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Are you planning to develop a new app or already have a launched and working project that requires support? If yes, then how prioritized is the question of security in your software?

It’s difficult to make your users feel fully secure in the modern web environment. Sly social engineering experts may use a minimum amount of info (like username or email) to start blackmailing honest people. But don’t worry, we’ll give you a practical tip or two about how to perform security testing for web applications, mobile solutions or static apps so that you protect your target audience from any data leaks with timely pentesting. In this brief article, we’ll discuss the common truths of mobile, static, cloud, and web application security testing and direct you in finding the niche experts on the job market that will do the job right. 

How to Find Application Security Testing Companies?

A few following tips will help you with the direction of looking for pentesters (or ethical hackers) to provide efficient data protection for your software creations.

Say ‘no’ to freelance

Let’s start with delineating the fact that there are seldom freelancers offering the pentesting services. See, unlike good old programming, for example, this niche of IT expertise requires the use of specialized security testing tools for application in the web and some real hacker hardware, all of which isn’t free and, at times, quite expensive. Without good tools and equipment, your pieces of software could only be tested for some tiny holes or typical social engineering tricks, which isn’t enough for the current business managing realities. 

Consider companies with outsourcing services

If you need to find a compromise that wouldn’t require you to spend half of your budget all at once without making you sacrifice the end quality, take a look at some companies that are open to outsourcing. 

For that matter, we’d recommend going for establishments based in Eastern Europe and Ukraine in particular. There, you can get an absolutely competitive rate while receiving the high-quality end product (the government of Ukraine takes sufficient preparation of good IT experts very seriously - both on the level of higher education institutes and special police departments).

Look through portfolios

Before turning to a certain company, use both an official website and related third-party resources in order to find which vulnerable web applications for security testing they have already had a chance to work with. Their previous clients are always of importance. These are the points of initially defining the qualification of experts you are about to establish cooperative relationships with.   

For instance, a truly prominent US company’s clients would include such renowned names as NASA, Walmart, Nestle, eBay, Toyota, BlueBird, Vodafone, AMC Networks, American Express, etc., which says a lot about their level of competence in the field.  

Consider the updated GDPR requirements, New York Cybersecurity Regulations, etc.

Even if your solution is a regular social engine that doesn’t require any additional layers of protection, it is important to understand which user data stored online exactly is touched by some necessary, internationally-followed security policies. 

Thus, there are GDPR guidelines for EU and many specific policies for almost every state of America. 

Define the Niche of Software Your Pentesting Partner is About to Work With

Any web project requires a dedicated app to be created for it sooner or later. And in order to implement a fine-tuned, working solution, you will need to undertake a whole complex of common testing practices which covers various application areas of security testing. Let’s take a look at some particular cases. 

Web Application Security Testing

This model of pentesting usually includes the following testing subtypes:

• scanning of the separate software elements for holes;
• scanning of the overall software security; 
• scanning of apps via special software and hardware tools;
• DevSecOps (Development, Security, and Operations);
• Dynamic application security testing (DAST).

 Before the direct application security testing takes place, expert teams formulate a plan of tests and adjust a WAF (Web Application Firewall) as well as other security testing tools for web application according to that plan. After that, a set of cyberattack emulations is launched - both via automation tools and manually, using some social engineering techniques.

Cloud Application Security Testing

Сloud application security testing usually implies the analysis of SaaS products for the purpose of checking how safe they are in different deployment scenarios. 

As a rule, pentesting experts use code optimization and flaw detection tools, as well as the development framework assessment means for that. They also help to define a set of components that can safely adopt an open-source nature. 

Android Application Security Testing

Creating a mobile solution for Android, it is important to consider holes and potential risks related to this OS in particular. Traditionally, a connected-to-the-web application security testing checklist here includes the analysis of both frontend and server-side weaknesses. This is done with the help of thorough research of software capabilities, decryption of encrypted data, source code check and decompilation, reverse software structure design, and attempts at deactivating built-in software security features.    

Pentesters also carefully work with APK files during the Android application security testing, using both manual and automated tests in order to define the chances of any user info being intercepted.

iOS Application Security Testing

Penetrating iOS-based devices isn’t really a simple affair - the exclusive vendor company took some good care of the authentic OS. Nevertheless, there are hacking masters that find ways to breach the system. 

To prevent such happenings, pentesting experts usually employ a number of also narrowly exclusive tools, like iOS Pentesting Lab and others, for protection measures in this niche of devices.

