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Software testing is a validation and verification process to evaluate the quality of the software to be released. It is an ongoing process. With increasing demand of the quality product and shorter development life cycle, the importance of software testing has been increased. Software testing is huge and includes a lot of different test processes and activities. In this article, we will briefly understand different types of software testing methods.

Different software testing companies and QA testing experts divide software testing in different basic segments. Each segment has many different types of software testing methods. Two most commonly used basic software testing segments are listed below:

1. Functional testing and Non-functional testing
2. White box testing and black box testing

Each has various types of software testing methods. According to some software testing experts, there are more than 100 software testing processes. It is difficult to cover all of them in a single article. Thus, in this article we will briefly explain the top 20 key software testing services, 10 functional and 10 non-functional, that must be part of your software development life cycle.

Top 10 Functional Software Testing Methods:

1. Unit Testing

This software testing process tests individual units/components to evaluate their functionality. It compares the actual result with the expected output to assure that each individual unit of the software is working as per set expectations. It requires coding knowledge and technical expertise at the tester’s end.

2. Database Testing

It is a layered software testing process that covers critical testing of User Interface, Data Access, and actual Database. The database testing service aims to assure the security of data stored in the system during different points.

3. Failover Testing

Failover system is always in place for websites and applications expecting a heavy load or carrying mass data. The failover testing service assures that in case of failure when the main system is switched to the backup system, how it reacts and performs. This test is important to assure the readiness of the production server to maintain the quality of service.

4. Regression Testing

It assures that the other modules of the system are working as expected after making any type of changes in the existing code of one module. It tests and verifies if the change(s) in one module adversely affected other modules in any way or not.

5. Integration Testing

This software testing service tests a group of components for their collective functionality. Some software testing companies prefer incremental integration testing with top down or bottom up approaches to find the smallest possible bugs and overall quality of the system.

6. Sanity Testing

This testing service runs small test cases on major functionality of the system to check if it is ready for heavy testing or not. In simpler words, the sanity test, also known as smoke test, is used to test the readiness of the system for full fledged software testing.

7. System Testing

The system testing runs different tests to evaluate the functionality of complete system against requirement and expected performance of the system from end user point of view.

8. Negative and Positive Testing

Both test types complement each other and run in parallel to assure the system is performing as expected and not producing any unexpected results. This is one of the most important software testing models to verify the functional efficiency of the system.

9. End to End Testing

The complete flow of the software is tested from the start point to the end point. It is a thorough software testing process that aimed to identify dependencies as well as the accuracy of data flow in the system.

10. Beta Testing

It is the last stage of functional testing in which product is given to real users in the outside world or to the software testing company staff to use and test the system as end users. The strategic beta testing provides valuable information to assure success.

Non-Functional Software Testing Methods:

1. Installation Testing

It is also known as implementation testing. The installation testing service defines the steps must be followed by the end user in order to install or uninstall the software. Also, it checks how the software reacts after complete to partial installation with the different available options.

2. Compatibility Testing

This software testing service aims to assure that different users experience the same quality, regardless of their software, hardware, platform and device in use. Also, it tests the software under different environments and condition such as slow internet connection to test the performance and behavior of the software.

3. Endurance Testing

One of the most important types of software testing services to assure the system stays up and running and delivers the best performance even during heavy load. The endurance testing must performed for the websites and web applications that cater to consumers online.

4. Volume Testing

This software testing service tests how the system reacts when the volume of information increase. For example, if a large volume of data is stored in the database how does the system handle it. The aim of volume testing is to identify possible performance degradation after an increase in volume.

5. Static Testing

This testing process starts before any code is written and continues during the development life cycle. The static testing goes hand in hand with the software development life cycle to identify defects at an early stage of development to reduce the overall cost of bug fixing.

6. Usability Testing

This type of software testing process aims to identify how user-friendly the developed software is! The usability testing service checks if the software is easy to learn and use by the end users to reassure the success of the product.

7. Scalability Testing

The scalability testing service is performed to identify the breakpoint of the system performance in the process of scale up. The software testing experts identify the point when you need to add additional hardware and software to keep performance intact.

8. Recovery Testing

Nobody can deny the possibility of system crashes and failure. However, we need to assure the faster recovery to keep our revenue channels active. The recovery testing aims to identify the integrity and reliability of the defined recovery system to assure the recovery is fastest possible, in case of failure.

9. Stress Testing

This test aims to identify the benchmark and the breakpoint of the website or application. The site is put under extreme load of data, users and data transfer to find the breaking point of the website when one or more processes fail. This kind of test helps to take appropriate action in case of excessive stress and system performance degradation.

10. Security Testing

Without a doubt, this is the most important software testing processes to assure the data and information stored, processed and traversing are secure. The maximum possible steps to keep data secure is vital for any business and the security testing service helps to meet this agenda by testing system thoroughly from security point of view.

Would you like to add any other software testing process which you think should be there in the list? Please share your thoughts in the comment section.