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aqua vs zephyr

Does a Jira plugin unlock your full QA potential?

Jira is so sleek and you probably use it for development anyway, so why not run your testing with a Jira plugin? Zephyr is a popular and proven choice among the many options on the market. But can it keep up a dedicated solution?

Key differences between aqua and Zephyr

aqua offers free AI-enhanced testing

aqua keeps On-Premise

aqua has better reporting

How we compare

Key differences between aqua and Zephyr

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

Vendors of independent test management systems have much more control over new features. This includes adopting the latest AI tech, something that Jira-powered tools will struggle to do unless Atlassian shows interest. aqua offers an AI Copilot powered by GPT, the large language model behind ChatGPT. Unlike the free chatbot, aqua’s solution reads the context of your project and understands your test suite. You can use it to save up to 20 hours/week per employee by auto-creating tests based on requirements, updating them, and letting the AI prioritise your test suite.

Zephyr-logo-01
Auto-train AI Copilot with your tests
No AI-powered testing
Generate entire tests with AI
No AI-powered testing
Complete test drafts
No AI-powered testing
Prioritise tests
No AI-powered testing
Remove duplicates
No AI-powered testing
Auto-train AI Copilot with your tests
Generate entire tests with AI
Complete test drafts
Prioritise tests
Remove duplicates
Zephyr-logo-01
No AI-powered testing
No AI-powered testing
No AI-powered testing
No AI-powered testing
No AI-powered testing

Verdict: aqua wins (Zephyr has no AI-powered testing)

Try aqua AI

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

Apart from lacking AI functionality, Zephyr is a really close match for aqua when it comes to test management. As is common with Jira plugins for testing, test organisation usually suffers when not using a dedicated solution. Zephyr fares worse than some other plugin competitors, as they do not try to adapt Jira workflows and do not offer any themselves. There are also no shared views because Jira does not offer them.

Zephyr-logo-01
  • Test cases, test scenarios, bulk test edits, custom fields
  • Execution history
  • Nested test cases
  • Quick navigation, filters, views
  • Item change history, logging
QA workflows
Not Available
Shared test steps
Not Available
Change reversal
Not Available
Shared views
Not Available
Zephyr-logo-01
  • Test cases, test scenarios, bulk test edits, custom fields
  • Execution history
  • Nested test cases
  • Quick navigation, filters, views
  • Item change history, logging
QA workflows
Shared test steps
Change reversal
Shared views
Zephyr-logo-01
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Verdict: aqua wins by QA workflows and shared views

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 Zephyr and aqua take the third-party route when it comes to integrations. This approach means a lower barrier of entry for less experienced specialists, and you can leverage extra complex solutions via REST API anyway. The main difference comes in the number of native integrations: Zephyr brings just a fraction of aqua offers.

Zephyr-logo-01
  • REST API
  • Jira integration
Selenium, Jenkins, UFT, JMeter, SoapUI, Ranorex, Database MSSQL, Database Oracle for test automation
Jenkins, Selenium for test automation
Bug reporting tool Capture
No native bug reporting integration
Zephyr-logo-01
  • REST API
  • Jira integration
Selenium, Jenkins, UFT, JMeter, SoapUI, Ranorex, Database MSSQL, Database Oracle for test automation
Bug reporting tool Capture
Zephyr-logo-01
Jenkins, Selenium for test automation
No native bug reporting integration
Verdict: aqua wins by much stronger native 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 Zephyr both offer monthly billing, which may be an afterthought for large companies but helps small companies a lot. There are no setup costs associated with either. On the other hand, the Jira plugin Zephyr requires Jira licences to match aqua functionality. All licences are full price as well.

Zephyr-logo-01
  • No setup costs
No external licences required
Jira licence required
Free licences for manual testers
Full-price licences only
Free licences for non-tech users
Full-price licences only
Zephyr-logo-01
  • No setup costs
No external licences required
Free licences for manual testers
Free licences for non-tech users
Zephyr-logo-01
Jira licence required
Full-price licences only
Full-price licences only

Verdict: aqua wins by €‎0 licences for manual testers

Try aqua for free

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 supports both Cloud and On-Premise deployment. As a nice compromise between security and costs, you can even host a cloud version of aqua on a third-party server. Zephyr has been offering the same, but not for long: Jira is ceasing active support for On-Premise starting from December 31, 2023. Zephyr has already stopped selling On-Premise licences for their Jira plugin.

Zephyr-logo-01
On-Premise
On-Premise till 2024
GDPR-compliant aqua-hosted German Cloud
Jira-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)
Zephyr-logo-01
On-Premise till 2024
Jira-hosted US Cloud
Custom Cloud
Verdict: aqua wins by maintaining On-Premise

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

Zephyr has an extensive suite of dashboard widgets, but it is still restricted by Jira’s boundaries. You can’t take full advantage of your workspace’s entire data. There are also no KPI alerts that would notify you about a deviation in metrics, which would have saved the time on constantly checking dashboards. aqua offers both.

Zephyr-logo-01
Any data
19 widgets
KPI Alerts
No KPI Alerts
Any data
KPI Alerts
Zephyr-logo-01
19 widgets
No KPI Alerts
Verdict: aqua wins by customisation and KPI Alerts

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.

