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Appium vs Katalon Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Appium
Ranking in Regression Testing Tools
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Development Platforms (7th)
Katalon Studio
Ranking in Regression Testing Tools
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
API Testing Tools (4th), Test Automation Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Regression Testing Tools category, the mindshare of Appium is 3.3%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Katalon Studio is 14.5%, down from 17.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Regression Testing Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Katalon Studio14.5%
Appium3.3%
Other82.2%
Regression Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Abhishek-Tiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
Has cross-platform flexibility and a record-and-play option
The challenging part with Appium is that installation can be a bit tricky. It can be challenging to set up in Android versus iOS environments. Appium has some limitations in terms of writing code using simulators and online cloud devices. I faced challenges with native based scenarios, battery turn out percentage, battery charging percentage, and memory capacity. The other challenge I faced involved codes changing from device to device. For example, the piece of code that works in iOS version 10.1 won't work in iOS version 6.0. In upcoming releases, if they can reduce some more of the dependencies like SDK, UIAutomator, etc., it would be great. That is, I'd like to see a consolidated package or bundle release that is much more user-friendly.
Keerthi Prasannakumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Has improved test efficiency and automated repeated sanity checks using reusable components
The best features Katalon Studio offers include its user-friendly nature. It is very much a user-friendly automation framework that supports both beginners and advanced users. It combines manual and script-based testing, allowing easy recording of steps and customization using Java or Groovy. Its built-in reporting, data-driven testing, and CI/CD integration are extremely useful for managing end-to-end automation efficiently. The best feature of Katalon Studio is its ease of setup with both manual and scripted automation, plus strong integration techniques, which help the tester find reports easily. It is more focused on debugging, reusability, and reporting. The reporting and debugging features of Katalon Studio help me in my testing workflow by providing test execution reports with logs, screenshots, and videos for failed steps, which makes it easier to analyze results. The report can be in formats such as HTML, PDF, or integrated into Katalon TestOps for tracking trends over time. For debugging, I use the debug mode to run test cases step-by-step, check every value, and inspect the console and log viewer for error messages. Katalon Studio highlights the exact failed step, provides stack traces, and helps quickly identify issues in locator data or synchronization. For example, in one of my projects, I automated a video upload and a preview feature in a web application. During execution, the test failed at the preview validation step. The Katalon Studio report showed that the preview element was not visible within expected time. I switched to debug mode, added a wait condition, and re-ran the test step-by-step to verify that the video preview loaded correctly before validation. After updating the script with an explicit wait, the test passed consistently, confirming all steps were successful and improving the reliability of future regression runs. Katalon Studio's report and debug mode help identify whether it's a timing issue or if we need an explicit wait. A key feature I notice in Katalon Studio is its cross-platform automation, supporting web, mobile, API, and desktop testing in one tool. The record and playback feature is my favorite because I'm not from a coding background. It allows for quick test creation without coding, making it accessible even for beginners. The repository and data-driven testing provide centralized storage for test elements, improving reusability. We can run the same test with multiple sets of data, which is also significant. The integration part is excellent, along with reusable test suites and keywords, which allow modular and maintainable test structures across projects. Katalon Studio has positively impacted my organization by significantly speeding up the testing process. The repetitive regression tests that used to take hours or days are now completed in a day or just two to three hours. The built-in reports and debugging features improved communication with developers and made issue resolution faster. With Katalon Studio providing detailed reports, false arguments have gradually reduced. Overall, test coverage, accuracy, and team productivity have enhanced, allowing for a more confident delivery of builds and shorter turnaround times. I think the company has a positive impact overall.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The solution is easy to use."
"The most valuable features of Appium are the in-built functionality, which we can use in our code. For example, move back, move front, navigate one page before, and navigate one page ahead. You can do this by using the in-built functions from Appium."
"Appium's wide support of programming languages is valuable."
"The way Appium server interacts with mobile apps is fantastic. It provides all the information about the elements inside the app, Android as well as iOS. I can interact with the element quickly, just type some text or get some text values from the element - whether it's a drop-down, or web text, or a native element."
"Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to."
"The solution helps with test automation. We focus mostly on Java."
"We develop apps using the React Native framework, and Appium integrates well for testing those apps. The Appium automation framework also has good integration with GitHub Actions and plenty of other tools and frameworks, including BrowserStack."
"Appium has easy interaction with mobile."
"Katalon Studio's biggest advantage is its price. It's a good tool for the price, albeit with some limitations when you compare it with tools like Tricentis Tosca."
"The initial setup of Katalon Studio was easy."
