QTP Vs Selenium

When we want to move manual testing to automation testing then a big question our mind which automation tools having more demands in market? Which one has better future as well as growth? There are so many testing tools available in market but each tool having its own importance and requirement. But here I want to discuss about two most powerful testing tools both tools are used to automate the Functional, Regression, usability and UI testing.  First of all let us have a quick overview of both the software testing tools, before going into a broad comparison among the functionality of the two

• Quick Test Professional (QTP)
• Selenium

Quick Test Professional ( QTP)

QTP was earlier known as WinRunner, and it's a tool that's been around for several years. QTP is most suitable for the desktop based as well web based applications. QTP is automated testing tool meant for performing functional and regression testing of various software applications and environments through a user interface like native GUI or web interface. It uses VBScript as the scripting language for specifying a test procedure, & for manipulating the objects & controls of the AUT. It supports a keyword and a powerful graphical user interface.

Drawback with QTP

In recent economic crisis, software companies are planning for cost reduction and efficient productivity. QTP is losing its market because of the following limitations:

• Cannot test with all browser types and versions.
• Limited to smaller organizations/ testing teams.
• High licensing and add-inns costs.
• Slow in execution when compared with open source tools.

Selenium

Selenium is very useful open source automation tool for web application. Selenium is a software testing tool which offers the freedom to choose the desired language for scripts. This frame work is used extensively for web applications and can be used in most of the available web browsers Selenium is a set of different software tools each with a different approach to supporting test automation. The entire suite of tools results in a rich set of testing functions specifically geared to the needs of testing of web applications of all types. There are four variant available in market for selenium.

Selenium IDE – Recording/Creating and enhancing scripts

Selenium Remote Control (RC)– Executing scripts

Selenium Web Driver (API) – Cross browser testing

Selenium Grid – Cross platform testing

Drawback with Selenium

There are some good features in selenium in spite of some drawback with selenium tools.  

• Supports only browser based application, not the windows application
• Provides only partial support for dialog boxes
• Being an open source, Selenium has no official technical support
• Does not support file uploads from local machine

Comparison in Selenium and QTP

Features	QTP	Selenium
Operating and installation cost	QTP is maintained by HP so it provide paid license per seat and maintenance charge	Free of cost- Open Source
Web browsers Support	IE , Firefox, Chrome	IE , Firefox, Chrome, safari, Opera
Application Support	Desktop based, Client Server	Only Web Based
Scripting Language	VB Script	Java, Pearl and other language
IE Dialog Box Support	All kind of dialog box supported	Partial Dialog Supported
Platform Support	Windows Only	Window, Mac, Linux
Technical Support	Technical support Available	No technical support
IDE	HP -QTP	Eclipse
Reporting Tool	HP Run result Viewer	TestNG

 Conclusion

 Using Selenium as the Functional Test Automation Tool, you can reduce the cost incurred for licensing using QTP. QTP is one of the most widely used automation testing tools in the market today with over 60% market share. Due to this reason, skilled QTP professionals are always in demand. The efforts involved in scripting for Selenium increased by about 15 % than QTP in the initial stages. Once all the solutions are in place the efforts of automation using Selenium and QTP were almost the same.