Rapise, the Flexible Alternative to Katalon

Overview

In this article we compare Rapise, our test automation platform with Katalon Studio.

1) High Level Comparison

Katalon Studio is a popular tool for testing web and mobile applications. It was originally a free product, but has recently shifted to a commercial paid model with both Premium and Ultimate options. It is primarily a script-based product where the tests are written in Java and/or Groovy with a lightweight, basic record and play engine on top for simple use cases. It has support for keyword-driven and data-driven tests in conjunction with test script modules. However, all but the most basic tests will require script knowledge.

This is in contrast to Rapise where we have designed the product to separate out the test design (done in the unique Rapise Visual Language) from the underlying framework that “knows” your application. This unique separation allows Rapise to record, read, tune (using meta-data) and optimize your test for optimal test maintenance. This allows the codeless framework to be used by testers in conjunction with Rapise’s intelligent record/play and learn modes to create maintainable, sophisticated tests without needed script or code.

This allows testers with domain or industry knowledge (e.g., how to use an ERP application) to create tests without needing low-level scripting expertise, yet still generate good quality, resilient automated tests. A simple example of this difference is recording a Combo Box. Using an intelligent recorder such as Rapise, once you record the item selection, there will be just one action like “SelectComboItem”, but if it is a low-level basic recorder, then you will have multiple recorded events such as “click button” then “click item” - two lower actions instead of one.

Finally, the Rapise Visual Language lets you create complex, data-driven tests using loops and branches, all without a single line of code.

2) Detailed Comparison Table

The following table provides a more detailed comparison between Katalon Studio and Rapise:

Feature	Katalon	Rapise
Release Date	2016	2006
Scriptless / Codeless	Yes	Yes
IDE for Mac/Linux	Yes	(Via Parallels)
IDE for Windows	Yes	Yes
Execute on Mac Safari/iOS Emulator	Yes	Yes
Execute on Linux (Chrome)	Yes	Yes
Basic Scriptless Approach	Yes	Yes
Customizable Scriptless Approach(See below)	-	Yes
Script Languages	JavaGroovy	JavaScriptECMAScript
Open File Formats (see below)	-	Yes
Custom Libraries (user-defined keywords)	Yes	Yes
Custom Keyword Dropdowns	-	Yes
Customizable High Level Recorder	-	Yes
Single row execution	-	Yes
Maintenance mode	-	Yes
Self-Healing	Yes	Yes
Visual Testing	-	Yes
Test Management	Yes	Yes
Integrations (See below)	Yes	Yes
Version Control	Yes	Yes
SOC 2	Yes	Yes
Dedicated support for Salesforce	-	Yes
Dedicated support for Microsoft Dynamics	-	Yes
Dedicated support for SAP OpenUI5	-	Yes
Dedicated support for Oracle Forms	-	Yes
Dedicated support for Infragistics WinForms	-	Yes
Dedicated support for Telerik WinForms	-	Yes
Dedicated support for DevExpress WinForms	-	Yes
Dedicated support for AWT, SWT, Swing	-	Yes

3) Other Rapise Benefits

In addition, to this feature-by-feature comparison, here’s some other key benefits that Rapise offers:

3.1) Rapise Integrations

Rapise and Spira may be considered a single tool. Spira handles all aspects with regards to the test management, test analytics, reporting and integrations etc. Unlike many other products, Spira does not replace your existing toolset. You can keep working with, for example, Jira, Azure DevOps or GitHub, and have Spira synchronize the data with the other products. Spira has a large array of supported integrations all of which are maintained and supported by Inflectra.

In addition, Spira is relatively inexpensive, and its concurrent user licensing means Rapise users only will need a few licenses to handle reporting, analytics and integrations.Rapise itself is a highly open platform and can integrate with any other tool easily:

Inputs. First, all of the parts of the Rapise test are open, using well known standard formats (Text, XLSX, JSON, XML and JS) so it may be edited separately or programmatically created using a script. No binary/proprietary formats are used.

Command line. Rapise tests can be executed via command line from an any external tool. Moreover, each test contains a ‘play.bat’ file to quickly launch this particular test case.

Test results are produced in several different standard formats. One of them is TAP (test anywhere protocol) that is a well-known text format and may be used to easily check test results and execute with other systems. Another option is to produce a report in HTML or XML.

Pipelines. Integration with various DevOps tools is trivial if you use it with Spira. For example, there is an extension for Azure Pipelines that enables you to run a Rapise test set in a few clicks. If you proceed without Spira, then the integration is still possible, you just need to put a number of actions into the pipeline definition.

Testing Targets. Another aspect of integration is handling the different testing targets. Rapise handles everything from the most common, modern protocols (UIAutomation, DevTools, WebDriver, REST, SOAP) to the more complex, legacy technologies (IAccessibility, ActiveX etc).

Device Farms. Rapise also support all the most common mobile and browser device farms (BrowserStack, Kobiton, SeeTest, SauceLabs) including extensible support for future platforms still being developed.

CI/CD systems. As we mentioned previously, Rapise has open formats so can may integrate with any environment that supports shell scripts and reads standard file formats. We have many Rapise customers using it with:

GitHub Actions

Azure DevOps

TeamCity

Jenkins

Custom/own CI/CD solutions (yes, people still re-inventing the wheel every day)

Execute External Scripts. Rapise scripts may call other tools. For example, you can run an existing script to prepare a database or call a Postman command-line script to initialize an application via a web service. You can of course do the same using Rapise’s built-in REST interface, but if there is an existing Postman script, then you can just call without needing to reinvent the wheel.

Unit Testing. Rapise has integrations with many different unit testing tools. We provide examples of running Rapise tests using NUnit, MBUnit, VSUnit. Other similar tools can be integrated in the same way (e.g. xUnit).

3.2) Rapise Version Control

Rapise supports multiple different types of version control system for its scripts and other test assets:

Built in (using Spira Document repository)

Git (external client)

SVN, CSV (external clients)

3.3) Visual Testing, Self-Healing, AI

Rapise provides the following key artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities:

We have self-healing tests where the system records multiple locators and looks for the change in the application to see if it is a probable match or not.

We closely watch these trends and add corresponding features once they are mature.

Rapise can integrate with cloud-based AI and visual testing services such as Applitools as needed.

3.4) Open File Formats

Some tools use proprietary binary formats to store data and configuration. That helps vendors to lock you with their solutions. So, even if all test data belongs to you, you still need their tool to open it. Everything in Rapise is open (we use exclusively standard formats, preferably text based to make version control easier). So, if you need to generate or modify something, you may do it without even having Rapise installed.

3.5) Maintenance

Finally, the Achilles heel of test automation is test script maintenance. If you have to rewrite your tests every time the application or infrastructure changes, the ROI on automating tests becomes negative very quickly!

Rapise includes a key set of maintenance automation features intended to help you quickly fix / change / upgrade your tests when your application changes.