Application Security Testing: Summary

We hope that our brief guide will help you with your pentesting service providers’ search and figure out some testing nuances when it comes to different types of apps. We’ll recapitulate it once more that it isn’t necessary to go for certified NASA or eBay pentesting partners at once if you wish to get good, efficient, all-around service. You can always go for application security testing companies based in Eastern Europe that offer profitable outsourcing opportunities. In such a manner, you get an absolutely competent level of capabilities at a reasonable price.

Web marketing is becoming a more and more essential part of numerous business areas nowadays. Therefore, the issue of its cost-effectiveness and overall efficiency arises. This is where virtual teams come in handy. Let's figure out the most significant edges of remote web design services for small businesses over the traditional ones, consider their shortcomings, and find out how you can implement this organization approach into your web business successfully.

Virtual Teams in Web Design Services for Small Business: Flexible, Fast, and Cost-Effective

Virtual teams provide you with immense hiring opportunities. As internet coverage is your only limitation, you can create your team of professionals connecting people from all around the world. Here are the key advantages of this solution:

• Global talent acquisition. No more relocation issues, you can select the best employees regardless of their geolocation;
• High availability. You coordinate your virtual team via communication technologies. It means your people are one click away from speaking with you. Conventional office employees tend to be less responsive and accessible via communication channels;
• Increased performance. The virtual team completes your tasks in no time and delivers solutions substantially faster. Here's the thing: as long as your team members are distributed across the globe, you can organize your workflow for a 24/7 schedule. Different team units can work on the same project in turns. It significantly reduces your time to market, which is an indisputable advantage in our effectiveness-driven world;
• Affordable services. You can't deny the vital importance of cost-effectiveness. Virtual teams are usually much cheaper than conventional ones because you can save an enormous amount of money by excluding office expenses and other complementary purchases from your budget.

Virtual Teams Shortcomings: Control and Organization Concerns

Like any other solution, virtual teams have their disadvantages. Let's discover virtual teams’ flaws and learn to negate their impact on your business performance.

More Coverage - Less Control

You ought to understand that remote workers are considerably more difficult to control, especially when they are distributed between several time zones. You need to use project management tools and workflow organizers to cope with this diversity and put your online business on track.

Cultural Issues

One more aspect of employing a virtual team you should take into account is the cultural sensitivity. For example, straightforward description of a bad situation is a common practice in American business culture. However, Asian workers consider this inappropriate and culturally unacceptable. This issue is due to the vast difference between business cultures. You need to come up with a strict communication strategy and workflow guidelines to ensure stable and high-quality work of all your employees.

What Can a Virtual Team Do for You?

Remote teams are a perfect fit for enterprises of all sizes. IT-giants like Microsoft and IBM along with numerous SMEs are benefitting from virtual teams, and there is a reason for it. Remote teams are highly cost- and time-effective, as they offer affordable labor and significantly reduced time to market. Small businesses benefit from these aspects the most.

When it comes to business website design company expectations, we want quality UI/UX for a reasonable price within a short time frame. Now, this can sometimes be quite impossible, taking into account traditional meetings, workflow planning, and the limited number of employees. Fortunately, you can solve this issue with virtual teams.

If you are looking for software development companies in Ukraine, consider AxisBits.  Their remote team offers a full web-development cycle: from initial research and prototyping to the cutting-edge development and testing technologies and launching the product. There are 3 reasons why this is a huge benefit for small businesses:

• Remote teams mean an integrated approach. Small businesses often don't have a lot of resources to spend on web development. The virtual team takes over the project completely and delivers results. It is convenient;
• Virtual teams mean tenfold performance increase. Dedicated remote teams allow small businesses to accelerate product development considerably. This makes a difference when the time to market matters to you;
• Remote teams are affordable. The virtual team of professionals at AxisBits knows its job and won't waste your time and money. In terms of software development Ukraine has built a superb market position. This is why experienced remote teams from this country are a gold mine for small businesses looking for affordable web design solutions.

The Bottom Line

Virtual teams are an exceedingly powerful tool for kickstarting web marketing these days. They open limitless opportunities for businesses to grow online. Whether you are searching for web design & development company in USA or anywhere else, make sure to select a quality remote team for your web design needs and enjoy the time and cost effectiveness it delivers.

As we become more technologically advanced, moving to the Cloud is now a trend that most companies are taking. The Cloud, whether it's public or private, gives companies more flexibility in their processes by making IT management easier and more simplified. The Cloud provides remote access, increased mobility, and it's more cost-efficient.

