Manual Testing vs Automation testing: what to choose?

Imagine a situation where you need to develop new software for a company request (if you are a development team) or for your private request. You have approved all the functions with the engineers, imagined what it should look like, and clearly shared your expectations with the team of specialists. After a couple of weeks of waiting, and you are ready to go. Or almost. The last but not least important step in software development is the testing phase.

Before providing a customer with the final product, it must first be thoroughly tested for bugs and errors to see whether the software performs all functions properly and responds to the customer's needs. For this function, you require a responsible person – the tester, who will perform this check. But it is not that simple. The inspection (testing) can be of two types – manual and automated.

We are going into more detail about each type of test and finding out the benefits they have.

Brief description: Manual test vs Automation testing

Each approach to testing has its advantages and disadvantages. To understand which is best for you, you first need to know how each one works. So let's start with manual testing.

About Manual Testing in Common

Manual testing is a type of testing of software where a human tests all test cases. As a rule, it is a QA (Quality Assurance) / QC (Quality Control) specialist who manually analyses and checks the software. During testing, he is responsible for finding out all possible bugs in the software, documenting them, and then pointing them out to the developers. We can say that his primary task is to hack the system! The QA/QC engineer does not fix the bugs by himself, but he must be sure that his tasks are clear and understandable for developers, which helps prioritize and understand the bug's point. But we don't need to forget about the human factor, which can work during the testing, since the quality engineer does not use any automation tools, which directly affects the testing quality during highly intensive realizes, stressful situations, and tight deadlines.

About Automation Testing in Common

Automation Testing, contrary to manual testing, is a technique that uses special automated testing software tools to execute a test case suite. The automation testing software can also enter test data into the System Under Test, compare expected and actual results, and generate detailed test reports. This method may be faster and more efficient, but it demands considerable investments of money and resources. Even though the method is called 'automatic,' it still requires manual intervention to write the script. Therefore, even this type of testing cannot be considered fully automatic. However, this type of testing aims at the same purpose as manual testing – to detect bugs in the software, and compared to manual testing speeds up the process of realizing production.

Manual vs Automation testing: main difference in the table

We've covered the question of what each type of test represents. Now, in order to understand what is better for you and your software – automation vs manual testing, let's look at their characteristics in the table.

Automation testing vs Manual testing – pros and cons

After comparing the characteristics of each type of test, let's understand the main advantages and disadvantages of automation vs manual testing.

Each type of testing has its disadvantages and advantages, so this nuance should be considered in advance depending on your project.

How much does manual and automation testing cost?

Now, let's move on to the most important question – the question of cost. A team that often develops software should have a full-time tester who can do both manual and automation testing (write a script for it).

A tester's salary may vary depending on their experience. If we are talking about a Junior QA specialist, then the cost of his work an hour could be less than $ 20. Middle will earn an average of $25 per hour, and Seniors will earn an average of $32 per hour.

As an outsourcing company, it's important to understand the salary differences for QA specialists in manual and automation testing. Our picture breaks down the key factors that impact QA specialist salaries and what to expect for manual and automation testing roles.[/caption] As an outsourcing company, it's important to understand the salary differences for QA specialists in manual and automation testing. Our picture breaks down the key factors that impact QA specialist salaries and what to expect for manual and automation testing roles.

When to use Manual or Automation Testing?

As you have seen, automation and manual testing can be useful in different cases. In the best-case scenario, you should have someone on your team who can use both testing methods. You should decide which one you want to use based on your project. If you are developing a product that will focus on customer service, for example, you might want to do manual testing. Automation testing can never tell if software or program is user-friendly. Manual testing will not only point out technical errors for the developers, but also the usability of the user interface.

The second scenario, in which you would need more automatic checking, is the constant development of different software, but with similar code. In that case, constant manual checking would be too costly and time-consuming. Always calculate how much time is allocated to a project, as manual checks take much longer. Also consider what your budget allows you to take. Again, manual checking is several times more expensive than automatic checking, keep this in mind.

You may also find the automatic verification type suitable if you also need to check Face ID, the fingerprint test, and the voice-related tests.

Is replacing manual testing conceivable?

Our answer is no. Automatic verification can never fully replace manual verification. At least not in the next decade. Perhaps after some time and development, machines will be able to check software and programs at the same level as a live human. But for now, to deliver a quality product, you need the involvement of two checks.

Conclusion. What testing do I need Conclusion.

The answer to this question is now up to you. Based on the facts above, and the characteristics of each of the checks discussed. If your company is focused on ongoing software development, then look at using two types of verification at once.