When your product grows, the amount of testing also grows exponentially. Your quality assurance (QA) team may struggle to keep up with the increased workload.
The result is a delayed release or skipping of testing. Meanwhile, the development team might have moved on. This means a mounting technical debt for your project manager/product owner, as addressing each defect requires switching between two parts of the code base.
Is there a better way for developers and the QA team to collaborate and reduce the number of bugs in the code? Yes! Agile software testing tools can help you bridge this gap.
These tools use a blend of manual and automated testing to ensure the new code meets the quality standards, protects against regressions, and speeds up the process.
Here, we cover the 10 best agile testing tools for managing your software testing and test automation, along with their key features, limitations, and pricing, to help you decide on the right tool.
What Should You Look for in Agile Testing Tools?
In testing environments, it’s crucial to have tools that easily capture and integrate feedback into the development cycles. But that’s not all. Here are some key features to look for when choosing an agile testing tool:
- Automation: Your agile testing tool must support test automation to enable efficient and repeatable testing processes and free up testers’ time for more exploratory and strategic testing
- Defect management: Choose an agile tool with detailed reporting options to track, report, and manage bugs throughout the agile software development and testing process
- Integration: The best agile testing tools integrate with third-party tools, including project management platforms and continuous integration tools, user-tracking software, and QA testing tools your organization uses
- Reporting and analytics: Actionable insights backed with data help agile project managers better navigate their agile testing efforts. Popular agile testing tools generate compressive reports for your test results. They give insights into test coverage, defect trends, and overall project health
- Real-time communication and collaboration: Choose an agile testing tool that facilitates real-time team communication and collaboration between all teams involved in agile software development projects. It should allow for commenting on test cases, assigning defects, and sharing testing insights during the software testing lifecycle
- Support for agile methodologies: Ensure the test management solution you choose aligns with the agile methodology and agile software development principles your team follows. Look for features such as sprint planning, backlog management, performance testing, functional testing, continuous testing, and user story mapping
- Flexibility and scalability: The agile automation tool for software testing should scale with your team’s project needs, such as user capacity, project complexity, and automated testing frameworks
- Ease of use: A user-friendly interface with intuitive features maximizes adoption and reduces the learning curve, ensuring everyone can leverage the tool’s benefits in the software testing practice
The 10 Best Agile Testing Tools To Use in 2024
1. ClickUp
ClickUp’s agile testing tool eliminates the need for separate test management and bug-tracking systems. The tool can help you design a workflow that perfectly aligns with your chosen agile methodology, whether Kanban boards, sprints, or a hybrid approach.
ClickUp’s Agile Project Management offers hundreds of advanced and customizable features to support the modern agile software testing and development approach. It caters to your team’s unique needs, complex workflows, and preferences.
Let’s look at how ClickUp helps in the agile development process.
The ClickUp Dashboard offers a clear view of your team’s progress, including pending backlogs. You can identify bottlenecks, categorize tasks, manage roadmaps with the Gantt chart, brainstorm ideas, and view workloads with sprint points.
Everyone in your agile team, from the project manager to quality assurance (QA) and developers, can stay on top of test automation with the Dashboard View.
For the busy project manager, ClickUp Brain, an AI writing assistant, aids in documentation by generating product briefs and roadmaps, creating testing plans, and writing technical specifications within seconds.
ClickUp’s Test Management Template helps you develop effective strategies for tracking and managing the agile test, visualize progress and results, and collaborate with your team on any issues.