However, as more companies migrate crucial applications to the Cloud, cloud security threats grow more and more in terms of software security and data privacy. Migrating to the Cloud doesn't mean that they are more secure. As a business owner/manager, you should indeed see the benefit of the Cloud, but you should also make sure you're aware of all the security threats in cloud computing.

In this article, we discuss the top 5 Cloud security threats that you should be aware of even before migrating to the cloud to prepare countermeasures to avoid any problems.

Top 5 Cloud Security Threats

1. Data Loss

Data loss is a very serious thing – even more serious than a data leak. Data leaks mostly happen when your server is infiltrated by hackers, while data loss occurs due to natural (or artificial) disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and even human error. Even when you think your data is secure and intact, your data suddenly disappears after your servers get destroyed physically.

Predicting natural disasters is extremely difficult, which is why implementing lots of data back-up systems that capture your data in real-time consistently.

2. Denial of Service Attacks (DoS Attacks)

Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks are caused by cyber attackers. These attacks happen when cyber attackers force Cloud applications and services to devour overwhelming amounts of data and system resources such as disk space, processor, and network bandwidth. By doing these, they disable real users from using the server.

To avoid DoS attacks, you need to have a good antivirus program that's always updated, as well as an infiltration detection system so that you can be alerted when someone's attempting to hack into the system. You will also need a good firewall to obstruct any attempts of transferring data.

/ You might also want to read:  New SaaS business growth strategies. What to do when you just developed a new solution?

3. Account Hijacking

Hijacking is another serious threat that could do great damage to your systems. Just by having knowledge on user credentials, cyber attackers can easily hack into your cloud account. In account hijacking, attackers can have access to the data in your cloud and manipulate them and tamper with your files. They can also eavesdrop on your current activities and use the information they gained for even worse plans.

To counter account hijacking, you need to be very careful of your user credentials. Enable multi-fact authentication in your accounts to lessen the chances of having an attacker get control of your account.

4. Insider Threats

According to recent surveys, a lot of companies are still having problems with handling their IT systems. To be precise, they're having trouble getting a better view of their systems. Due to this, they become vulnerable to security threats in cloud computing that come from users, both authorized and unauthorized. Getting attacked can be very crucial since users can gain access to the company's most sensitive information that should not be revealed to unauthorized people.

In order to prevent insider threats, companies should impose strict policies on their users, and also put up a team of people to track and get constant visibility over all the activities of their users.

/ You might also want to read: Tips for Building Successful Solutions with AWS Marketplace for a New Business

5. Crypto-jacking

With crypto-currency becoming more and more popular over time, crypto-jacking becomes a serious thing. Crypto-jacking is when a cyber hacker uses someone else's computer to mine crypto-currency without the owner of the computer knowing about it. Crypto-jacking mostly occurs when resources from the cloud become public, thus enabling hackers to get access.

Wrapping Up

By knowing these top 5 cloud security threats, you can be prepared for them when you migrate to the cloud. If you have some plans about your business cloud migration or need any help with the Cloud Security you can always contact our managers and get the free tips and quotes for our services. To get them, please fill the contact form by this link. 

We live in the age of rapid technological breakthroughs – we suppose it’s no news for you, and nor is how important it is to keep up with the latest advancements. 2018 was the year of GDPR, autonomous vehicles, the hype around data (from Big Data to predictive analytics and data security), blockchain, AI, and more. 2019 is not going to slow down: more advancements are on horizons, while what was once revolutionary becomes ‘business as usual’ for enterprises.

4 Enterprise Technology Trends that Deserve Your Attention

So, what has this year prepared for us in terms of enterprise technology trends? It was fairly hard to focus our attention on only four of them, but we managed to do this. Now, let’s take a closer at look at the opportunities they bring.

1. Data privacy remains the top priority

This one has been among the toughest enterprise technology challenges for some years in a row. We watched the emergence of GDPR and other regulations, and one thing became clear: customers want to be in charge of their personal data, and they care about its confidentiality. So, it is upon the enterprises to ensure they get what they demand.

It’s not just about the values and fines; introducing enhanced enterprise data privacy measures is also about ‘hooking’ this customer segment and improving their customer experience.

One more thing enterprises need to pay attention to is data protection. Cyber attacks are on the rise, and they are damaging: on average, the cost of a cyber attack amounts to $21.22 million per a US-based company. The most popular types of attacks are malware, phishing and social engineering, and web-based attacks.

How do enterprises manage to protect their data from hackers? The key measures here are thorough corporate security policies combined with penetration, vulnerability and other tests.

2. Cloud computing becomes usual

This might’ve been a sci-fi thing a decade ago, but now renting computing power and data storage from the likes of Amazon is a full-fledged reality.

