Postman alternatives and competitors

We were using SoapUI to do UI automation.

Using SoapUI's automation suites to run all our test cases saved us a lot of time. Running 300 test cases takes about three to four days. When you automate all that, it takes only two to three hours.

We used SoapUI for Web API Automation as well as UI automation. With SoapUI's automation suites, we were able to make it very easy and readable by any other user. The test cases were written in a given format where we were able to fulfill the prerequisites by the given statement. We were able to very easily load the data into the database as a prerequisite for the UI and input the given steps using the GUI. 

And when we got to the part where we were performing the action in the UI, the integration between Selenium and SoapUI was very easy. In that step, it made it very easy to validate the UI. 

SoapUI is easy to learn. When we get a new tester on the teams, they can pick it up quickly.

SoapUI has a lot of features I like, such as the different data generators and data sources. The looping part of it is also good.

Grouping of the cases is not possible in SoapUI, to my knowledge. When working with critical cases or the, we were not able to group them properly. We can definitely create a suite and add them there, but within a whole suite, we have to identify them, which was not easy.

When we ran a batch of test cases, we were not able to initiate the next batch automatically. When one suite was completed, we had to trigger another the next test suite manually. That means something from one test suite to another. Suppose, there are 10 test cases in the first suite and another 10 in the second. We have to initiate the first 10 cases and then the second. When we were triggering from the project level, it failed to move from the first suite to the second, and I'm not sure why. But that was something maybe related to the code, not the tool.

I used SoapUI on one project in March 2021.

I was using ReadyAPI and SoapUI Pro. Sometimes it would get stuck, so we had to close ReadyAPI and then start it again. This would happen occasionally. 

And we were also integrating Humps JMS with the SoapUI for messaging purposes.  Sometimes it got stuck. We would have to end the task and then do it again.

It was on-premises. So whenever any tester needed it, they can set it up themself. 
It was not on the cloud, so I have not worked on the cloud. 

To activate the license, we had to use technical support from the SoapUI and that was very quick. They respond to emails very promptly. When you email them, they say they will respond in 24 hours, but it doesn't even take them that long.

The setup was a little bit complicated because we need to download the external JAR to support the Oracle database connection. We had to download the extra JAR for the SoapUI. We also had to do the Selenium setup. We need to create folders where we could place these — that Selenium standalone and the JAR. That was a little bit complex but not too bad. This was our first time, but if we had known what to do, then it would have been easy.

It was not straightforward because we had to integrate with Selenium and the external JAR was needed to set it up and automate the UI. But I was still able to do it by myself in two to three hours.

There was a big investment but the company definitely saw a return. The whole integration pack across the whole organization was using SoapUI. All the framework was designed only using SoapUI Pro. Each one of the testers had two licenses: one for the Windows machine and one for UNIX. But the organization definitely benefited because the releases were frequent and the automation was being done. 

I find SoapUI a little bit expensive because if I need to buy a personal license for one year, then it will cost around 700 to 800 pounds. I'm not sure what an enterprise license costs, but from an individual perspective, I found it costly.

So in my project, two tools were used: Postman and SoapUI Pro. In my organization, most use SoapUI Pro because it's easy to use. There are many more automation features actually in the Pro version of the SoapUI. I am not sure about Postman because we were using it a very basic level. I'm not sure whether automation is possible or not in Postman, but in SoapUI Pro it definitely is. 

I would rate SoapUI a seven out of 10. I would love to work on the SoapUI Pro again because it is really a great product. I would say definitely recommend SoapUI. It's a very useful tool and it will enhance your coding skills as well. It will help you learn to write code well. 
The framework is very easy. It's also easy to do functional testing, API testing, and virtualization. I would recommend this tool for anyone who has to do API testing or UI testing.