The complexity of mobile application testing has increased exponentially as device and OS combinations have exploded in recent years. Procuring different devices and keeping them updated with OS and other device upgrades becomes almost impossible over time. Execution of the test cases across various devices also becomes quite demanding as applications evolve with additional features and capabilities.
How do organizations ensure their applications provide a powerful user experience without breaking the bank in both time and capital expense?
Test automation provides thorough testing with the added benefit of rapid speed and early detection of issues. Cloud-based testing tools can run required test cases on thousands of simulators as well as real devices saving organizations from high capital expenditures for devices. These cloud tools provide access to simulators, emulators and various real devices at highly competitive pricing.
In an earlier post we discussed utilization of the cloud for mobile testing highlighting the benefits of cloud based testing of mobile applications. Over and above that, there are cloud services that can be used to test applications across devices. Here is a look at the most commonly used cloud-based mobile application testing platforms.
Top Cloud-based Mobile Testing Platforms
All the below testing platforms enable execution of manual / automated mobile testing of applications on a wide range of Android and iOS devices with comprehensive test coverage to rapidly detect issues. Videos, test logs, crash logs and screenshots are also available for in-depth test analysis. These test environments provide 24×7 access and flexibility to define the geographic position, language, network links, and perquisite apps to emulate / replicate real-life usage scenarios for web, hybrid, and native mobile apps.
The following table highlights some of the key aspects of the most commonly used platforms:
| Framework Support | AWS Device Farm [1] | Appium Java Junit, Appium Java TestNG, Appium Python, Calabash, JUnit, Espresso, Robotium, XCTest |
| Xamarin Test Cloud [2] | Calabash, Xamarin.UITest and Appium | |
| SauceLab [3] | Selenium, Appium, XCTest, Espresso | |
| BrowserStack [4] | Junit, TestNG, Cucumber JS, Protractor, MBUnit, Specflow, Behat, PHPUnit, Behave, Lettuce, RSpec etc. | |
| Perfecto [5] | Selenium, Appium, Calabash, Espresso, XCUITest | |
| Bitbar [6] | Appium, Calabash, Robot Framework, Espresso, UI automator, Instrumentation, XCUITest, XCTest, KIF and EarlGrey | |
| Device Support | AWS Device Farm [1] | Supports 373 devices |
| Xamarin Test Cloud [2] | 210+ devices supported | |
| SauceLab [3] | 373 devices supported | |
| BrowserStack [4] | 110+ devices supported | |
| Perfecto [5] | 100+ devices supported | |
| Bitbar [6] | 321 devices supported | |
| OS Support | AWS Device Farm [1] | iOS, Android and Fire OS |
| Xamarin Test Cloud [2] | iOS, Android, Windows | |
| SauceLab [3] | Android, iOS | |
| BrowserStack [4] | Android, iOS, Windows | |
| Perfecto [5] | iOS | |
| Bitbar [6] | iOS, Android | |
| Pricing Range | AWS Device Farm [1] | The pricing starts from $0.17/device minute. |
| Xamarin Test Cloud [2] | The pricing starts from $99/month. | |
| SauceLab [3] | The pricing starts from $19/month. | |
| BrowserStack [4] | The pricing starts from $29/month. | |
| Perfecto [5] | The pricing starts from $ 0/month (free trial). | |
| Bitbar [6] | The pricing starts from $99/month. | |
| Automation / DevOps compatibility | AWS Device Farm [1] | Jenkins, |
| Xamarin Test Cloud [2] | AppCenter, TeamCity, Jenkins | |
| SauceLab [3] | Visual Studio Team Services, Bitbucket Pipelines, Bamboo, Jenkins, TeamCity | |
| BrowserStack [4] | Jenkins, Travis, Bamboo, TeamCity, CircleCI, Bitbucket. | |
| Perfecto [5] | Jenkins, Bamboo, CircleCI, Visual Studio Team Services, Perfecto REST API, TeamCity | |
| Bitbar [6] | Jenkins |
Conclusion:
Cloud-based testing platforms help address woes around procurement, fragmentation and security of testing devices through cost effective pricing.
The above-mentioned testing and test automation tools provide comprehensive device coverage with varying platforms, screen sizes, etc. thus, ensuring efficiency and accuracy. This, along with detailed logs and reports, helps QA teams deliver high-quality applications that meet customer experience, time to market and cost objectives.
Contact us to explore how these platforms can be utilized for your application testing needs or how we can provide supplemental testing support via our managed testing services.