TestProject: A Free, Cloud-Hosted Test Automation Platform for Web, Mobile, and API Development

TL; DR: TestProject is a cloud-hosted test automation platform built on top of the open-source automation frameworks Selenium and Appium. The tool simplifies the test automation process by removing the complexity of installing and managing drivers for various platforms and browsers while streamlining collaboration. With the recent introduction of free Appium AI tools for mobile testing, TestProject aims to democratize mobile automation.

The virtues of open-source software — community collaboration, liberty, transparency, and universal access — are impossible to ignore. Developers who make source code publicly accessible empower others to view, modify, and redistribute the code as they wish, ultimately breaking down barriers and spurring innovation.

Of course, every rose has its thorn, and in the case of open-source software, it’s easy to get caught up in a bramble of complexity. These hidden costs are especially prevalent when it comes to test automation frameworks.

“To set up a robust test automation framework with open-source solutions, most of the time you need to glue together a combination of five, six, or seven different libraries,” said Mark Kardashov, CEO at TestProject. “This setup process is chaotic and time-consuming. Then, once you’ve created the framework, you also need to maintain it.”

The idea behind TestProject, a unique test automation platform, is to provide access to the popular open-source automation frameworks Selenium and Appium via one free, easy-to-use solution. The cloud-hosted tool, available for web, Android, and iOS apps, eliminates the need to install and manage drivers for various platforms and browsers. It also helps facilitate collaboration.

“Open-source dominates the test automation market worldwide. Today, more than 80% of test automation projects leverage such solutions,” Mark said. “With TestProject, users can access the benefits of popular open-source solutions while avoiding the pitfalls.”

Mark and Co-Founders Vitaly Bukhovsky, Eldar Kravetsky, and Marat Strelets built TestProject off their vast experience in the test automation industry. At the time, Selenium was the most popular solution in the web-based test automation world. Appium — Selenium’s mobile equivalent — was quickly gaining prominence as a rising star.

After establishing the company in 2015, the team got to work on its goal to help the automation community trade in repetitive tasks for simple and intuitive workflows. By 2017, TestProject released a closed beta with 50 business partners located across the globe.

The platform was ready for public launch in 2018, quickly attracting a following that included users from Fortune 500 companies. TestProject also caught the attention of Tricentis, a provider of continuous test automation solutions. In 2019, Tricentis acquired TestProject and pledged to keep the company’s powerful test automation free to the community — forever.

Last year, TestProject earned Gartner’s Peer Insights Customers’ Choice award for the best free tool based on ratings from its user community. Today, the company remains committed to its goal of providing an end-to-end solution for the largest group of users possible.

TestProject’s community-driven nature is an important aspect of the platform, accelerating innovation by empowering members to share their work easily and efficiently, benefiting everyone involved.

Selenium and Appium were considered best-of-breed solutions when TestProject launched publicly in 2018 — and they’re even more popular today. With TestProject, they’re also accessible to users of all skill levels, from the tech novice to the experienced developer.

“We’re giving you access to the technologies that everyone likes, but no one wants to invest in or maintain,” Mark said. “There’s no question that these are the best tools available on the market, but again, they require expertise. So we simplify the entire installation process.”

Developers can take advantage of TestProject’s advanced scripting capabilities and tools, including a comprehensive software development kit (SDK), cross-platform testing, continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) integration, and remote execution, among other add-ons.

Tech newbies, on the other hand, will benefit from the ability to execute, analyze, record, and store automated tests without writing so much as a line of code.

“The goal was to democratize open-source test automation for the average user while also providing tools for technical experts,” Mark told us.

Getting started is easy. After creating a free account and adding team members, users can simply download the TestProject agent and install it on their machines. The TestProject agent includes all necessary libraries and allows users to add servers and frameworks as needed.

“Once you install it, you create a hosting account in TestProject Cloud and register your agent,” Mark said. “From that moment, you have the entire test automation framework — and it’s not only local. Since the orchestration of everything is inside TestProject Cloud, you can collaborate with a distributed team and execute tests and artifacts nearly anywhere.”

TestProject is as flexible as it is easy to use, with a full range of features that the entire test automation community can access for free.

The built-in TestProject recorder, for example, allows users to leverage a powerful playback tool with a minimal learning curve. TestProject’s testing repository allows for team collaboration while locally creating, running, and analyzing test automation. Users can also develop coded tests using TestProject’s OpenSDK, which supports Java, Python, and C#.

A library of shared addons makes it easy for teams to extend TestProject’s default functionalities. Users can also create their own addons as needed.

“TestProject features a combination of different tools that each organization can mix and match to suit their own needs,” Mark said. “For instance, you may have a team of developers that want to create some tests, a DevOps team that wants to use Docker containers and simplify the CI/CD flow, and a separate team of testers in the U.S. With TestProject Cloud, they can all work together, sharing tests and executing them from one location.”

TestProject’s reporting features give teams access to real-time data that they can use to gain a comprehensive understanding of testing activities. Teams can examine and share regressions, failures, and flaky identifiers (resulting in seemingly random outcomes), among other variables.

The platform also ensures compatibility with existing continuous integration workflows via an API.

In January, TestProject introduced its newest offering, a set of free artificial intelligence tools for the mobile test automation tool Appium. The release builds upon the company’s existing AI tools for Selenium, which were released in August 2020.

Like the TestProject platform itself, the toolset was designed to be usable regardless of prior programming skills. The idea is to help users overcome common problems with mobile automation testing, including complicated setup processes, element locator maintenance, iOS dependencies, and test flakiness.

“These are the first advanced AI-powered automation tools for iOS and Android tests available for free worldwide,” Mark told us. “The paid options on the market provide day-to-day solutions, but they are quite expensive. This is big news for the test automation community.”

For more information on the free Appium toolset and other new developments, be sure to visit TestProject.