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SmartBear TestComplete vs Zeenyx AscentialTest comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

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

SmartBear TestComplete
Ranking in Functional Testing Tools
8th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Regression Testing Tools (5th), Test Automation Tools (6th)
Zeenyx AscentialTest
Ranking in Functional Testing Tools
16th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Test Management Tools (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Functional Testing Tools category, the mindshare of SmartBear TestComplete is 4.9%, down from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zeenyx AscentialTest is 0.3%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Functional Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Prakhar Goel - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for integration automation, user-based automation, and web automation
The solution's most valuable features are the drag-and-drop feature, keyword-driven approach, and reusability of the scripts. The solution has introduced a new feature that helps us identify objects we cannot normally identify. It gives you a fair idea of objects, resolving the object recognition issue. The solution can be used to perform different tests on different machines.
Tobias Roth - PeerSpot reviewer
Robust automation with reusable steps and seamless integration
The concept of reusable steps in Zeenyx AscentialTest has significantly enhanced our test automation efficiency. Encapsulating common actions into modular steps reduces redundancy in test scripts and ensures consistency across scenarios. This approach streamlines maintenance efforts, allowing updates to be applied universally, making our test suite more agile and adaptable to evolving project requirements. The concept of reusable steps is a key factor in maximizing reusability and maintainability in our test automation strategy. AscentialTest's object recognition in snapshots is a robust feature that goes beyond standard elements, even accurately identifying objects within Datawindows. This capability ensures precise interaction with various components of an application's interface, further enhancing the reliability and effectiveness of our automated tests.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This company offers end-to-end capabilities for test suite creation and execution. One feature that I particularly appreciate is the tagging system. Tags are highly valuable, as they allow you to assign tags to your test cases. When there's an impact in a specific area, you can search for and run all test cases associated with that tag. I find this functionality very useful."
"The product is stable for what we are currently using it for, and it is sufficient for us."
"The ease-of-use and quality of the overall product are above average."
"Selenium integration."
"TestComplete fits almost perfectly with a large amount of stacks, such as Delphi, C#, Java and web applications."
"Customer service and technical support responsiveness are high. Everyone is very professional."
"The most valuable features of the SmartBear TestComplete are self-healing, they reduce the maintenance required. The different languages SmartBear TestComplete supports are good because some of our libraries are written in Python, JavaScript, and C#. It's very easy to put them all under one project and use them. The are other features that SmartBear TestComplete has but the competition widely has them as well."
"The product has many features."
"AscentialTest's object recognition in snapshots is a robust feature that goes beyond standard elements, even accurately identifying objects within Datawindows."
"If you use the PowerBuilder application, do choose AscentialTest without thinking twice."
"It’s been really easy to automate the same application TestComplete struggled with. I have been able to automate two of our key applications in just a few months. I haven’t even taken their training."
"The most valuable feature of AscentialTest for us is that it fully supports PowerBuilder."
 

Cons

"At times, identifying or locating an element can be somewhat challenging. However, in a recent test update, they introduced Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capability. This introduction has reduced the challenges to some extent, as we can now utilize OCR if the normal method doesn't work. Nevertheless, there is still significant potential for improvement in TestComplete's ability to identify various object elements. I don't have any specific concerns to mention. I have observed significant improvements in TestComplete over the past few years, especially in its support for highly dynamic object elements used in products like Salesforce Dynamics 365. In earlier versions, there were numerous challenges, but the current version is far superior to its predecessors."
"The licensing costs are a little bit high and should be reduced."
"SmartBear products generally have a weak link when it comes to integration with other test management tools like Inflectra."
"The test object repository needs to be improved. The hierarchy and the way we identify the objects in different applications, irrespective of technology, needs adjustments. The located and test objects are not as flexible compared to other commercial tools."
"Headless testing would be a big improvement."
"The pricing is the constraint."
"This solution could be improved by making it easier to visualize where there is a failure without having to look at it in detail."
"The artificial intelligence needs to be improved."
"Streamlining the retrieval of results from individual test set runs would be beneficial."
"I would like to see an improvement in the User Interface."
"Classes are not as object-oriented as I would like, but I am a programmer and not QA so I expect a lot."
"The only thing I can't wait for is for Zeenyx to add automating Mobile apps."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is becoming more and more expensive."
"The price is less, compared to other products, such as QTP."
"It is approximately $6,000 a year."
"My advice so far, is that while it’s not quite as powerful and easy to use as UFT, its price tag more than makes up for it."
"The licensing costs are in the range of $1,000 to $3,000."
"Buy modules on demand. If you have a four-person team and they will each automate tests only 25% of the time, it's better to buy a floating licence and share the tool during the work day."
"Overall, for us, the cost of the TestComplete platform and the three extra modules is around $8,000."
"Our ROI is about $10,000 a year."
"Once it starts generating ROI, which for us took between three and six months, one will not even think about the investment."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
8%
Government
17%
Healthcare Company
14%
Energy/Utilities Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SmartBear TestComplete?
TestComplete has strong reporting capabilities. The reports they generate are really good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SmartBear TestComplete?
I don't know much about the pricing, however, I think it's cheaper.
What needs improvement with SmartBear TestComplete?
The recording function, when using Python, could be improved, as it does not work well in recording testing.
What do you like most about Zeenyx AscentialTest?
AscentialTest's object recognition in snapshots is a robust feature that goes beyond standard elements, even accurately identifying objects within Datawindows.
What needs improvement with Zeenyx AscentialTest?
While Zeenyx AscentialTest has proven to be a valuable asset in our testing processes, there are areas where improvements could enhance the overall user experience. One notable aspect is the user i...
What is your primary use case for Zeenyx AscentialTest?
We use AscentialTest for automated testing of Powerbuilder applications via CI/CD pipeline with GitLab. We have fully integrated all tests in our CI/CD pipeline. Thanks to the integration, much wor...
 

Also Known As

No data available
AscentialTest
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cisco, J.P. Morgan, Boeing, McAfee, EMC, Intuit, and Thomson Reuters.
TJX Companies, Nuance Communications, Ericsson Inc., Transatlantic Reinsurance Company, Accenture, Nutrition Coordinating Center, Univ. of MN, iConectiv, Fortress Software, and LMP Corp.
Find out what your peers are saying about SmartBear TestComplete vs. Zeenyx AscentialTest and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.