The perks are obvious: minimizing the costs associated with the IT infrastructure. You can use the service on demand and pay as you go. Besides, it allows enterprises to launch their solutions faster while boosting their manageability and relieving them of any maintenance responsibilities.

While cloud computing is already ‘business as usual’, there is one particular trend that is going to be in demand in 2019: multi-cloud management solutions. They allow using two or more cloud computing services for distributing their resources.

This approach is all about not putting all your eggs in one basket. In case of a power outage or other issues with one service provider, your solution can still be up and running. Besides, this reduces the risk of losing vital data and encountering downtime.

3. Blockchain is now an enterprise tool

Blockchain is adapted not only by cryptocurrency geeks these days. In fact, 95% of enterprises across multiple industries stated they were investing into blockchain solutions in 2018. Besides, we’ve seen ready-to-use enterprise blockchain tools appear on the market (developed by Amazon, IBM, and Oracle, to name a few). This is a clear sign: blockchain has become a demanded technology among enterprises.

Blockchain can power data privacy and security, supply chain management, and secure transaction-making solutions among other things. Why? It’s immutable, it’s trustless, it eliminates the need to get any third parties involved, it’s transparent, it allows tracing the history of actions; ultimately, it reduces costs while increasing efficiency of the processes. This is why its perks are seen as the most beneficial for such industries as cybersecurity, healthcare, investing and finance, and agriculture.

4. AI is here for enterprise data analytics

To finish our enterprise tech trends 2019 list, we’ve chosen AI and its application in enterprise data analytics. First, let’s make something clear: data analytics is aimed at finding meaningful patterns based on past actions. There’s also predictive analytics – i.e., forecasting the future behavior based on history and patterns. 

How does AI fit into all of this? The key difference is that AI algorithms can find patterns, build assumptions, test them, and learn from the results of such ‘tests’. In the case of non-AI predictive analytics, your employees would have to gather and determine whether your hypothesis was correct and your actions are effective. With AI, the algorithms pinpoint the success or failure without any human involvement and fine-tune further actions to be more efficient.

All in all, AI is here to power hyper-personalized interactions with the customer, especially when it comes to marketing campaigns.

Enterprise Tech Trends 2019: Conclusion

Perhaps, some of the items on our list haven’t surprised you that much. Well, it’s true that some trends remain trends for years, and there’s no escaping them. In this case, it’s a clear sign that they get adopted by more players in the industries and are becoming the new norm.

At the end of the day, the price of neglecting these trends may be your organization becoming a relic of the past. Keeping up with the latest advancements is vital, and we wish you good luck in your endeavors toward becoming a technological front-runner in your niche.

Understanding how important cost estimation from the early stages of a project is essential. Those in project management need to know how poor project cost estimation can impact the end result of a project. So, what does happen when project managers fail to estimate the cost of a project accurately? 

Project managers need to be fully aware that each and every process in the project is linked closely to project budgets. To be more specific, how much money is available for the project determines how long the project will take to complete, what kind of procedures and activities the project will need to have, and what type of resources will be needed.

Plenty of potential scenarios can occur with poor project estimation, and all of those scenarios can lead to negative consequences. For example, the expectations of the customer can be greatly affected due to poor project cost estimation. If a project takes too long to complete and the deliverables are not up-to-par with the standards and expectations of the client, and could also negatively affect the reputation of your organization and your whole team. 

The Importance of Budget in Project Cost Estimation

As the saying goes, "Time is money,", and a poorly-architected budget can be very damaging to the development of a project. Which is why budgeting is extremely significant in project management. Being able to avoid unnecessary expenditure and distributing the sufficient amount to each need of the project is detrimental to the overall development of the project.

As a project manager, you need to invest your time and effort in creating an effective project quote template which will be followed by everyone in your team to successfully finish the project. Another upside to this is that it saves time for, not only you, but your team as well. Not only that, but you and your team can avoid feeling anxious and uneasy. By creating an effective project quote, you can guarantee the success of the project.

To successfully create and plan effecting project cost estimations, a project manager needs to be understand and familiarize themselves the 5 important variables that impacts a project. The 5 variables are as follows:

In order to create and plan effective project estimations, you need to familiarize and understand the important variables that can impact your project. The 5 variables are as follows:

• The Time expected to manufacture the product.
• The Effort required creating the product.
• The Cost your client expects to spend.
• The Resources required completing the project.
• The Specifications of the product.

These 5 variables are keys to accurately and effectively create cost estimation in project management. Read on below to understand each variable in detail.

