Tricentis Tosca Reviews, Competitors and Pricing

Test Manager with 501-1,000 employees

Jul 22, 2015

We're able to create reusable data classes when using our test cases, and non-technical testers can automate tests with access to information.

What is most valuable?

We like the idea of reusable data classes when we are using our test cases. We work with a lot of data, and so being able to create reusable data classes is very helpful to us.

How has it helped my organization?

The primary driver for us is that it puts automation into the hands of non-technical testers. Previous programs, if you’re not a programmer, you can forget about it, but with TOSCA it’s easier to get information and start automating your own tests.

What needs improvement?

So far, all our issues have had to do with our unfamiliarity with the product.

For how long have I used the solution?

We are in a preparation phase – we haven’t seen everything yet. We purchased it about six or seven months ago, and started actively creating tests in the last six weeks.

Buyer's Guide

Tricentis Tosca

April 2024

Free Report: Tricentis Tosca Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Tricentis Tosca. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.

DOWNLOAD NOW

771,157 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and support?

Customer Service:

It's excellent, 9/10.

Technical Support:

It’s excellent, 9/10, as the response times have been quick and there haven’t been any problems.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Initial setup was straightforward. It took a little bit of juggling to get a central database set up as defaults to working in isolation, but other than that it was OK.

How was the initial setup?

We did it in-house.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

TOSCA was recommended, so we didn’t look into anything else. Our software provider said it could support their solution so we went for it. We had looked into HP UFT and Smartbear. We had used HP UFT but are fading away from them.

What other advice do I have?

Be prepared to change how you approach test automation – definitely a mindset shift. It's highly configurable so you want to make good use of that. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from Tricentis, they will get back to you. Have a good bank balance because it’s not cheap.

Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.

it_user3396Team Lead at Tata Consultancy Services

Report as inappropriate

Nov 20, 2015

Cool review

Daniel Kämena

Consultant im Testingbereich at qcentris

Jan 30, 2019

Download

Handy way to automate on a surface but modules should be made more dynamic

What is our primary use case?

Primarily test automation for webshops based on PHP code. It was satisfying as long as the GUI did not change permanently.

How has it helped my organization?

It did not improve because the GUI was not static, so it was not possible to write tests for a GUI that was in progress.

What is most valuable?

The XScan was great because it was a handy way to automate on a surface which made it very easy and simple.

What needs improvement?

It should be more flexible when using the modules; it is kind of frozen there. They should be made more dynamic.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Buyer's Guide

Tricentis Tosca

April 2024

Free Report: Tricentis Tosca Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about Tricentis Tosca. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.

DOWNLOAD NOW

771,157 professionals have used our research since 2012.

it_user511317

Associate Project Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Sep 21, 2016

Download

It uses model-based automation and does not require scripting knowledge.

What is most valuable?

There are a lot of features that I love within Tosca. To name a few:

Model-based automation
Scripting knowledge is not required
Requirement traceability
Usage of built-in aid packs

How has it helped my organization?

Before implementing Tosca, the average time that we took for completing regression was about four days. After we started using Tosca, it has been reduced to six hours.

What needs improvement?

I personally feel like the pricing is a little bit on the high end.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Tosca for almost four years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

As of now, I have not encountered any deployment issues.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not encountered any stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not encountered any scalability issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Tosca customer service is one of the best in its class.

Technical Support:

The people involved in technical support really know what they are doing. This significantly reduces the amount of time it takes the end user to find solutions.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I was using a different solution, but it required scripting knowledge, which most of my team members did not have.

What about the implementation team?

An in-house team implemented it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Pricing is a bit on the higher end.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Before choosing, we evaluated QTP, Selenium, and so on.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

gagneet

Continuous Delivery Lead at SAI Global

Aug 23, 2016

A very different experience

Overall, it is quite a different experience in using it. It does not contain any code, and builds from the requirements as a model of what the actual application will contain. The catch being that initially you do not need to define your test cases from the application end and things might not even be in sequence of what the actual final application would look like.

I have an analogy for this – a human body is composed of head, body, hands and legs. Each one has its own “attributes”, which in turn have “instances”. This is what is called the ‘Model-based approach’. Each hand will have attributes such as fingers, nails, elbow, fore-hand, wrist, etc. Then, all these attributes will have instances – long fingers, short fingers, thick fingers, etc. Now to build a body, you need to join all these “attributes” into a seamless body with the various parts working in tandem. This is what a test case would look like in TOSCA. With the initial parts of the body being the Test Case Design part. The joining together of the parts being the test case and the final infusion of blood being the execution and reporting [have not used Frankenstein here, as TOSCA tends to create a human rather than it’s alternate :-)]

TOSCA takes its roots in Object Oriented Modelling, employing concepts such as separation of concerns and encapsulation. In TOSCA, you can create classes, attributes and instances (objects). This modular breakdown makes the understanding and management of the actual requirements fairly simple; without going into how the final system under test would look like. I find this a very cool thing; although it took me some time to understand the concept in relation to the current bombardment of the existing Test Frameworks and Tools.

