Low code vs. No Code Testing: Similarities and Differences

The demand for hyper-automation and IT modernization has grown dramatically. As a result, many enterprises have struggled to align with these trends due to the limited availability of developer talent. There is a significant gap between the needs of business and IT teams. This often leads to inefficient processes and systems that are difficult to maintain.

Organizations have to rely on their own internal resources to fulfill these needs. Consequently, businesses continue to suffer from operational inefficiencies while also compromising the time-to-market.

Developers responsible for building applications are expected to have a deep knowledge of design systems and coding languages. Yet, the tides have changed with the introduction of low-code and no-code platforms. These platforms help develop, collaborate and deploy applications without writing code. They allow people with no coding experience to build applications faster.

The new drag-and-drop visual programming platform allows non-developers to use the software efficiently. No coding experience is required. All the necessary features are built into the system.

Although similar in many respects, no code and low code test automation platforms have some differences. However, these differences are not apparent at first glance, making it difficult to evaluate the two. This blog post will explore these differences. We will discuss how to decide which platform is best for your organization.

What is no-code test automation?

No code testing automation tools allow non-technical team members to test software applications without coding. In other words, these solutions offer a visual drag-and-drop feature set and cater specifically to non-technical team members who strongly understand the product intent.

Citizen testers typically include product managers, business analysts, administrators, and others. A codeless studio empowers them to play an informal yet critical role in the software development lifecycle by automating tests that ensure the quality of use cases at scale.

No code equips testers with the tools they need to test applications without traditional test automation scripting experience. Manual testing is not the same as no-code test automation. Yet, no-code test automation makes it possible for citizen testers to generate end-to-end cross-browser and cross-platform tests that execute concurrently without writing a line of code. It would be difficult for a manual tester to automate this test using traditional frameworks.

Advantages of no-code test automation

No-code platforms are gaining popularity among non-tech people. They are easy to use and require no coding experience:

• Fast development cycles can reduce the time it takes to build software products;
• You can build products without having engineers on your team;
• Users can create and manage their products without relying on developers;
• Development is more accessible and affordable. No-code platforms provide a visual interface for development on a single platform.

Disadvantages of no-code test automation

• Software functionality is limited by what the platform allows;
• It becomes challenging to maintain if a test is not modular or easily readable.

What is low-code test automation?

Low-code tools allow developers to test applications quickly by planning, generating, and executing end-to-end tests. Low-code platforms require little coding knowledge. Therefore, they are more useful for developers than mainstream test automation frameworks, which depend on test scripts. These platforms allow users to automate processes in applications with little coding knowledge. Contrary to the mainstream frameworks that require more specific and complex interactions.

Only about 15% of companies are using these platforms to test software instead of traditional coding. Still, the market for these tools is snowballing. By 2024, 65% of all app development functions will run on low-code platforms.

Advantages of low-code test automation

Low-code platforms are gaining popularity in the market for several reasons:

• Fosters digital innovation and transformation by protecting against technology churn;
• Avoids technical debt;
• Enable citizen developers to create and modify internal processes.

Disadvantages of low-code test automation

• Testing is slow because of the dependency on developers for complex test scenarios;
• Depending on the platform, they usually offer limited customization options.

Low-code and no-code: Similarities and benefits

Both low-code and no-code platforms aim to simplify the development process by abstracting the complexities of coding. They are both available as PaaS solutions and adopt a workflow-based design, defining the logical progression of data.

Democratization of technology: The democratization of technology means that low-code and no-code solutions are available to a variety of users rather than just highly skilled, expensive specialists.

Increased productivity: Low-code/no-code platforms help organizations speed up development, reducing project timelines from months to days. This can help IT departments clear their backlogs and facilitate faster product rollouts.

Quick customer feedback: Low-code/no-code platforms allow developers to get feedback from customers. It allows building prototypes of their applications before investing significant resources in the project. This enables good decision-making earlier in the project timeline and minimizes risk and cost.

Buy vs Build: Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) products are often expensive. Low-code and no-code platforms encourage in-house customization, shifting the needle toward “build” in the buy vs. build dilemma.

Architectural integrity: A centralized, low-code/no-code platform ensures application design and code consistency. This uniformity is beneficial when debugging applications. As a result, developers can spend their time troubleshooting issues rather than understanding frameworks.

Collaboration of business and IT: In the past, business and development teams have had a push-pull relationship. However, with business users participating in development through the low-code/no-code movement, there is a better understanding of these seemingly different worlds.

Low-code and no-code: Differences

Despite subtle feature differences, the two approaches have much in common. Yet, there are substantial differences to consider:

End users: Low-code and no-code development platforms are for developers and business users. They enable developers to automate the standard aspects of coding and adopt a syntax-agnostic approach. No-code platforms are for business users with vast domain knowledge but who cannot write code manually. Both types of tools can help expand a software team’s talent pool by making it easier for people outside the core development team to create new features or modify existing ones.

Use Cases: No-code is typically used for front-end apps with simple logic, such as pulling data from sources and reporting or analyzing it. Thus, low code also works for enterprise applications with substantial business logic. It can be scaled to support the needs of large organizations. It also has more extensive component libraries than no-code.

Speed: Low-code development is faster than traditional development. Yet, it requires training and time to onboard new employees. Nevertheless, no-code platforms are quicker to build and test than low-code ones. They are highly configurable and all plug-and-play.

How to choose between no-code and low-code

The ideal test automation platform provides a collaborative interface for programmers and citizen testers to adapt the software according to their roles, allowing no-code options or both.

When evaluating a low code or no-code test automation platform, consider the following:

• Are your test assets transferable?
• Can you avoid vendor lock-in by using other tools?
• How accessible is the platform to various user profiles in your organization?
• Are coding skills necessary, or can you create all the test assets your team needs?

Conclusion

Low-code and no-code platforms offer their advantages and disadvantages. They provide flexibility to both technical and non-technical users. They can detect bugs and improve the product experience in real time. However, these platforms are not fully utilized yet, but with help from powerful technologies like AI, they will evolve and expand their scope in the future.

As a result, by making every team member responsible for quality assurance, low and no-code testing effectively democratizes the QA process and breaks down organizational silos before product delivery.

Would like to become a more effective software tester? Join our upcoming webinar to find out how the companies like Apple and Grammarly run tons of tests in just no time: https://bit.ly/2xTESTING

Would you like to create software testing infrastructure from scratch? Let’s discuss your project: request a demo.