Zephyr-logo-01
  • Template library
  • Diagrams
Native custom reports
Not Available
Native use of any data
Not Available
Native text & image formatting
Not Available
Drag-and-drop
Not Available
External text & imagery
Not Available
Native custom layout
Not Available
Scripts
Not Available
Parametrisation
Not Available
Pivot tables
Not Available
Zephyr-logo-01
  • Template library
  • Diagrams
Native custom reports
Native use of any data
Native text & image formatting
Drag-and-drop
External text & imagery
Native custom layout
Scripts
Parametrisation
Pivot tables
Zephyr-logo-01
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Verdict: aqua wins by offering out-of-the-box custom reports

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

aqua and Zephyr offer the same granularity when it comes to permissions. You can create custom roles as well as assign unique permissions to individual users. Both tools offer relevant QA-specific permissions, such as editing and executing test cases.

Zephyr-logo-01
  • SSO
  • Default user roles
  • Custom roles
  • Individual permissions
  • QA-specific permissions
Zephyr-logo-01
  • SSO
  • Default user roles
  • Custom roles
  • Individual permissions
  • QA-specific permissions
Details verdict icon: Tie
Verdict: Tie

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
  • Defect management
  • Requirements management
  • Project management

aqua is a test management solution that can also handle the entire product lifecycle. Zephyr is the missing QA link for Jira to do the same. Ultimately, both aqua and Zephyr give you the seamless 4-tools-in-1 experience and the cost savings that come with that.

Zephyr-logo-01
  • Test case management
  • Defect management
  • Requirements management
  • Project management
Zephyr-logo-01
  • Test case management
  • Defect management
  • Requirements management
  • Project management
Details verdict icon: Tie
Verdict: Tie

What people say

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

Zephyr-logo-01
star star star star star

“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

star star star

“The fact that its interface has a fairly simple and straightforward design is excellent for us to use without any problems, the fact that it is not necessary to be an expert programming to use it is also quite practical when making your use. There are many errors that can affect the performance and performance of the application. It is enough to report to the customer service team and they quickly solve it, however I still believe that they should work better to prevent one from noticing that type of failure.”

Federico D.

Software Development Engineer at an Enterprise (>1000 emp.)

star star star star star

“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

star star star

“Bulk editing of test scripts isn't always the easiest. Can clutter Jira without sufficient configuration knowledge of Jira.”

Liz H.

Test Manager at a small business (<50 emp.)

star star star star star

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

Jörn-Hendrick Sörensen

Test Manager at KBA

star star star

“I dislike how hard it is to import multiple tests. The importer into Jira is inconsistent and not user friendly. I never feel confident that it will import the first time I try it.“

A G2 reviewer

mid-sized Retail company (50–1000 emp.)

star star star star star

“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

star star star star star

“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

star star star star star

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

Jörn-Hendrick Sörensen

Test Manager at KBA

Zephyr-logo-01
star star star

“The fact that its interface has a fairly simple and straightforward design is excellent for us to use without any problems, the fact that it is not necessary to be an expert programming to use it is also quite practical when making your use. There are many errors that can affect the performance and performance of the application. It is enough to report to the customer service team and they quickly solve it, however I still believe that they should work better to prevent one from noticing that type of failure.”

Federico D.

Software Development Engineer at an Enterprise (>1000 emp.)

star star star

“Bulk editing of test scripts isn't always the easiest. Can clutter Jira without sufficient configuration knowledge of Jira.”

Liz H.

Test Manager at a small business (<50 emp.)

star star star

“I dislike how hard it is to import multiple tests. The importer into Jira is inconsistent and not user friendly. I never feel confident that it will import the first time I try it.“

A G2 reviewer

mid-sized Retail company (50–1000 emp.)

Final verdict

aqua is a veteran test management solution that can work as both a Jira plugin and standalone solution while not costing extra. Zephyr is a plugin that tries to make Jira a test management system. While the effort is admirable, you still run into several Jira limitations and feature omissions from Zephyr. This comparison of aqua and Zephyr testing tools confirms that you can run QA in Jira, but it works best with a dedicated TMS that offers a Jira plugin.

Zephyr-logo-01
Bleeding-edge AI-powered testing
Traditional QA only
Native QA workflows
Error-prone implementation of your handbook
10+ testing integrations & REST API
2 testing integrations & REST API
Autonomous solution
Relies on Jira to work
Advanced QA reporting
Individual metrics only
KPI alerts on dashboards
Manually browsing dashboards only
Free licences even for manual QA
Full-price licences only
Continued On-Premise support
On-Premise discontinued by 2024
Bleeding-edge AI-powered testing
Native QA workflows
10+ testing integrations & REST API
Autonomous solution
Advanced QA reporting
KPI alerts on dashboards
Free licences even for manual QA
Continued On-Premise support
Zephyr-logo-01
Traditional QA only
Error-prone implementation of your handbook
2 testing integrations & REST API
Relies on Jira to work
Individual metrics only
Manually browsing dashboards only
Full-price licences only
On-Premise discontinued by 2024

Winner

Try aqua for free
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