ClickUp best features
- Virtual whiteboards: Write automation scripts and roadmaps, brainstorm ideas, and align your agile development teams on the deliverables and backlogs with ClickUp Whiteboards
- Visualize workflows: Visualize your workflow with ClickUp’s Kanban Board View. Move tasks through different stages, identify bottlenecks in test automation and agile software testing, and keep your team on track
- Real-time reporting: Generate customizable reports using ClickUp Dashboards to track team performance, identify areas for improvement, and gain valuable insights with agile metrics for future sprints
- AI-assistance: ClickUp Brain automates time-consuming tasks such as writing project briefs, reports, technical documentation, and summarizing your agile meetings, and assigning tasks to team members
- Pre-built templates: Access a variety of templates, including the ClickUp Test Management Template, agile management templates, bug report templates, and sprint planning templates, to start implementing agile software development principles and processes quickly
ClickUp limitations
- The vast range of features can be overwhelming for first-time users
- ClickUp Brain is available for paid users
ClickUp pricing
- Free forever
- Unlimited: $7 per user per month
- Business: $12 per user per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
- ClickUp Brain is available on all paid plans for $5 per Workspace member per month
ClickUp customer ratings
- G2: 4.7/5 (9400+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (4000+ reviews)
2. PractiTest
PractiTest is an enterprise test management platform that centralizes all your testing and teams throughout the agile development processes for end-to-end visibility.
The platform is an all-in-one toolbox for agile testers, letting them manage everything in a single place, including requirements, test automation, and test cases, tracking bugs, and generating defect tracking reports.
PractiTest is suitable for medium to large-sized teams; it handles both manual and automated testing in one place, saving time and improving efficiency, agility, and quality oversight in various testing processes.
PractiTest’s granular reporting capabilities enable your team to track your testing progress effectively and streamline test management.
PractiTest best features
- Continuously capture and repurpose exploratory tests and develop innovative and original tests to replace existing test sets that have become outdated and unproductive
- Generate comprehensive, exportable reports to understand your testing progress and quality thoroughly. These reports go beyond raw data, serving as the foundation for data-driven decision-making and improved project visibility
- Create pre-defined test steps or test execution cycles and customize them at any stage of execution
PractiTest limitations
- Editing the dashboard can be cumbersome
PractiTest pricing
- Team: $49 per month
- Corporate: Custom pricing
PractiTest customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
3. Jira (by Atlassian)
Atlassian’s Jira is a combination of project management and agile tool for development teams, allowing them to manage bugs, track issues, and oversee projects in a single platform.
Teams can prioritize the most critical stories for the subsequent sprint backlog by estimating story points. This results in a more efficient workflow and a project progressing according to plan.
While Jira can be adapted for agile methodologies, it lacks dedicated features for agile testers, including configuration management, automated testing capabilities, and comprehensive reports tailored for agile workflows.
Pro tip💡: For a more streamlined and efficient agile testing experience, consider using ClickUp alongside Jira. With two-way sync, the ClickUp and Jira integration streamlines issue tracking, task creation, and continuous test automation in agile workflows.
Jira best features
- Visualize workflows and plan projects strategically with Jira’s agile project management features, such as Scrum and Kanban boards, sprint planning, and burndown charts
- Simplify your workflow and streamline your processes with the Smart Jira Forms app, which collects data and automates tasks with forms for your agile team
- Gain insights into project progress with reports tailored for agile teams
- Using Jira’s issue templates, generate custom issue types, such as exploratory or regression tests
Jira limitations
- While Jira is an excellent tool for issue tracking, it lacks robust native testing features, making it difficult for teams to conduct, track, and manage their tests within the system
- Subtask creation from parent issues is inconvenient
Jira pricing
- Free: for ten users
- Standard: $7.16 per user per month
- Premium: $12.48 per user per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Jira customer ratings
- G2: 4.3/5 (5800+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (14,000+ reviews)
Check out these Jira alternatives!
4. Kualitee
Kualitee caters to mid-sized and large organizations by offering a comprehensive suite for agile testing designed explicitly for QA testing teams. While it began as a test case management tool, it has expanded to include bug-tracking and defect management capabilities.
Kualitee supports manual and automated testing and prioritizes user-friendliness with an uncluttered interface for QA teams. This translates to efficient task assignment, collaboration features, and clear visibility into the testing process through dashboards and reports.
