When to Use Automation Testing Over Manual Testing?

When to Use Automation Testing Over Manual Testing in 2024?

Automation testing has been a popular approach for businesses in the past decade. It has not only helped businesses to deliver more features quicker to the users but also given confidence in meeting competitive needs. There is a direct impact on the efficiency of the development team by huge test coverage abilities across aspects like browsers, devices, operating systems, etc. However, the rumor of manual testing going out of usage is not possible since there is a crucial need for human eyes to go beyond automation for a superior user experience guarantee. In this article, you will find some key points that help you decide the best testing approach for every requirement.

Manual Testing vs Automated Testing:

Manual Testing is performed by humans having the chance of mistakes in trusting the reliability. Automation testing is trusted since they are executed by automation scripts as per the design.

The time needed for testing manually is more since it will be executed by humans whereas automated tests require less time in comparison depending on the tools employed.

The cost of manual testing is reliant on the number of human resources employed in the process, whereas automation testing costs are based on the technology employed to develop and run the scripts.

Manual testing is irreplaceable for the cause of finding out the user-friendliness of the product since it involves human eyes for testing. Automated testing will not give you the advantage of gauging user-friendliness since there will be no human brilliance for executions.

Manual testing is suitable when the test cases are run once or twice. Therefore, there is no frequent repetition of test cases. Automated testing is suitable when the test cases need to run repeatedly for a long duration of time.

Manual testing offers the advantage of testing the product, say a mobile app with identical situations under the hands of users. Any kind of defects that may be hidden in the app will be visible to the human eye through smart manual testing which is not possible through an automated approach.

When is Automation Testing beneficial over Manual Testing?

Below are some key reasons to choose automation testing:

• Manual testing involves the process of manually testing the digital product without any aid of automated scripts or tools. It will require more time since testers have to manually write the test cases and check the steps themselves. So, if the requirement is to test the functionality across multiple devices, browsers, operating systems, etc then manual testing is not ideal. Instead, go for an automated approach where the tool and script combination can save time.
• It is beneficial for tests that are repeated at regular intervals across the software development life cycle. Manual testing will demand the same amount of effort in every iteration to execute such repetitive tests.
• Automation tests allow you to use the test cases again and again after you create them once. With good automation technology and tools combination, there will be an assurance of perfect executions with mention of failed test cases and any bugs.
• Manual testing will require the aid of manpower to complete the tests depending on the number, which could be tough, especially during bigger releases. But with automation, complete automation tests can be run with the requirement of minimal resources.
• Automation testing is comparatively easy to manage after you are ready with the scripts. With knowledge of execution steps, automation can be taken care of without much confusion.
• In the case of executing complex tests, it is tricky to coordinate with various team members during the manual testing process. However, with automation, it is much easier to include various team members to handle the specific test cases.

Is Manual Testing still beneficial over Automated?

• A proven advantage of manual testing over automation is its ability of continuous focus continuously. As the tester will be executing manual tests, they can take care of any complex scenario to check every navigation in a precise manner. It has been proven that manual testing has minimal chance of showcasing false negatives which can be a headache for the backend team to handle multiple validations. Automation testing may have advanced features, but in the case of new features, only manual testing will be useful for assurance.
• Manual testing is highly useful in some scenarios where an automated approach is not preferred. UI UX testing needs human eyes to fulfil user experience needs. Another instance is exploratory testing which involves checking random steps to validate a user flow. Repetitive test scenarios can be automated but it’s not useful for tests that are run occasionally.

Manual vs. Automated Testing – Which is Better?

Selecting manual or automated testing needs a cautious and expert analysis of the exclusive testing requirements since both methods have their pros and cons. Automation testing is useful for repetitive tests especially during regression testing while manual testing is useful to find complex issues. There is no one-word answer to see which is the best approach for any given project. A combination of automation and manual testing is the way to go for guaranteeing test coverage and effective output. Teams will succeed in the long run only if they find a plan to know which are the tests to be selected for automation. While new features will need manual tests, you need to find which tests will be good to be automated based on all the key factors of your venture.

Final thoughts:

Leveraging the benefits of both manual and automated testing is important to gain the testing goals of optimal quality and meeting deadlines. Automated testing is doing exceptionally well but cannot completely replace manual testing with a focus on superior user experience. While automation technology provides the best test coverage and consistency, manual testing is key for delivering smooth user satisfaction. Brillmindz Technologies, a leading digital transformation expert provides optimal mobile app development testing service that guarantees a sync between manual and automated testing with error-free output.