Again, the interface has a very intuitive design, which can be modelled according to the needs and quirks of the person working with it. People might argue here, that it is the same with Eclipse and other such tools like MS Visual Studio Test Professional, but the concept is totally different with TOSCA. You have the drag & drop capabilities, combined with a good integration across all the functionality provided from putting in the requirements to the final reporting; all in a single interface and tool, with support from a dedicated and technical team to get over the initial hiccups of using it.

The next good part, I found, was its capability to extend its technology adaptors (adaptors are used to automate tests against systems developed in various technologies, such as HTML, Java, .NET, Mainframe, Web Services, etc.) using the ubiquitous and simple VBScript and VBA; which is prevalent as the development language of choice in the Testing Community. I found this quite interesting, as we can now easily use TOSCA with almost any system, which we can code to make the underlying adaptor understand. For example, we had a hybrid mainframe green screen application to test (a rich Java GUI with an embedded mainframe emulator), which after a week’s work was ready to be tested with TOSCA; I have not come across such quick development cycles with other tools I worked with/on. That said, TOSCA has the capability to extend itself to different backend databases with the ease of just creating a simple module for it and using that module throughout your test cases to create a connection and then run your customized SQL queries.

If you start from the Requirement Definitions part, you can easily put in your current requirements and provide a measure of weight-age for each.

Then comes the part where you can extremely easily define the actions you can do on the objects which form your test cases. TOSCA by default defines 6 such actions – Do Nothing, Input, Output, Buffer, Verify and WaitOn, which take care of how a particular attribute defined earlier in the Test Design is taken action on.

TOSCA has been promoted by Tricentis in Australia for the past 3+ years now and has risen from being an unknown tool in the ANZ markets to now in the 2nd position after the ever prevalent QTP (although under HP’s banner, it has undergone a lot of iterations and name changes also now). Tricentis has used the MBT principles to create TOSCA as an easy to use and implement tool. It allows the test team to concentrate on creating the actual workflow of the application, from the ‘artifacts’ provided in the initial ‘Requirement’ and ‘Test Case Design’ sections. From then, it is a simple case of either matching these test workflows with the appropriate screen objects (‘Modules’), or running them manually [yes, you can run 'Test Case' created in TOSCA as manual or automated tests]. TOSCA provides a section for ‘Reports’, which is in PDF format or from the ‘Requirement’ tab, which provides an overview of what has been created, what is automated and what has passed/failed. The ‘Execution List’ tab provides a simplistic way to define the different ways (and environments) in which you can run your test cases.

As I wrote in my previously, TOSCA should be started from the Requirements of the application, where the application is broken into workflows and each is assigned a weight-age This provides the base for creating the test cases in our ‘Test Case Design’ section.

The ‘Test Case Design’ is the interesting part (and claimed by Tricentis, as not being used by any other tool, as yet). Here you need to dissect the requirements and application to create each attribute and assign its relevant ‘equivalence partitioning‘. Sometimes this may not be necessary and the TCD acts like a data sheet for the test team.

For most automation tools, you begin with the application and then match it with the requirements. TOSCA wants you to start from the requirements and build it to the actual tests. Then you add in the actual application and you are on the way to creating a well thought out automation or manual test practice.

With TOSCA v9.x, a new Cross-Browser testing concept called TBox has become the mainstay of the Standard and new modules to be created, giving users a great amount of flexibility. This allows you to create a ‘Module’ in one of the main browsers, and be used across IE, Chrome and FF.

Also, the Wizard has improved tremendously and has become a single point for different types os applications. It is now fairly easy to use the Wizard to dientify and open a Browser or a Desktop application and scan it quickly with good identification of the objects on the screen.

The only irritation that I find, is the change of the Context Menu (right-click), where an irritating feature of having additional (basic) features of the Right-Click being put as a small pic above the actual right-click context menu, where is it not noticeable properly and most of the time you are confused and looking for where those options went.

Another new feature that has been added to v9.3 is the Analytics Web Interface, which allows the Management or the Team to check the status of the Tests created and executed. Also introduced is a new REST API, which can be extended to connect directly to the Multi-User Repository and allow it to be accessed using the Web Interface.