Integration with tools like Jira allows streamlined workflows within larger development ecosystems.
Kualitee best features
- Manage your testing process, from creating and organizing test cases to efficiently tracking and resolving bugs (issues) identified during testing
- Tailor and track bug reports to capture specific details relevant to your testing process
- Separate dashboards for testers, developers, and managers to ensure each group gets tailored insights on what’s important to them
Kualitee limitations
- Users have found problems with bulk deletion/assignment of users and lingering deleted user profiles
Kualitee pricing
- Cloud: $12 per user per month
- On-premise: Starting from $2920 per year for ten users
Kualitee customer ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (120+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
5. Zephyr
Zephyr is ideal for large-scale organizations already using Jira and agile methodologies. This test management tool is a powerful add-on that enhances your existing bug-tracking capabilities within Jira.
By seamlessly integrating with your workflows, Zephyr allows you to manage and track all project bugs efficiently. This comprehensive suite empowers your agile teams with features like bug reporting, insightful reports and analytics, agile test case management, and user requirement management—all within the familiar Jira interface.
With its bi-directional and multi-instance Jira integration, you can easily keep track of all your projects in one place. Zephyr can simultaneously handle up to 200,000 test cases across multiple projects.
Zephyr best features
- Create, organize, and save your test cases in a central repository that can be accessed globally
- Update automation script results, automatically generate dashboards and statuses in Jira, and integrate with third-party apps for reporting purposes
- Align requirements from development and QA teams, execute tests step by step, use automation to carry out the tests, monitor the results and classify them as pass or fail, and log any issues detected in Jira
Zephyr limitations
- Zephyr does not allow updating status for multiple test steps simultaneously during execution
- Users cannot customize the test case format
Zephyr pricing
- Custom pricing
Zephyr customer ratings
- G2: 4.1/5 (70+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
6. TestRail
TestRail is a web-based testing tool that enables QA and agile development teams to create, connect, and move test cycles to improve their testing procedures.
Whether you’re a small startup or a large enterprise, it keeps your team organized with clear test cases, screenshots, and expected results.
TestRail simplifies workload management with its intuitive dashboards and reports. You can easily compare runs, configurations, and milestones to track testing evolution across your projects. Additionally, like various agile testing tools, TestRail has personal to-do lists and email alerts to improve productivity.
TestRail best features
- Forecast workload more precisely by using past estimates and actual time invested —a distinguishing feature among all testing tools
- Examine detailed projections and histories of agile testing pipelines with unique features such as progress forecasts, burndown charts, comparison reports, and version-safe archiving
- Compare and keep track of test-related activities across numerous projects, milestones, test plans, and runs with the cross-project reporting feature
TestRail limitations
- It lacks extensive built-in integrations, so users must rely on APIs or third-party solutions for the same
TestRail pricing
- Professional cloud: $37 per user per month
- Enterprise cloud: $826 per user per year
- Professional server: Custom pricing
- Enterprise server: $16,500 per year for 1-20 users
TestRail customer ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (500+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (150+ reviews)
Read more: Here are the 50 Agile Scrum terms you must know in 2024
7. QMetry
QMetry is an enterprise-grade test orchestration platform for agile testing and DevOps teams.
Use QMetry’s Gen AI—QMetry Intelligence with features like intelligent search, automated test case generation, and flaky test case detection to improve your time to market.
QMetry integrates with test automation frameworks, including UFT, Cucumber, QAF, and TestNG, ensuring compliance with your testing environment. It also integrates with popular DevOps continuous integration and continuous deployment/delivery tools like Maven and Jenkins.
