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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
6.7
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
API Testing Tools (4th), Test Automation Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Regression Testing Tools category, the mindshare of Appium is 3.4%, down from 5.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Katalon Studio is 14.9%, down from 17.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Regression Testing Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Katalon Studio14.9%
Appium3.4%
Other81.7%
Regression Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Luis Gerardo Meneses Hernandez - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows for direct interaction with an application's DOM but complex configuration
What I like about Appium right now is that it's like Cypress in the sense that I can get to the new DOM of the application and select the components and create the functions to test the components in the way I want them to be tested. That's why I like it right now.
Appu Ashok - PeerSpot reviewer
Expansive integrations boost automation potential across devices
I am in the field of product research and am familiar with Katalon Studio for product comparisons and test automation. Even though I am not an active tester, I have created a few tests using Katalon Studio Some of our customers use Katalon Studio, however, our own product, Tangene, is a…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has great documentation and excellent community support."
"We do not need to pay for the solution. It’s free."
"Appium has easy interaction with mobile."
"The automation part is extremely helpful in streamlining our processes."
"Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to."
"The most valuable feature is that it's easy to launch applications. Appium has everything that Selenium has. So many good tools support Appium. We can take some Excel sheets and use them to fill out the text box that's in there. We can also take screenshots of failures."
"Appium provides a record-and-play option, and the commands are the same as those that Selenium uses. So a person who has some exposure to Selenium will be able to write a piece of code in Appium."
"We get a list that shows all devices that are connected to the system."
"The solution is easy to learn."
"It provides us daily feedback on the status (failing/working) of the core features of our websites."
"I rate Katalon Studio's scalability a four out of five."
"Whenever I speak to the support team of Katalon Studio, I learn that some new features will be included in the product. It is a scalable product."
"The automation is very fast and you don't need to be overly proficient in coding."
"The most valuable feature is that the browser and the API testing is available in a single tool, and I don't have to look at other options."
"We are now performing automated testing in 15 minutes, which were previously taking a long time when doing it manually."
"The report generated using Katalon Studio is extremely valuable."
 

Cons

"Appium can improve when the case fails, there should be a feature where you can generate the report from Appium. Once you're on a test case, automatically the screenshot should be captured which would avoid manual intervention. These features would be beneficial to migrate to Appium."
"Appium could improve by enabling record and run techniques similar to what they have in other licensing tools, such as Micro Focus. We have to all write the code, and then we can proceed."
"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."
"It breaks down."
"Support-wise, it could be better."
"They should add an in-built framework."
"Appium has problems with automated validations following iOS updates, causing us to have to validate manually."
"The installation part of Appium is somewhat clumsy, requiring numerous dependencies and configurations."
"I would like to see improvements in how Katalon Studio works with iOS applications, especially with React Native applications."
"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."
"One aspect that can be improved is testing for desktop applications. I would like to see them support more technologies in this area."
"During parallel execution, some reports are randomly switched."
"Now we are having difficulties in using it and had to limit our automation experts to the features that Katalon allows us to use for free. It was free access and they claimed that it would be free for all time."
"Katalon Studio should improve its usability, it still needs some improvement where users can easily use it to build their automation suite. It requires some initial work to set it up. There should be more keywords in the library to limit the coding requirements, this will allow a non-technical person easily start using it, which would be better."
"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."
"It would be helpful to have an automatic save feature."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"As far as I know, Appium is a free solution. It's not for commercial use."
"Appian is open-source, which is not licensed."
"The price is good for people to be able to make a favorable decision for the value."
"The solution is open source so it is free."
"It's completely 100% free, and there are no hidden fees."
"The pricing of Appium is fine."
"Appium is free and open-source."
"In terms of pricing, Katalon, Selenium, and Cypress all represent a similar level of investment. The software for these tools are either true open source or almost open source (because they charge a small fee), so pricing is a neutral point for me."
"Katalon Studio is a free tool."
"Katalon Studio is less expensive than other solutions, such as Micro Focus UFT."
"The price of Katalon Studio is reasonable. They recently had a price increase that might impact new subscribers. We are using a business license."
"The approximate cost is around $8,000."
"We were using the free version of this tool."
"This product is freeware, so there is no charge for using it."
"The prices are very high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
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 Business18
Midsize Enterprise13
Large Enterprise18
 

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 pricing could be improved. Offering a discount on Katalon Studio licenses could encourage more users. There is significant competition, so providing a good offer with extra features could be be...
 

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: July 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.