Manual Testing: Advantages and Disadvantages of Manual Software Testing

In the earlier post we saw what is meant by manual and automates testing and various automated testing tools. Today we will see difference between manual and automation testing and will try to ascertain which testing is best manual or automation.
Just to brush up testing is a process of finding bugs in the application before it is released for production. For testing the quality of software we create various test cases which try to evaluate various functionalities which application provides.
A software tester can run these test cases manually or can automate the process depending on the complexity of the process and time available with him.

Benefits of manual testing over Automation testing

1. If the test cases have to be run a small number of times then manual testing is more likely to be performed.
2. The more time the tester spends on testing, the more is the chances of finding bugs because no machine or tool can match the power of human brain and experience.
3. It allows the tester to do more ad-hoc testing.
4. Trainers are required to give training on automation tools but manual testing can be done by any tester.
5. Proficiency is required to write script for automation tools but in manual testing nothing of this sort is required.
6. GUI testing can be done accurately with the help of manual testing as visual accessibility and preferences are difficult to automate.
7. Automation testing cannot replace human intuitions, inferences and reasoning.
8. Automation testing cannot be stopped in between, in case any analysis required.

Drawbacks of manual testing over Automation testing

1. Manual testing can be very time consuming
2. For same release, we may need to run same test cases which can be sometimes tiring, this process can be automated with automation tools.
3. Manual testing have high risk of error and mistakes as it is done manually by testers
4. It is not possible to test the entire module manually.
5. Manual testing requires the presence of tester but automated testing can be done 24x7 without any intervention.
6. Automated testing generates logs and repositories automatically but in manual testing we need to create the test cases manually.
7. Scope of manual testing is very limited but if it is automation testing then the scope is very broad.
8. Manual testing is not suitable in very large organizations and time bounded projects
9. Performance testing is impossible with the help of manual testing.
10. Batch testing cannot be done manually as it is not possible for a human tester to give output of each and every batch at regular intervals of time.
11. Comparing large amount of data in case of manual testing is difficult.

Read More :
Exhaustive Testing in Software Testing
Qualities of a good Software

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