Katalon Studio
Katalon Platform is an
automation testing software tool developed by Katalon, Inc. The
software is built on top of the open-source automation frameworks Selenium,
Appium with a specialized IDE interface for web, API, mobile and desktop
application testing. Its initial release for internal use was in January
2015.
Mostly, Katalon is designed
to create and reuse automated test scripts for UI without coding. Katalon
Studio allows running automated tests of UI elements, including pop-ups,
iFrames, and wait-time. The tool can be launched on Microsoft Windows,
macOS, and Linux.
Initial
release date: January 2015
License: Proprietary
- Free & Paid
Developer(s): Katalon,
Inc
Stable
release: 8.4.0 / 15 July 2022;
Programming
languages: Java, Groovy
Install Katalon Studio on macOS/Windows
Lets
us know how to install Katalon Studio on macOS/Windows.
Requirements
·
A valid email to register a Katalon Account.
·
An active Internet connection to download Katalon Studio.
Download Katalon Studio
·
Sign in to Katalon TestOps.
·
On the right side of the navigation bar, click on Download
Studio.
·
TestOps download button
·
Select and download the suitable version of Katalon Studio for
your system.
Start Katalon Studio in
Windows
·
To start Katalon Studio in Windows, do as follows:
·
After downloading the .zip file, extract it to the
C:\Users\<username> folder.
·
To start Katalon Studio, double-click on the katalon.exe file.
Activate Katalon Studio -
Platform Edition
·
The Katalon Studio - Platform Edition app launches, then the
Katalon Studio Activation dialog appears.
·
Sign in to your Katalon account to activate your license.
·
After you are done, click Activate.
·
Select your Organization from the dropdown list, then click OK.
·
Now Katalon Studio - Platform Edition is
ready for use.
Activate Katalon Studio -
Standalone Edition
·
To activate Katalon Studio - Standalone Edition, follow these
steps:
·
The Katalon Studio - Standalone Edition app launches, then the
Katalon Studio Activation dialog appears.
·
Sign in to your Katalon account to activate your license.
·
After you are done, click Activate.
·
Now Katalon Studio - Standalone Edition
is ready for use.
Pros of using Katalon Studio
Even though Katalon Studio
is a relatively new tool, it has already gained sizable popularity and was even
named 2020 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice — and for good reason. Let’s
see what its main advantages are.
1.
Integrated with CI/DevOps workflow and
other tools
Katalon
doesn’t require additional extensions to run tests as it offers a wide range of
handy integrations. For example, connecting to qTest, a centralized test
management tool that facilitates the communication of a QA team, allows for
controlling test requirements, test case planning, and defect management.
2.
Intuitive analytics dashboard and
reports
An
inbuilt, data-driven testing module allows users to analyze tests based on
recorded scenarios. Katalon displays the analytic results in the form of
built-in reports that can be exported in PDF, HTML, Excel, or CSV. The reports are visually intuitive and simple
to work with.
3.
Supports several types of testing
In
Katalon Studio you can run the following test types:
Keywords-driven.
This approach works for testers who aren’t proficient in scripting. Based on
keywords that represent users’ actions on the AUT (Applications Under Test), a
tester can run an automated test. Keywords can be customized.
Data-driven.
A test execution strategy that features reading test scripts from various
data-sources. The data is taken from data pools, Excel files, ADO objects, CSV
files, and ODBC sources.
API-testing. It supports XLS, XML data sources, and
databases with dynamic mapping for better test coverage. Also, the tests are
compliant with Cucumber, a BDD-based (behavior driven development) framework
for acceptance tests of web applications.
Cross-browser.
Katalon supports all popular browsers and allows running automated tests in
Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Edge, Remote, Headless, and custom
environments.
4.
User-friendly GUI
Katalon’s
UI offers rich graphics with tree views, tables, and menus which allow a user
to manage test artifacts easily. Testers find the tool’s interface convenient,
user-friendly, clean, and easy to grasp even for non-technical users.
5.
Mild learning curve + learning materials
Katalon
Studio is famous for its simplicity, both of installation and usage. It’s easy
to set up thanks to its many integrated packages. It’s good both for beginners
and advanced users, who can use the whole IDE and write advanced scripts.
Developers have access to a number of training videos and documentation for
users: Katalon has GitHub repositories, a list of online courses on Udemy, and
video courses on YouTube.
6.
Free version available
Katalon
has a fully functional free version, which is considered an advantage by most
of its users. However, the Enterprise version offers more features and access
to all Katalon plugins and offline license, so it’s recommended for teams and
scalable projects, while the free basic edition is offered for individual use.
Cons of using Katalon Studio
Every product has its good and
bad sides. Let’s take a look at the drawbacks of Katalon Studio.
1.
Lack of scripting languages
Unlike
Selenium and TestComplete, the only scripting language supported by Katalon is
Groovy. This scripting language is in the Java family so anyone who knows Java
can use it. But, users would like to see more languages supported.
2.
Small community
Since
Katalon was developed in 2015, the community is smaller than that of more
mature competitors, and you may experience a lack of support from peer testers.
So, just for comparison sake, as of the day of this update, there are 706
questions tagged Katalon Studio on Stack Overflow, while for Selenium there are
87,555 questions. However, according to Capterra, Gartner, and Stack Overflow,
Katalon is way more popular than Ranorex and other test automation tools.
3.
Not open source
The
tool has a closed source code, resulting in a smaller number of developers in
the community. Selenium, one of the main competitors to Katalon, is an
open-source tool that allows engineers to customize it or use community-built
packages.
4.
Performance issues
Users
report some bugs that hamper testing, slowing it down. For example, sometimes
the tool freezes or may start lagging, the text and object verification within
iframes is problematic. Mobile testing takes more time due to the necessity to
capture and write code.
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