A tighter integration with Agile tools like JIRA and TeamCity has also been introduced as a plug-in.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

Ashwin MorSenior Software Engineer at Tech Mahindra

Report as inappropriate

Sep 30, 2015

Hi Gagneet. I really appreciate the above information you have provided on Tosca TestSuite. I feel it would really help people know about the tool. Very well written.

it_user318909

Senior Consultant at a engineering company with 501-1,000 employees

Sep 30, 2015

Download

Using the TCD, subject-matter experts are able to perform systematic reviews of Testcases and we can then run regression tests.

What is most valuable?

Testcase design is most valuable, as it has helped in 2 different aspects. Storing the test data in one place, and deciding how many test cases are needed for a given scenario using one of the inbuilt algorithms, thereby ensuring the test coverage.

How has it helped my organization?

We used the TCD (red folder to design the test flow), and it was easy to get the tests reviewed by the subject-matter experts as it allowed systematic review of Testcases. Once it was OKd by the SME, we could confidently run the tests for regression.

What needs improvement?

Most of us have had the complaint that loop statements are missing, without which testing in reality was difficult, as many times Test scenarios needed to be run in iteration and version 8.4 has included this feature.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

When I did work with v7.4, I often noticed that the Tosca executor abruptly hung and only way out was to kill the process. But this has been drastically improved in the later versions.

How are customer service and technical support?

I would rate 3/5 as there is not much knowledge base available on the internet for one to independently solve the issues encountered, which is easily available and in abundance for other tools like QTP.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously (for six years) used QTP, and the client chose to have only Tosca for test automation as the license costs were lower compared to the HP tools.

How was the initial setup?

The initial set up was complex as we had always used keywords and integrated Excel, pdf and word documents for storing Test evidence, it was difficult to achieve the same standard of Test evidence with Tosca. Not having the flexibility to code was posing a problem in the initial days.

What about the implementation team?

The tool was always installed by a dedicated team from the vendor as we had not had an opportunity to know in detail how the installation worked.

What was our ROI?

ROI has been pretty high, but only in comparison to the tools we had from HP earlier. However, maintenance costs, and not having Tosca experts available, are the factors that have adversely affected the ROI in some cases.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise that, if one needs to install Tosca for test automation, always go for the latest version, as Tricentis is implemeting all the user feedbacks genuinely in their tools and it is evolving and has a great potential.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are a strategic vendor.

it_user330465Team Lead 1st Level Support at Tricentis

Report as inappropriate

Oct 20, 2015

Hi SnrConsultant909,

as part of the Tricentis Support Team I’m very glad to hear that Tosca leads to a benefit in your company.
I want to thank you for the feedback about our Knowledgebase. We highly appreciate the activity of our Customers and Partners in our support portal. Enlarging our Knowledgebase is a main goal to knowledge centered services and we are continuously doing so!
However if there is anything you can’t find in our Knowledgebase or in our Documentation, I want to encourage you to get in contact with our support team via Chat, Phone or via our Support Portal. We are available 24/5 and we are very happy to find a solution for your inquiry!
best regards, Roland

it_user305517

Head of Test Automation at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Sep 30, 2015

Download

It allows us to scale up test automation teams without the need for scripting/coding skills, though we'd recommend a POC to ensure the solution works for a particular system.

What is most valuable?

Test cases design
Model based test automation

How has it helped my organization?

From a services perspective, it allows us to scale up test automation teams very quickly, because test analysts can contribute to the test automation effort without the need for scripting/coding skills.

From our clients perspective (e.g. large banks, government organisations etc.), it has allowed them to decrease their total execution effort, improve their time to market, and increase their total risk coverage.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it for three years.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

Customer service is very good. The online chat has extremely quick response times (average of 10s wait), and the staff are knowledgeable.

Technical Support:

Technical support, is very good. The online chat has extremely quick response times (average of 10s wait), and the staff are knowledgeable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The Test Automation team at TTC use many other test automation tools/solutions, and have chosen Tosca as our preferred tool because of it's unique model based approach to test automation. We have found this approach to have many benefits including; ease of use, extendability, robustness, maintainability and scalability.

How was the initial setup?

The initial set up and install for Tosca is very straightforward. The client install takes less than an hour, and the only other components required are a license server, and a database. If the right people are available (e.g. System Administrator and DataBase Administrator) then the full infrastructure can be set up on day one.

What was our ROI?

Generally we see our clients achieve positive ROI within one to three years. This is along with other non-financial benefits which can be achieved immediately e.g. decreased execution time.

What other advice do I have?