Variable #1: Time value in the project cost estimation

An accurate estimation of time is a skill that all project managers must have. Here are two reasons why:

• Accurately estimating time means that project planning can be successfully laid out and project deadlines are met. Your dependability and competence can be greatly affected either positively or negatively depending on how you accurate estimate time.
• Accurately estimating time can often dictate your contract pricing. This means that the potential commercial profit from the project can be affected.

As a project manager, you shouldn't underestimate the time needed to finish a project, as well as each task in the project itself. This scenario happens when a project manager has little or no knowledge of the complex task needed to be performed. If you're unfamiliar with a task, it's best to ask someone from your team who has knowledge of the specific time task for their input. A lot of project managers who have no idea of the tasks often don't allow for any potential mistakes and mishaps in their estimation. This can be utterly disastrous.

If a project manager underestimates the time required to finish a project, they can potentially lose credibility and profit. By not underestimating time, you not only can't miss deadlines and potential profit, you also save you and your team from unnecessary stress. 

Variable #2: Resources

Your resources are composed of people, knowledge, time, materials, and equipment. Usually, companies have a limited number of resources which is why trade-offs on resources are spent when needed in an organization on a daily basis. A resource allocation plan is an important tool that project managers need to have in order to effectively manage a limited amount of resources.

For an effective project cost estimation, a project manager needs to create a project schedule which indicates which resources are needed and when. A resource allocation plan helps project managers stay organized and effective by having an effective resource management. The plan mostly describes the type of resource needed for a specific task and the exact timing it's needed. It should so be versatile enough for changes or adjustments as the project schedule changes with time.

Most of the time, a project manager won't already have all of the resources needed for the project at the very start of the project development phase. The truth is, the details of the entire project is normally unknown at the beginning which is why it's not always possible for a project manager to know what resources are needed of each task and when they are required.

Most projects are fairly unique and temporary, that's why project managers will almost always work in a land that's dark or unknown. Resource planning and management should be continuous as the project progresses, and so does project estimation techniques in project management. Doing so can ensure you a higher success rate.

Variable #3: Effort in the project cost estimation

Accurately estimating effort required in a project is a key factor in successfully laying out the cost of the project and its estimated time of completion. As a project manager, you need to understand that the level of effort required to complete a functionality of an applications is always different from the estimates. Take note that when it comes to effort estimations, the more detailed or comprehensive an estimate is, the farther it is from the truth. Because of this, previous experiences and assumptions of the estimated effort required in a project averages at the end result. Of course, this goes both ways. Averages in estimates can't always address the possible risks involved in each project. Even though averages are the practical approach to effort estimation, they are unable to provide an estimate of the project without any risk to a specific part of the project.

Additionally, the required time to complete a project isn't directly related to the number of resources available simultaneously. Determining the level of effort in the project depends on the project manager's professional evaluation of the people handling the project and the processes used to complete it. When you increase the number of resources and tasks, you also increase coordination and communication exponentially. Having a group increase in size can also lead to more errors, surveillance, and cycles without cost-effective overall output increase.

A project manager's estimate of the effort required in a project is usually evaluated from a simple analysis of the specifications. The real effort needed during projects often increases well beyond estimates due to the "fixes" needed to fill the gap between specifications and the product as they're developed.

Variable #4: Specifications

Specifications are usually assumed to be a known, definite factor in fixed-cost projects. Specs are used when estimating the required effort needed in a project which ultimately determines the project cost estimation. Customers usually expect that their specifications don't need to be significantly different in order to create the desired product at the defined cost. Customers often spend a lot of time producing design specifications to make sure that they are complete and fixed. But the truth is, a project manager should have the non-assumption of specifications will need to be varied in order to achieve fixed cost results in a constant tension between the required effort, the remaining scope, and the remaining time on the project clock. 

Almost all fixed cost projects deliberately have limited scope-changing options. So instead, limiting the change in scope by not providing viable options raises the risk that the project will not achieve the desired objectives if the end users evaluate the actual product. 

Specification requirements for software development can never really be sufficiently complete or sufficiently well-communicated to ensure understanding and success. Interpretation errors due to having super broad and complex specifications can lead to several "fixes "for the development team which do not associate with actual code errors. These fixes are simply clarifications or "elaborations "of project specifications, but are assumed to be "bug fixes "in the development, testing, and QA process in most projects. 

The specification requirements of software development projects are naturally improved by the discovery during evaluation and development by both the development team and the customer team.

Variable #5: Cost

From a customer's point of view, software development projects almost never end up at their expected costs. A few customers' projects end at the target cost of the customer, but usually only at the expense of other project variables. This is unavoidable yet it can be controlled. 

