Crowdsourced Testing

Crowdsourced testing is an emerging trend in software testing which exploits the benefits, effectiveness, and efficiency of crowdsourcing and the cloud platform.  It differs from traditional testing methods in that the testing is carried out by a number of different testers from different places, and not by hired consultants and professionals. The software is put to test under diverse realistic platforms which make it more reliable, cost-effective, fast, and bug-free.

What is Crowdsourced Testing?

Software Testing in later years has emerged as one essential element in the software development life cycle. Customers are allocating a percentage of software development finance for testing because it will increase brand value and at any cost, no customer wants brand value should be compromised because of some software bug.

When the word testing comes to our mind we think about test cases, test plans, test reports, and other software test life cycle processes, which we normally call functional testing. Now word Crowdsourced Testing or generally call Crowdsourced Testing is done before the release of software i.e. software is ready for going into production. As the term crowd i.e group of testers, users do exploratory testing of an application. Normally companies perform two types of Crowdsourced Testing.

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Who’s involved in crowdtesting?

Crowdsourced testing allows you to tap into a large, global pool of testers who are available around the clock. With a broader set of people conducting tests in a diverse range of conditions, you’re more likely to find and fix any bugs.

Crowd testers are not a replacement for in-house QA teams. However, they can be a valuable asset when it comes to enhancing existing capabilities and meeting swings in demand. In-house QA teams have invaluable product knowledge and alignment with company values and goals, which makes them an essential part of any company.

Best Crowd Testing Companies

When choosing a crowdsourced testing company for your app, you should consider the following questions.

1. Is the company have verified testers?
2. Did the company have tested your niche application before?
3. Is with the company you can perform location-based tests?
4. Know what types of devices are used by the crowd testers – simulators or real devices?
5. Who Moderate the test results?

In this guide, I’ll show you some websites where you can find freelance work testing web and mobile applications. This is a great way to earn money while doing something you’re already good at – testing apps!

Here is a list of popular crowdsourced testing service providers.

Global App Testing

Global App Testing is the go-to partner for tier 1 engineering & QA teams around the world including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Instagram, and many more. Global App Testing’s services reduce the time and effort you spend on testing, provide access to global testers for real-world results, and help to deliver much higher quality applications.

Digivante

Digivante is a crowdfunded testing company that is changing the landscape of digital quality on online platforms. By bringing high-quality digital experiences to market faster, Digivante is breaking down barriers between businesses and customers. Digivante’s human approach blends testers and tech to deliver fast and comprehensive testing that you can trust in your digital product’s future.

test IO

Testlio is a company that pioneered the idea of networked testing. Networked testing is a modern approach to crowdsourced testing, where businesses can get their software tested by a global network of experts. Testlio’s testing management platform and robust client services make it easy to get your software tested quickly and efficiently.

QA Mentor

QA Mentor has a vast network of over 12,000 testers from all corners of the globe, representing 182 countries. Every project is overseen by a dedicated project Test Coordinator, who manages testing delivery from start to finish. Its own platform is used to store test cases, and defects are used for all crowdsourcing projects to ensure easy client access.

CrowdSource Testing Vendors

A number of crowdsourcing websites are available such as below

• http://www.crowd4test.com
• http://www.crowdsourcehire.com
• http://testarmy.com
• https://mycrowd.com
• http://www.utest.com
• https://userbrain.net
• https://www.usertesting.com
• https://usabilityhub.com
• https://www.rainforestqa.com

Testers from all over the world register themselves at their respective websites. They are mostly testers, leads, etc working in the IT field and join these websites to earn some extra income. Application under test is uploaded on these websites and made available to testers for testing

Internal Crowdsourced Testing

Before the release of the application, testers from within the company on different projects come together and perform exploratory testing.

Crowd Testing Details

• In Crowdsourced Testing, the customer has a huge benefit on finance as the tester is paid not for the amount of time devoted to testing but for the total number of bugs found.
• The severity and priority of the bug also decide its payment.
• A team of crowd testers is assigned one manager to a single project to look over the testing activities and review bugs & reports.
• Crowdsourced Testing reveals a huge amount of bugs even if an application was tested by company functional testers.
• Yes, Crowdsourced Testing can also be named beta testing.
• Crowd testers not only register themselves on the crowd website for second income but also to gain knowledge to work with different teams and domains. These websites conduct knowledge sessions for their crowd testers from time to time.
• Testing is mainly done for mobile applications and games.
• An outcome of testing is gathered by feedback & bugs and shared with the customer.
• The customer really appreciates the feedback received from testers who act like real users for him. Many crowd companies share feedback in form of videos of step-by-step navigation of applications with a customer.
• Crowd testing companies charge the customer on basis of bugs found or the number of tester’s hours spend.
• Crowdsourced Testing companies pay testers on the basis of bugs found and their severity & priority.

 Benefits of Crowdsourced Testing

• Real bugs for applications are identified in Crowdsourced Testing, as the application is tested outside the company network in the real world.
• A huge number of testers can be hired for a short duration of time.
• Companies cannot be sure application is tested on all available devices & platforms. Through the crowd, customers can opt for the application which should be tested on mentioned devices & testing application is provided to only those crowd testers who are supporting those devices asked by a customer.
• Localization testing for different languages and geographic locations is possible. As crowd testers are available from around the world so the customer can avail of the benefit of localization testing at no additional cost.
• Early feedback, as an app is made available to testers as soon it is uploaded on the crowd website, testing starts. It continues 24×7 because testers are available from different time zones. So gets a big list of issues in a day or two.
• CrowdTesting is much cheaper as compared to testing done by functional testers

 Few Drawbacks of Crowdsourced Testing

• Confidentiality of application as it is shared with testers all over the world, though testers in crowd companies abide by confidential agreement still it lacks somewhere as crowd testers are working as a part-time job.
• If no bugs are found by the tester then no money is earned by a tester. Also if bugs found are trivial then the amount earned is very less
• Group discussion, and sharing info with a team of testers is a tedious job as they work in their own timings, locations, etc.
• Sometimes less initiate taken by testers as it is not their full-time job.
• Quantity is inefficient and no bugs are found

Crowd Testing is NOT a replacement for functional testing Share your comments.