Comparison Between Manual and Automated Testing

Introduction

Manual and automated testing both have their own value and importance. We cannot compare the two. As mentioned manual and automated testing both have their own values therefore we will discuss those values and importance in the world of software testing.

Manual Testing and its benefits:

As we know manual testing is one of the oldest and most commonly used techniques in software testing. Even while doing automated testing we need to manually test  the application at least once, therefore in other words we can also say that automated testing is incomplete without manual testing; both techniques work simultaneously. Automated testing fails if a simple and unexpected pop-up dialog occurs that can be quickly analyzed and dismissed if the testing is done manually. Manual testing is an activity performed on the basis of human judgment and analysis. In manual testing the tester must posses good knowledge to analyze and judge whether the application under test is working as expected or not. Using manual testing a large amount of bugs can be identified as compared with automated testing. To explore and find areas that may not have been tested is possible using manual testing.

a) Using manual testing we can find layout issues.

b) Trivial bugs can be found only using manual testing.

c) Bugs related to the usability issues can only be identified using manual testing.

d) Manual testing helps testers to identify the functionality of the application better.

e) Manual Testing can be implemented on both small and large projects.

f) Manual testing is much more economical and easier process.

Automated Testing and its benefits

Automated Testing enhances the chances of producing bugs. A bug that has been identified using automated testing after knowing what the automated test executed to get the result. One of the most amazing features of automated testing is it can be executed multiple times without any interruption which is definitely not possible using automated testing. Test cases prepared using automated testing can be run quicker compared with manual testing which simply means that now you can run more test cases on more browsers, for example 10 browsers and 5 devices can be run quickly and without any time gap; that is not possible with manual testing.

Therefore the benefits of automated testing are listed below:

a) Automated testing saves time and human effort.

b) Allows testers to execute more test cases repeatedly without any time lag and interruption.

c) Automated testing helps testers in preparing in test cases that are manually not possible.

d) Using automated testing, human errors can be completely removed from the process of testing.

e) Automated testing helps in preparing detailed test cases even in non-automated areas.