Top 4 Benefits of Automated API Testing

The following contribution is from another author.

Because of customer orientation, the structure of software these days has drastically changed. There are already countless applications and software that are downloadable on mobile and web browsers, allowing users to get access to their services at any time. Furthermore, these apps are not self-contained anymore; They are already made up of many service components, which are linked together at runtime.

One of the ways developers ensure the quality of applications is through API testing tools. They have advanced technology that allows software creators to provide quality products and services to users worldwide.

But why is API testing so important? And can it help developers deliver better software?

Let’s find out!

What is API Testing?

API or Application Programming Interface testing is a method of testing software that helps specialists detect potential errors and fix them before the users notice any issues. Using an API testing tool, you can evaluate whether or not an application will meet your requirements in terms of reliability, functionality, security, and overall performance. It will determine if the APIs will return the right response to test suites like failures, perform accordingly in a fair amount of time, and securely respond to possible security attacks.

However, unlike other testing procedures such as functional testing, API testing interfaces directly with the app as part of the integration, and since it has no GUI, API testing is performed at the communication protocol called message layer.

Advantages of Conducting Automated API Tests

If you are new testing or software development industry, API testing is one of the crucial parts of software testing, especially if you really want to achieve automation success. To provide you with a few ideas, here are the main advantages of API testing automation.

1.    Improve Test Coverage

Usually, companies conduct API testing to check the software’s functionality based on their business logic. But unlike unit tests, automated API testing has improved test coverage, and your choices of API tests are broad. You can apply the following:

●      Integration Testing

Because API is the core of most integrations in services, integration testing is one of the most commonly used types of API testing. It detects errors in the interactions between systems and programs. 

●      Functional Testing

This type of API testing evaluates if the software application meets its functional requirements and performs accordingly.

●      Load Testing

People tend to exit apps when they take a lot of time to load. Load testing is used to determine if a certain software performs fast enough, even when many people use it at the same time.

●      Security Testing

Security testing is a type of testing that detects any vulnerability of the software in terms of its security. It is one of the most critical stages of testing apps, as security failure can lead to data loss, identity theft, and other types of cyberattacks.

2.    Reduce Testing Costs

Conducting an automated API test can significantly reduce your testing costs. It will lessen the required resources, such as manual work and expenses for defining, updating, and executing your test plan.

Since API testing can detect risks at early stages, it will also reduce your chance of potential technical costs from future software issues, such as having to invest in bigger repairs, as well as paying for more expensive customer support. Remember, it’s better to diagnose errors immediately and work on a fix early than deal with more complicated issues after releasing your software product.

3.    Increase Efficiency

Unlike other testing types, automated API testing needs less time and effort, and it won’t demand you to start from scratch. API testing tools promote a building block that automatically generates sets of test commands and they can leverage the testing technology to deliver quality software.

4.    Program Freely

API testing has no attachment to programming languages. It exchanges data through XML or JSON formats, meaning you can use any programming language that supports them.

In Conclusion

API testing is an integral aspect of testing success. It has to be extensive and automated to simplify the regression and integration testing whenever there are new changes to make the software reliable and successful. Just like getting the best affiliate programs to help businesses achieve their sales goals, API testing is also essential to ensure your set goals for the product or service you want to launch is achievable.

Now that you have learned the key benefits of automated API testing, it’s time to conduct your own tests and see how this testing method can help you achieve your goals.