We would always advise customers to have experts involved during a test automation implementation. Generally, we recommend conducting a POC to prove that the solution works technically for your systems, then we recommend a pilot project, to prove that the business benefits can be realized, and to provide experience about the product. Along with the POC and the pilot, a portfolio analysis should also be conducted to determine which test suites should be automated.

Expert consultants, like our test automation specialists, should conduct the POC and be heavily involved in the pilot. With an ongoing involvement during subsequent projects, and can also be brought in to supplement the team.

Try the Tosca Udemy course and download a trial to get a feel for Tosca as a product. Then, reach out to the local Tricentis Partner or the Tricentis Services Team for help with a POC and ongoing Tosca implementation. Ask for case studies and reference sites from any consultancy company when implementing any test automation tool. These case studies/references should ideally be local and tool specific. Expertise in other tools doesn't always translate to successful implementation in another.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We're partners.

Ulrich Becker

QA at proalpha business solutions gmbh

Dec 8, 2019

Download

Good performance and easy to use for designing and maintaining test cases

Pros and Cons

"This solution is easy to use for everybody, including those who are not IT-educated."

"I would like to be able to manage different projects in one repository or have better data exchange between repositories."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is UI-based regression tests on Microsoft Windows.

How has it helped my organization?

Compared to the old tools, WinRunner and TestDirector by Mercury Interactive, it accelerated building, performing, and maintaining regression tests by a factor of approximately ten times.

What is most valuable?

This solution is easy to use for everybody, including those who are not IT-educated.

It allows for effective test management and an effective test case design.

The most valuable features are:

Non-scripting test case building
Test cases are easy to maintain
Very good test case design module
All of the features are well integrated into the suite

What needs improvement?

I would like to be able to manage different projects in one repository or have better data exchange between repositories.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Tricentis Tosca for ten years.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to this solution, we used WinRunner and TestDirector by Mercury Interactive.

The performance with Tricentis Tosca is better.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

gagneet

Continuous Delivery Lead at SAI Global

Aug 27, 2017

I would recommend it to a team which does not have much reliance on technical testers but more with business testers

Pros and Cons

"Good use in Agile workshops, where the person needs to conceptualize the tests before the developer provides the complete application interface."

"Might have a learning curve, as it does not follow the traditional Record-Play functionality, but tests have to be built from requirements or Agile story cards."

a) It is a good tool for use by Business

b) It requires an initial framework / artifacts to be built by a person who is technical and can understand testing an application in-depth.

i) He has to be a person who can create the modules and also do some technical coding using VB and/or Java & C#

ii) He has to have a background of working with Excel and Math functions, so that he can create the relevant queries and use the in-built TQL language to create the required reports and search + merge duplicates.

c) Good use in Agile workshops, where the person needs to conceptualize the tests before the developer provides the complete application interface.

i) Has an integrated Requirements module, which integrates and creates a good report tool for senior management to use and get the progress and coverage of the work being implemented.

ii) Test Case Design is a unique concept to TOSCA, created through their Linear Q method and the Orthogonal method, to provide a self-sufficient way to reduce your tests and increase your coverage of testing.

d) It is as yet to become mature enough, and has a few quirks, but a very responsive and well trained (technically and customer oriented) Support Technical Team, that can cater for and provide you with updated information and solutions for the issues you encounter.

e) Might have a learning curve, as it does not follow the traditional Record-Play functionality, but tests have to be built from requirements or Agile story cards.

f) Current version also has graphs for the Test Case and Test Design workflow.

g) A plug-in has been developed, which allows for the tool to do Database Reconciliation for BI data migration tables. Also has a framework for recognizing and addressing the Cognos UI interface.

h) Updated with a Tableau plug-in also, which allows the users to check data in Database and the Tableau UI.

i) Integration with JIRA and TeamCity is also available out of the box with the new v9.3 REST API and "TOSCA CI Professional" license. You can configure it to allow multiple machines to connect and run the same.

j) New v9.3 contains the Analytics Web interface, which allows the Management to have a look at the Execution Status and related tests in a Web Interface and graphical manner. Integrated with the product and minimal configuration on it.

k) Version 10.x added an Exploratory Testing Server also, which allows the Business Users to add Workflow Scenarios while they are using the actual application, and this is recorded as Test Steps in a central repository to be later converted into Tests.

l) From version 10.2, a new licensing model has been added, where the user has to login and create an account for managing licenses online on the Support.Tricentis portal and/or the Cloud portal licenses.

Overall I would recommend it to a team which does not have much reliance on technical testers but more with business testers who can create the tests on the fly, as they know what to expect out of the application. That said, it does require a good technical background also to initially set it up and provide a base from where the business test team can take it up and easily maintain it.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.