As a result, the product is often a failure from an end-user point of view when projects cost what was originally expected. For customers, the target cost of the project generally depends on: 

• Anticipated product cost and preferred ROI (return on investment), which could be accomplished within a reasonable amount of time by an estimated number of paying customers. So, a series of dependencies in the final analysis may have little basis. 
• Funds available and restrictions on cash flow. 
• Experience with "similar projects "- Though, estimates based on this approach are rarely found to be comparable in the required effort. 

To Recap

The key of successful project estimations techniques is a consultative framework for effective communication and decision- making that is assured by real-time reporting during the project as well as collaborative problem-solving in order to achieve the customer's objectives. It's easy to say, but to achieve effective project quotes requires understanding, planning, and agreement.

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace is, as stated by Amazon itself, an online store that helps two kinds of people:

1. Customers – The AWS Marketplace helps them find and purchase services or a specific software that they'll need to for building their products and running their business. Customers are also able to begin using what they bought. 

2. Vendors - The AWS Marketplace is also a new platform where software vendors can sell their products to customers.

The AWS Marketplace can be used in many different ways by businesses. Businesses and companies can either sell their products via the AWS cloud or purchase products there. The AWS Marketplace can cater to various types of cloud-based software.

How Businesses Can Benefit from the AWS Marketplace

The AWS Marketplace has a software that makes the sales cycle shorter, meaning that customers have the ability to purchase and launch the software they bought instantly. This software is called the Amazon Machine Image or AMI. In the AWS AMI Marketplace, customers can make buying decisions and purchase faster than ever before. Additionally, developers and vendors won’t have to worry about creating multiple versions of their product as the AMI regulates software use. The AWS Marketplace also handles the whole purchasing process through the AWS accounts.

Building Successful Solutions with AWS Marketplace

Preparation is crucial to build successful solutions on the AWS Marketplace. Here are some of the important things you need to make sure are ready before deployment:

• Is your application ready for cloud?
• Does your application run in a single instance or in a cluster?
• Do you already have developers assign for the project?

When preparing your product for publication on the AWS Marketplace, you need to determine which type of product yours fall into:

1. Amazon Machine Image (AMI)-based product or AWS AMI Marketplace products 

2. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based product or AWS SAAS Marketplace products

You also need to be familiar with the AWS Marketplace Management Portal, as it provides all the files, documents, and guidelines you need. Everything must be done through this portal, including all file uploads so that everything is in one place. The management portal gives both the customer and the vendor the much-needed security.

Inside the AWS Marketplace Manage Portal, there are policies that can be created and customized for you to be able to manage the portal. This can also be attached to user group, which come in handy if you want a user to have full access of your product's page.

Wrapping Up 

These helpful tips can help you better prepare for the launching of your products on the AWS Marketplace, especially if your business is new. Having a good understanding of the AWS Marketplace, all the things you need before deployment, as well as how to navigate through the system, gives you an edge over your competition. Not only that, you're also making it easier for you and your team as you have a process or a checklist in place to follow.

We’ve already covered the first five best automation testing tools (Selenium, Katalon Studio, TestCompete, Soap UI, and Ranorex) that deserve your attention in one of our previous posts. Now, let’s take a look at five more tools that you may find suitable for ensuring your website is top-notch.

5 More Best Automation Testing Tools

Without further ado, let’s see what tools are worth your consideration in 2019.

Micro Focus Unified Functional Testing (UFT)

Pricing: starts from $600 (free trial available)

Supported Platforms: Windows

Formerly known as QTP, UFT is aimed at automating functional and regression tests for mobile, web, and desktop apps. As one of web and mobile app automation testing tools, UFT has robust functionality for API testing – and you don’t have to write huge amounts of code. Besides, you can create API tests based on the WADL documents.

As for supported browsers, UFT is suitable for testing web apps in the Chrome, Safari, IE, and Firefox environments. UFT itself comes with an in-built module LeanFT which allows writing tests in C# and Java and the Micro Focus Sprinter tool which you can use to generate scripts from your manual tests.

UFT’s object detection and correction capabilities deserve their praise. Apart from that, UFT is a powerful tool for collaboration.

IBM Rational Functional Tester (RFT)

Pricing: starts from $3,720 (free trial available)

Supported Platforms: Windows, Linux

RFT is one of those automation testing tools that mimic the behavior of a real-life user. RFT can be used by testers that don’t possess advanced programming skills as it allows for record-based test generation. The tool’s purpose is to automate regression, GUI and functional tests for applications developed using web-based technologies, .NET, Java, PowerBuilder, Ajax, Dojo Toolkit, etc., as well as terminal emulator-based applications. So, it is one of the automation testing tools for mobile applications, web apps, and desktop software.

