Difference Between UAT vs E2E Testing (2024)

FAQs

Difference Between UAT vs E2E Testing? ›

UAT focuses on making sure the software meets the needs of its users, while E2E testing looks at how all the different parts of the software work together. By using both UAT and E2E testing, we can catch any issues before the software goes live and ensure a smooth user experience.

What is E2E vs UAT testing? E2E testing focuses on testing the application's components and systems, while UAT focuses on testing the application's usability and suitability for end-users.

Integration testing concentrates on the interaction between different software modules or components. It ensures that these modules or components can communicate with each other and exchange data correctly. End-to-end testing, on the other hand, focuses on the whole software system from start to finish.

Usability testing tells us about user behaviour, user pain points, user feedback, user suggestions while they interact with a product or service, while User Acceptance Testing focusses on the entire functionality of the software application.

Comparing UI and E2E Testing

UI Testing is narrower in scope, focusing on the user's interaction with the application's interface. It verifies all possible user actions, including error handling and input validation. E2E Testing has a broader scope, covering the entire application workflow.

Unit testing is a testing strategy where we test individual units of the application code. In end-to-end testing, the tester tests the entire application from the user's point of view. We can do this by simulating the common tasks performed by the user. There are different types of bugs that users can encounter.

Component tests focus on testing individual components of an application in isolation, while Cypress E2E tests test the application as a whole, including all its components and their interactions.

End-to-end testing verifies that all components of a system can run under real-world scenarios. The goal of this form of testing is to simulate a user experience from start to finish. E2E testing can find software dependencies while also validating the system under test, its data integrity and integrations.

SIT testing objectives cover aspects such as data integrity, error handling, interface compatibility, performance optimization, and security compliance. UAT testing objectives are more business-oriented and high-level, and they aim to ensure that the system meets the user's needs and expectations.

What are the cons of E2E testing? ›

The Cons of E2E testing

This test pyramid approach needs to be modified for testing microservices. E2E tests need to be completely dropped. Apart from taking a long time to build and maintain, E2E tests execute complete user-flows every time on the entire application, with every test.

End-to-end testing covers verification of your entire software application from start to finish. E2e tests include all the systems, components, and integrations involved in the application's workflow. Integration testing covers the interaction between different software modules or components.

UAT helps catch any issues related to user needs and usability, while E2E testing ensures that all components of the software function correctly together, ultimately leading to a smoother user experience and higher software quality.

Summary: Unit Testing vs End-to-End

Unit tests focus on individual code units, aiding in early bug detection and code quality. On the other hand, end-to-end tests validate the entire application from the user's perspective, ensuring correct functionality and business requirements.

System testing and end-to-end testing go hand-in-hand and are sometimes considered the same as both are performed to test the application behaviour. However, both vary in the purpose and metrics of testing. Read more on E2E Testing.

Component testing examines use cases, so it could be considered a form of end-to-end (E2E) testing. End-to-end testing and component testing replicate real-life scenarios and test the system against those scenarios from a user's perspective.

Functional requirements define what the software does and what tasks it solves. End-To-End testing is testing of some functionality of the product through the whole chain of its execution: from initiating the client's actions through interconnected systems of our product to providing the client with the result.

What is the difference between performance testing and end-to-end testing? ›

The End-to-End of the Line

Unlike typical performance tests, E2E testing looks at actual user workflows in the browser and API to paint an extremely accurate picture. The key is having the right testing tools in place to easily build and maintain these types of tests.

Unit and end-to-end testing are important software testing techniques with different objectives. Unit testing focuses on individual code components and verifies their isolated functionality, while end-to-end testing evaluates the entire application flow from a user perspective to ensure that it works as intended.

Black box tests (e.g., end-to-end testing or acceptance testing) can validate whether the application works as the user expects it.

Automated end-to-end testing is a software development method. It relies on using software automated testing tools to perform test cases. E2E test automation is a process that helps businesses ensure their applications and services are meeting quality standards from start to finish.

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and System Integration Testing (SIT) are two great examples to dive in deeper and review. UAT represents testing whether an application meets the business need whereas SIT represents the testing of an application to ensure it meets its engineering specifications.

One of the best practices to transition from UAT to production is to deploy the product gradually. This means releasing the product in phases, segments, or batches, rather than all at once. This allows you to monitor and evaluate the product performance, user feedback, and business impact in real time.

QA activities precede UAT but both are essential parts of the development process. UAT has other names, e.g., end-user testing, operational, application, beta testing, or validation but they describe the same thing.

The result of a UT of the screen could "pass" in that users are able to easily navigate through the workflow. But the UAT might fail because the workflow doesn't end in a valid state per the requirements. Generally UT would be at the beginning of the project, and UAT would be at the end.