"This is a product that is well ahead of its immediate competition in features and functionality."
"It supports multiple easy-to-learn languages."
"I rate Katalon Studio's scalability a four out of five."
"It is a good tool and provides all the essential features for our business requirements."
"The solution is easy to learn."
"We can write code in Java and it is easy to link to other JARs that we find on the internet, which is very handy."
 

Cons

"The initial setup is straightforward if you have previous experience with the solution, but it can be complicated for a novice user."
"Appium has problems with automated validations following iOS updates, causing us to have to validate manually."
"We need some bug fixes for nested elements."
"It breaks down."
"If it had more facility for configuration it would be a spectacular solution."
"One area where I think Appium could improve is in addressing security concerns for our data. Currently, we're unable to use cloud solutions like CloudForm due to security restrictions on our servers. We also face challenges in updating packages for the same reason. It would be beneficial if the solution could provide better support for auto-reporting and easier connections to mobile device farms."
"Configuration-wise, there is a lot of room for improvement."
"I rarely use Appium nowadays because I'm now at the managerial level, but the last time I used it, whenever I selected and clicked on an element, Appium was very slow. I tried to debug it, but I still couldn't find the problem, so this is an area for improvement in the solution. Another area for improvement lies with the connector and server. For example, the effort to get into the local machine sometimes causes the emulator to become slow, which then leads to failure in testing, and this is the usual issue I've encountered from Appium. An additional feature I'd like added to Appium in its next release is being able to do automation in iOS without using XPath and the name of the element. In Xcode, you can use previous UI tests for detecting elements, but in Appium, you have to use Xpath and the element name instead of being able to directly put the X-UiPath, which is what you can do in Xcode. In iOS as well, sometimes the element doesn't have a name or a path. Sometimes, there's also no element."
"It would be helpful if they can integrate a feature for performance testing."
"Katalon Studio sometimes restarts during automation, and as mentioned earlier, the app experiences lag, so those are the main areas that need improvement."
"Improvements are needed, particularly regarding desktop application recording and playback, which should be more flexible and not limited to relying solely on .exe files installed on the system."
"We have had some issues when it comes to stability, which is something that needs to be improved."
"I would like Katalon Studio to develop manual test case generation using AI capabilities, as other tools like those using OpenAI are already doing this."
"Katalon's support is not very strong unless you opt for the enterprise version."
"Currently, I'm the only one who can use it because I have a Mac. It is giving a hard time to my team members who are on Linux. My team members are using Linux, and Katalon doesn't support Linux very well. It keeps on crashing. It crashes and shuts down almost every time they save their work, so they are not able to use it. It should have good support for Linux. We don't know what the problem is. If the Katalon team can pick up this issue, it will be very helpful."
"It should be faster while executing, and there are some defects, like choosing the new device with the test case."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open source."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"As far as I know, Appium is a free solution. It's not for commercial use."
"I'm unsure if there's any cost associated with Appium. I got the free package which includes the server GUI application and the inspector application, and it was free to download, and that's all I need to get my work done. I'm not aware of any additional costs associated with the tool."
"The pricing of Appium is fine."
"This is an open source solution so it does not cost anything for licensing or otherwise."
"We found out that we could explore features of the solution for 30 days trial. We can switch to a permanent license later if we want."
"It's completely 100% free, and there are no hidden fees."
"We are using the free version of Katalon Studio at this point."
"Katalon Studio is an expensive tool."
"Its pricing is quite reasonable. If you require their help in getting started, then there is a professional services fee on top of the product license cost."
"The pricing is good. It is the market average."
"It is freeware software, so start using it."
"The solution is more affordable than other vendors."
"The product is affordable. It has an average and competitive pricing compared to other vendors."
"This product is freeware, so there is no charge for using it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend Appium?
I do recommend Appium. It is an open-source solution and completely free of charge. We use Appium and Appium Studio as our base for any type of mobile automation for testing. It has a great interfa...
What do you like most about Appium?
Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Appium?
My experience with Appium from a pricing perspective is favorable due to it being open source, making it a cost-effective option.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Katalon Studio?
Katalon Studio is on the expensive side. I rated it eight on a scale where ten is very expensive. I recommend optimizing the pricing, as a moderate value around five would be preferred.
What needs improvement with Katalon Studio?
The reporting is very good, but it could be better.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nuvizz, Coupa Software, Eventbrite, Evernote
Coca-Cola Tesla Black Board TaTa Consultancy Services Sony
Find out what your peers are saying about Appium vs. Katalon Studio and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
871,829 professionals have used our research since 2012.