SmartBear LoadNinja is a great all-in-one test automation tool. Here are some reasons why users like it:
- Speed. It is fast on almost any machine.
- Configuration consistency.
- Accuracy of tests with fantastic results.
- Great AI features with good cloud scaling.
- Artificial intelligence.
- The automation is very good.
- An application can be tested across many programs with ease. For example, users can test on Internet Explorer, Mozilla, or Google Chrome, etc.
- Scaling to a cloud environment is very easy.
- The database checkpoints detect problems that are difficult for a human resource to find.
- The solution’s object identification is very powerful. The object identification for legacy applications that are very old can still be automated.
- It is very well organized.
- The object repository is extremely accurate and is fully customizable.
- It can easily be used by experienced developers and even by manual novice testers to develop quality automated UI tests quickly.
Users say one of the main useful features is the solution’s name mapping because:
- You don’t have to worry about the object’s name; you can just use an alias.
- It helps with the consistency of the versioning. Everyone is using the same tools, same kind of code, and same kind of coding methods. In case somebody is sick or out, another team member can pick up where they left off and keep going.
- The recording plate is not only there to help you start writing the test, it helps you as a tester or an engineer understand the business mindset of how they built the application. For example, users have to go in and click around. Then it puts everything in code and then helps you understand.
Users also like the solution’s scriptless approach. They find it to be very flexible compared to other scriptless automation tools. With SmartBear LoadNinja’s scriptless approach, users can save loads of time. What’s also good is that with the solution, all the modern scripting languages are supported. Users can use Python, JavaScript, VBScript, or other kinds of options as well. You can import external Python libraries inside it, which will give additional capabilities to the tool. All the different scripting languages come with different abilities. Users have different types of metrics and controls available with different scripting languages. That way they can drive their own framework and can also create many custom frameworks to specifically suit their organizational needs and requirements. The solution’s scripting is definitely efficient. In a single day, you can automate more than 100 test cases.
Another key feature that users appreciate about the solution is its stability and scalability. Users find that SmartBear LoadNinja is very reliable. Beyond that, users mention that the solution is intuitive and very easy to use. Users don't have to be experts in a specific syntax; they can just use graphical logic. If needed, it also allows users to apply some code. In general, it is very useful from all perspectives.
SmartBear LoadNinja has recently introduced some futuristic features. AI self-healing is one of them. It helps keep your object repositories up to date, and it can considerably bring down or control your maintenance costs to some extent, at least as far as the object repository goes.
The solution also includes some intelligent OCR features. Users have access to a mini device cloud, for example, which allows them to run a testing tool. SmartBear LoadNinja also recently started supporting X spot, which goes well with Selenium. You can reuse some of the scripts with other frameworks.
Users find the solution’s record and replay to be quite useful. They can reuse created automated tests across every environment as often as desired. In turn, this helps to expand overall test coverage and leads to a huge cost and time savings.
What’s also great about the solution is that it is mobile. Users can safely build and automate serviceable UI tests on actual or virtual android or IOS devices, locally or in the cloud. Users can create code or codeless tests. SmartBear LoadNinja seamlessly integrates with many of today’s popular frameworks.
Additionally, as with any solution, it is much better when it is easy to deploy. With SmartBear LoadNinja, that is definitely the case. The installation is very simple. Users can install it in just five minutes.
In regards to pricing, it is moderate. It's not the cheapest or the most expensive if you compare it with other competitors. It offers credibility and value for the money. If you want desktop testing, you can add on a desktop license. If you want web testing, you're going to want to add on a web license — there's a lot of flexibility, you just need to pay for what you use. There are no irritating subscription models.
Last but not least, technical support is quite helpful. Not only that, but if you need answers, there is a good community available where you can easily find what you are looking for. When users initiate a support ticket, they usually receive answers within 24 hours or less.
In terms of room for improvement, users mention these downsides:
- The solution currently only supports Windows.
- During the distribution of regression test cases, the control IDs are not always recognized correctly.
- In terms of execution, attempting to run a script from multiple missions will result in the script being deployed and failing to work in some of the missions.
- There could be better API interfaces with this tool.
- It would be ideal if they could offer one subscription where you can connect to different machines with a group subscription.
- Some of the controls could have better customization options.
- It is currently very tightly coupled to the SmartBear ID. There should be a way that the solution could support the integration with external libraries and make it flexible to integrate with open-source frameworks.