As for the most outstanding features, RFT offers testers to use storyboards to visualize the test flow using screenshots. ScriptAssure also deserves your attention – this features allows automatically adapting earlier created tests to the changes in the UI, including such in objects’ location.

Ghost Inspector

Pricing: starts from $71 per month (free version available)

Supported Platforms: Linux

Ghost Inspector stands out among other tools because it is a completely scriptless tool distributed together with a browser extension for Chrome (available only under the paid subscription), Firefox, and PhantomJS. At the moment, Ghost Inspector is available only in the Linux environment and doesn’t support Safari, IE or Microsoft Edge (it is one of the latest automation testing tools in market, so it’s not as mature as it could be).

Apache JMeter

Pricing: free

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

One more among automation testing tools for web applications,Apache JMeter is an open-source solution for load testing web-based applications’ functionality. Distributed under the Apache License, it is free to use for testing both static and dynamic websites’ performance under various loads. Although Apache JMeter is mostly known as a website testing tool, it’s not just for that – you can use it for testing APIs as well.

You can either use the graphic UI that comes with this tool or the command line to write and execute tests. With Apache JMeter, you can record your actions to generate tests. Besides, you can find dozens of open-source plugins that allow adding ready-to-use features to Apache JMeter.

Protractor

Pricing: free (open-source)

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

Last but not least, Protractor is a framework designed by Angular creators for testing Angular and AngularJS web applications. You can run tests in the latest two versions of Chrome, Firefox, IE, and Safari. The framework’s main purpose is conducting end-to-end and integration testing.

Built on top of WebDriverJS, Protractor is not a good choice for novices in testing with no programming skills. However, it is a robust tool for those who specialize in Angular development and are proficient in Node.js. What makes Protractor great is that it interacts with your web app just like a real user would.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is a variety of web automation testing tools, so all you need to do is make the right choice (although we acknowledge that it’s easier said than done). To help you do that, we gathered all the relevant information about all 10 automation tools we’ve reviewed in this and previous piece in the table below:

Name Pricing Purpose Platforms Scripting Languages Required Programming Skills Micro Focus UFT $600+ Web, mobile, desktop app and API testing Windows VBScript (LeanFT: C#, Java) None (advanced for complex test scripts) IBM RFT $3,720+ Testing apps created with web-based technologies, .NET, Java, PowerBuilder, Ajax, Dojo Toolkit, etc. Windows, Linux Java, Visual Basic None (advanced for complex test scripts) Ghost Inspector $71+ per month (free version available) Web app testing Linux None (a scriptless tool) None Apache JMeter Free (open-source) Performance testing web-based apps and API Windows, Linux, macOS Groovy None (advanced for complex test scripts) Protractor Free Angular and AngularJS app testing Windows, Linux, macOS Node.js Advanced

Whereas it’s not easy to choose the tool or tools that suit your case best, it is often even more complicated to set it up properly to make it as efficient as possible if you don’t have a savvy QA team to help you. Fortunately, we are here for you. At Axisbits, we specialize in helping our clients choose and set up automated testing tools to ensure their web apps are 100% top-notch, no exception.

Are you ready to get our help in dealing with this headache? Reach out to us, and we’ll help you make the right choice and set up the tools.

The importance of testing your software before its release can hardly be overestimated. In today’s economy, businesses have to deliver high-quality solution fast and with minimum costs. Speed and cost-efficiency are the two main reasons test automation is used alongside manual testing to ensure the software is of high quality.

Automation testing tools are constantly evolving to be able to get the most out of other technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. This is why we recommend reviewing the tools you are using for test automation from time to time and turning to professional help to choose the most suitable tools and set up continuous automated testing for your software solution.

In case you are in the process of finding a tech partner for automated testing, we’ve got you covered – we prepared the list of top five automation testing tools that we can set up for your solution to ensure it always stays top-notch.

5 Best Automation Testing Tools

We’ve selected the following tools based on a variety of criteria, including its automation capabilities, required programming skills, ease of installation and use, analytics features and maturity. So, get comfortable and find out what tools made it into our list (in no particular order).

Selenium

Pricing: free

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

Among all the automation testing tools Selenium is, undoubtedly, the king in popularity among testers: 84% of Test Automation Challenges Survey respondents have used Selenium. Selenium offers two tools for test automation: Selenium WebDriver and Selenium IDE. The former one is used for regression testing, whereas the latter one is for conducting bug reproduction and exploratory tests.

