Is API Testing Worth it?
Well, if you want to reduce risk, increase coverage, and reduce defect leakage in your software the answer is a definitive and resounding YES!
Over the past couple of decades, testers have largely been testing at the user interface (UI) level. The problem with this approach is the UI is constantly changing and must be stable before any testing can begin. If you have been following software development, you know that the trend is to release more quickly – waiting for a UI to be stable to be tested does not break any speed records, in fact this slows down the whole software engineering process.
What if you could test earlier in the software engineering lifecycle with a stable interface? This would mean that you:
- Test earlier in the lifecycle
- Identify and remediate defects earlier
- Reduce testing time and cost
- Increase test coverage
If these benefits sound too good to be true check out our most recent research on API testing that shows how you can achieve better software quality, a more rapid and meaningful testing cycle, and easier defect identification.
We have data, real empirical evidence in our research that shows:
? How much time is spent doing manual testing (hint: it is too much)
? How time is spent doing unit testing (hint: it is too little)
? How much test coverage is achieved (hint: it is too little)
? How many organizations struggle with defect leakage (hint: it is too many)
API testing can help you test earlier, faster, and more efficiently.
We know that making a business case for bringing in a new technology is sometimes a little daunting. To help you make the case for adopting or expanding API testing in your organization we give you a way to assess your readiness and conversation starters to gain buy-in from your executives, your line of business, and your developer peers.
Check out our press release on this eye-opening survey and download it here to make software more reliable, your customers happier, and your testers more productive.
Senior Manager@ Cognizant | Ex Ericsson | Performance Testing and Engineering | Agilist | Delivery
4 年Completely agree. You can achieve the true Shift Left by performing early testing with the APIs that really improve the time to market and overall quality of the end product.
Removing security uncertainty during product delivery
5 年Apart from anything else, given the way software architectures have moved (micro services, serverless) if you’re not testing your APIs what are you actually testing? Front-end is important but that’s not typically where your business logic, your Crown Jewels, resides.
Cybersecurity Principal - MTSI
5 年Thanks for writing this.? What's old is new again. :)? Back when we were both starting out unit testing and regression testing were the norm and while problems could still slip through the software was much more robust and releases were less buggy.? The movement away from those days may have resulted in a software boom but at the price of security (which resulted in the growth of a very big and profitable industry). Thank you again for writing this!
IT Specialist at Know Your Company only one
5 年bless on take care
Technology assessment and transformation for critical software products.
5 年Your results are 100% in line with what I've seen in every shop I've ever worked with. Getting started with API testing is not hard and there is a substantial upside. This kind of test interface does require some understanding of programming, which I think explains why some testers are reluctant to deal with APIs directly.?APIs are an ideal target for model-based testing, which can achieve significantly more effective testing at a lower overall cost, compared with hand-coded test suites or template-based testing tools.?