Companies across the world are now adopting a microservices model for the software applications they use. It means that they are having separate datastores for different sections of applications along with having separate commands to interact with these datastores. While this might seem like a convoluted idea at first, microservices have gotten appealing to software providers as they allow different components of the software to be deployed quickly.
It also means that when one area of an application is updated, the other areas can continue to function. This mechanism is what allows users to have the software ready whenever they want it, with the model ensuring that no application will be down for maintenance when it needs to be used.
Most of the microservices today are using API testing solutions as they allow the tester to find any bugs earlier on in the development process. Often as early as before the UI has even been created. These API tests allow the tester to make requests that may not be allowed through the UI, making it extremely crucial to expose any potential security flaws in the application.
Identifying the Market Trends for API Testing
Google Trends had earlier predicted that API Testing will see a meteoric rise from 2016.
According to Data Bridge Market Research, for the period of 2021-28, the CAGR for the API testing market is expected to be at 19.9%, reaching USD 3265 million. This is particularly relevant in the developed markets including the likes of the US, Japan, Europe and China, with markets like India soon following suit.
India’s next-door neighbour, China has the potential to grow its API testing market by 24.9% over the coming few years to add approx. USD 335.9 million.
But why testing APIs is different from testing other parts of a software product?
APIs or Application Programming Interfaces are nothing but a set of commands that bring two or more software systems to communicate or exchange data. The emergence and use of APIs have made it easy to integrate different products together and have also made creating entirely new application models possible. When it comes to QA, API tests are different from the tests that are conducted on other parts of a software product simply because they operate on the business layer instead of the presentation layer. This translates into less variance in output and input, ensuring the users don’t have to face this. Thanks to this, the ultimate goal of every QA team is to reach 100% API coverage, where one can test all integrations with a single click in the test suite at any moment.
Why API testing is important?
Automated testing in the world of software development is a complicated subject with its importance quite ignored or underestimated. However, its value becomes apparent when it comes to testing large scale massive products that have numerous integrations or have frequent releases. The importance of API testing solutions can be listed down as:
- Provides a single testing iteration while providing multiple platform assurances
- To reduce the probabilities of defect detection at a later stage
- Reducing overall cost for testing
- Making the entire testing process time-efficient
Exploring the benefits of API Testing
Smart companies of today make use of API testing solutions in both production and staging environments to ensure that the framework meets the required specifications. It also helps identify early issues and is completely different from UI testing. The core benefits of API testing solutions include:
- Improved test coverage
Contrary to unit tests, API testing solutions have a broader scope and detail. Though the unit tests are focused on the limited functionality of different components within a single application, API tests look at the problems that arise at the intersection where one layer’s scope ends and the other one begins. API testing solutions help uncover defects in servers, databases and interfaces improving the holistic quality. - Greater test stability
Every software application goes through a series of different tests with most of them accommodating new requests from users and stakeholders, but nothing is as stable as an API test. API test solutions also come with detailed documentation, with all changes being reflected there to help the engineers adjust their test suites. Moreover, with its stability, API tests are also easier to maintain. - Technology independent
API tests are language independent. This means that the QA team has the freedom to choose the language of their choice that supports the technologies.
Types of API Testing
Owing to the holistic nature of API testing solutions, there are numerous types of API testing. These include:
- Load testing
- Performance testing
- Security testing
- Web UI testing
- Runtime error detection
- Fuzz tests
- Interoperability testing
- Security testing
- Penetration testing
Why QATTS for API Testing?
While there are numerous API testing solutions, QATTS is committed to simplifying test automation. Driven by the singular focus of providing an effective and easy to use test automation solution for digital products, QATTS ensures its products are reliable, simple and smart. Keeping even the novice testers in mind, the API testing solutions from QATTS empowers product owners and testers to use test automation as a replacement for their mundane, repetitive tasks without worrying about the infrastructure or automation capabilities. Offering the world’s first 100% cloud-based test automation as a service, QATTS with its impeccable performance can handle even the toughest automation challenges while empowering companies to build great products.
Conclusion
API testing solutions bring myriad benefits to the users. It allows users to test early, ensuring the tests can be built to validate the accuracy of data and responses. If an API test fails, it also helps users know in advance where things went wrong. This helps companies in reducing the time to market by clearing up all the discrepancies in integrations and APIs. Owing to its importance and innumerable benefits, API testing solutions have become indispensable in today’s day and age.