It’s loved for its robust application cases: you can run tests for a number of browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge). What is more, you don’t need to set up a special server for testing purposes. As for supported scripting languages, you can write and execute scripts written in C#, Java, Groovy, PHP, Perl, Ruby, Python, and Scala.

Katalon Studio

Pricing: free (paid business support services are available)

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

Launched in 2015, Katalon Studio is one of the latest automation testing tools in market. Although its developing maturity may be an issue for some, Katalon Studio has a lot to offer in terms of testing APIs, web and mobile applications.

Katalon Studio was built based on two well-known open-source frameworks (namely, Selenium and Appium), so it took the best out of them. One of the key improvements is that, unlike it’s with Selenium, you don’t need to waste time setting up additional libraries and frameworks. All in all, Katalon Studio is suitable for both coding-savvy and novices in programming.

Like UFT and other mobile and web automation testing tools, Katalon Studio is based on the keyword-driven approach towards creating tests and the data-driven approach towards running them.

TestComplete

Pricing: starts from €1,067 per module (free trial available)

Supported Platforms: Windows

Created by SmartBear, TestCompleteis a proprietary tool for automating functional and various GUI tests for web, desktop, and mobile applications. Using this tool, you can generate tests by recording your actions, create them using the keyword-driven approach or write them in any of the supported languages (JavaScript, Python, VBScript, etc.).

As one of the most innovative web, desktop and mobile app automation testing tools, TestComplete is the first one to implement AI into its functionality. With AI’s help, object recognition is taken to a completely new level: AI-powered visual recognition combined with the property-based one allows for detecting the UI elements easy and fast, with no false positives or inaccuracies.

Soap UI

Pricing: free and paid versions available (the subscription for the paid version starts from €595 per year)

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

Although it’s not among web and/or mobile app automation testing tools, SoapUI still deserves our attention as it’s one of the top API testing tools out there. SoapUI supports creating tests using the drag-and-drop method or by scripting them with JavaScript or VB.

SoapUI allows you to test both REST and SOAP services. As for the scope of tests, you can use this tool to conduct functional, performance, security testing, as well as API mocking and data-driven tests.

All in all, using SoapUI, you can make sure that your API work properly under huge loads, function as intended, and are secure. Apart from that, SoapUI provides you with valuable insights into the testing data with detailed reports.

Ranorex

Pricing: starts from €2,290 (free trial available)

Supported Platforms: Windows

Ranorex is one of the automation testing tools for mobile applications, web-based and desktop apps. This all-in-one testing tool will work both for beginners and savvy testers. It supports testing native Android and iOS apps; web apps in Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge browsers; and desktop apps developed using .NET, WPF, VB6, Java, etc.

As for the tests themselves, Ranorex allows conducting full end-to-end tests, including GUI and functional tests. You can run the tests locally and remotely, as well as on real devices or using emulators. After the tests are done, you get detailed reports with the results of the testing.

Conclusion

Of course, our list is far from being final – there are many more automation tools for specific or multi-purpose needs. To help you wrap your head around the top five tools we’ve described above, we’ve prepared a comparison table that you can take a look at below. We’ve included five more automation testing tools for web applications popular on the market to help you make a more informed choice.

Name Pricing Purpose Platforms Scripting Languages Required Programming Skills Selenium Free Web app testing Windows, Linux, macOS C#, Groovy, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Scala Advanced Katalon Studio Freeware API, web and mobile app testing Windows, Linux, macOS Java/Groovy None (advanced for complex test scripts) TestComplete €1,000+ Web, mobile, desktop app testing Windows JavaScript, Python, VBScript, VB, JScript, DelphiScript None (advanced for complex test scripts) Soap UI Free (paid version available at €595+ per year) API testing Windows, Linux, macOS JavaScript, Groovy None (advanced for complex test scripts) Ranorex €2,290+ Desktop, web, mobile app testing Windows C#, VB.NET None (advanced for complex test scripts)

All in all, today you can find a tool for any taste, purpose, and wallet – you just need to know where to start looking. Of course, choosing the automation testing tool and setting it up according to your particular needs is no piece of cake. Luckily for you, we specialize in selecting the appropriate tools, weighing in their pros and cons in your particular case, and adjusting them to your needs. So, if you are ready to get one step closer to ensuring your web application’s quality, reach out to us today, and we’ll help you choose and set up the automation tool(s) that suit you best.

Stay tuned for the second part of our automation testing tools overview!