locks them behind the Enterprise plan.

SSO	SSO
Default user roles	Default user roles
Custom roles	Custom roles
Individual permissions	Individual permissions
Server and project level administrators	Server and project level administrators (Enterprise only)


SSO
Default user roles
Custom roles
Individual permissions
Server and project level administrators


SSO
Default user roles
Custom roles
Individual permissions
Server and project level administrators (Enterprise only)

Verdict: aqua wins by value

ALM

This is not a hard requirement, but you may be interested in a test management solution that also handles the entire product lifecycle. This is a great money saver as you need licences from fewer vendors, and the synergy should save you some hours as well.

Test case management
Requirements management
Defect management
Project management

Both solutions specialise in quality assurance, but aqua does not limit itself to just testing. You can use it for the entire lifecycle of the product, while TestRail will cover QA only. This is a significant money saver, as aqua gives you 4 tools at the price it would cost you to get TestRail only.

Test case management	Test case management
Requirements management	Not available
Defect management	Not available
Project management	Not available


Test case management
Requirements management
Defect management
Project management


Test case management
Not available
Not available
Not available

Verdict: aqua wins by covering the entire lifecycle, not just testing

What people say

Here are a few things people like and dislike about both tools.

“I was surprised to find such a comprehensive and mature tool for test management in the German market without having taken it seriously beforehand.”

Jörg Großmann

Head of Development at Bank 11

“The reporting is meaningful and provides a good basis for decisions. After the employees have used aqua, they recognize the added value very quickly.”

Thomas Haeske

Head of Organisation/IT at Berlin Hyp

“Manual test cases are easily automated with aqua. Seamless integration with test automation tools helps here.”

Jörn-Hendrick Sörensen

Test Manager at KBA

“For day-to-day test management of my project — I am able to do a lot of things. Test cases are reusable and I can report on some of their data.

The UI is a little clunky, the documentation is not super helpful, and the reports are not as customizable as I would like. I'd also like to be able to build out a tracking dashboard for one or more projects.”

A G2 reviewer

Broadcast Media (51-1000 emp.)

“Not user friendly, it's confusing and not always helpful. The audit trail for each defect doesn't do a good job of recording past history and hence, data becomes hard to analyse.”

Suchismita Majhi

Associate IT Consultant (a > 1000 emp. Enterprise)

“Sometimes bugs go unfixed for a long amount of time. There was one with uploading pictures that hindered us for a bit and now one with filtering. Reporting is also lacking a bit, I would like to see the ability to create my own reports. There is also no easy way to connect test reports with the browser stack that we use for our automated testing.“

Jessica W.

Computer Analyst (51-1000 emp.)

Final verdict

aqua is a proven and constantly evolving solution. It brings AI innovation, does not hide essential features behind Enterprise plan, and offers native defect tracking. TestRail works for test management only and still lacks in several areas, including test automation integrations. The extra traceability costs are arguably the biggest factor in the comparison of aqua and TestRail testing tools for heavily regulated industries.


Bleeding-edge AI-powered testing	Traditional QA only
ALM including defect management	Test case management only
10+ testing integrations & REST API	4 native testing integrations + REST API


Traditional QA only
Test case management only
4 native testing integrations + REST API

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What do you pick for Enterprise and SMB?

Key differences between aqua and TestRail

How we compare

AI

Verdict: aqua wins (TestRail has no AI testing)