QMetry best features
- Streamline and optimize your testing process with intelligent test case prioritization and optimization inside Jira with QMetry’s test management platform with Jira
- Automatic audit for tracking of approvals and reviews with QMetry’s e-signature feature
- Create off-the-shelf reports, test run reports, and traceability reports to represent project data for decision-making
QMetry limitations
- It lacks a comprehensive reporting mechanism. Reports may reflect the user who last updated a concurrently executed test suite, potentially causing confusion
QMetry pricing
- Enterprise: $72 per user per month
- Enterprise Plus: Custom pricing
QMetry customer ratings
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
8. TestFLO
TestFLO’s test management tool for Jira optimizes testing processes, reduces costs, and improves software quality. It integrates with your existing Jira workflows, eliminating the need to learn a new platform, and ensures all your testing data remains centralized within Jira.
Designed for agile teams, TestFLO empowers them to create, organize, and execute tests directly within Jira, streamlining the entire testing process. Track progress, record results, and easily report bugs within your familiar Jira interface.
It adapts to agile, waterfall, and other methodologies to meet diverse testing requirements and caters to regulatory testing requirements to meet legal standards.
TestFLO best features
- Use the Test Repository as a centralized place for your projects in Jira to define test suites with folders, create test cases, and add preconditions
- Enable large-scale software testing and test automation in Jira via REST API
- Establish traceable connections or links between requirements, test cases, and other items in Jira, and then validate those links using reports
TestFLO limitations
- It is not suitable for teams outside the Jira ecosystem because of limited functionalities
TestFLO pricing
- Up to 50 users: $825 per year
- Up to 100 users: $1925 per year
- Up to 250 users: $3850 per year
- Up to 500 users: $6600 per year
- Up to 750 users: $8800 per year
TestFLO customer ratings
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
9. TestPad
If you want to switch from complicated test case management tools and spreadsheets to a lightweight testing tool, TestPad is a good choice.
TestPad’s intuitive interface allows anyone on your agile project management team to run exploratory, regression, and user acceptance testing—from project managers and developers to in-house and outsourced software testers.
TestPad best features
- Type 100s of test prompts in minutes with a keyboard-driven editor, and the free-form test plans adapt to how you like to test them
- Generate instant reports and save/print everything tested for audit trails
- Collaborate with external testers through guest access—ideal for clients performing user acceptance testing
TestPad limitations
- Cumbersome workflows, limitations on browser functionality, and counter-intuitive design hinder usability
- Test cases require specific pass/fail structures, making them less adaptable for identifying new bugs
TestPad pricing
- Essential: $59 per month
- Team: $119 per month
- Team 15: $179 per month
- Department: $299 per month
TestPad customer ratings
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
10. Qase
Qase is a cloud-based test management tool for QA and development teams. It provides tracking and reporting for manual and automated software testing. You can use Qase to orchestrate your end-to-end QA activities, from test planning and test execution to analysis and reporting.
Integration with popular project management tools like Jira and Trello, Qase ensures a smooth workflow, while real-time collaboration features like commenting, assigning defects, and in-app discussions keep your team aligned.
Qase best features
- Transfer test cases to and from popular test management tools like Jira and Trello
- Export test cases to various file formats, including XLSX and CSV
- Execute test plans and monitor their status, whether they have passed, failed, or are blocked, through the test runs screen itself
- Keep track of your test suites and cases by organizing them into logical groups. Within each test suite, you can specify each test case’s severity, conditions, and steps
Qase limitations
- Users find it cumbersome to create checklists and test scripts without writing full test cases
Qase pricing
- Free
- Startup: $24 per user per month
- Business: $36 per user per month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Qase customer reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (150+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
Discover the Best Agile Software Testing Tool for Your Team
Each of these agile software testing tools cater to specific needs. While some prioritize user-friendly interface for smaller teams, others cater to agile projects in large enterprises with robust reporting and integration capabilities.
ClickUp is a comprehensive and user-friendly agile project management tool for teams of any size. It empowers your team to manage the entire testing process, from planning and execution to insightful reporting, all within a single, intuitive platform. ClickUp’s seamless integration with the best project management tools like Jira ensures a smooth workflow, while real-time collaboration features keep everyone aligned.
If you’re ready to streamline your agile testing process, sign up on ClickUp for free to get started.