Katalon Platform is an automation testing software tool developed by Katalon, Inc. The software is built on top of the open-source automation frameworks Selenium, Appium with a specialized IDE interface for web, API, mobile and desktop application testing.^[1] Its initial release for internal use was in January 2015. Its first public release was in September 2016. In 2018, the software acquired 9% of market penetration for UI test automation, according to The State of Testing 2018 Report by SmartBear.^[2]

Katalon is recognized as a March 2019 and March 2020 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Software Test Automation.^{[3] [4]}

Katalon Platform provides a dual interchangeable interface for creating test cases: a manual view for the less technical users and a script view gearing toward experienced testers to author automation tests with syntax highlight and intelligent code completion.^[5]

Katalon Platform follows the Page Object Model pattern.^[6] GUI elements on web, mobile, and desktop apps can be captured using the recording utility and stored into the Object Repository, which is accessible and reusable across different test cases.

Test cases can be structured using test suites with environment variables. Test execution can be parameterized and parallelized using profiles.

Remote execution in Katalon Platform can be triggered by CI systems via Docker container or command line interface (CLI).^[7]

From version 7.4.0, users are able to execute test cases from Selenium projects,^[8] along with the previous migration from TestNG and JUnit to Katalon Platform.

In version 7.8, users can save team effort while debugging with smart troubleshooting approaches offered via highlight features: Time Capsule,^[9] Browser-based Video Recorder,^[10] Self-healing^[11] and Test Failure Snapshots.^[12]

Provided in the latest version 8.4.0 is the native integration with Azure DevOps (ADO) which enables users to easily map test cases in Azure DevOps to automated test cases in Katalon Platform.^[13] Additionally, this new integration will allow users to automatically send test execution logs and reports from Katalon Platform to test run in ADO, which will enable them to get a clearer picture of the testing process. Other highlight features offered in this version are reusable desired capabilities across projects, 60% faster load time to speed up team working process, a newly-made product tour to enhance user experience and so on.

The test automation framework provided within Katalon Platform was developed with the keyword-driven approach as the primary test authoring method with data-driven functionality for test execution.^[5]

The user interface is a complete integrated development environment (IDE) implemented on Eclipse rich client platform (RCP).^[5]

The keyword libraries are a composition of common actions for web, API, and mobile testings. External libraries written in Java can be imported into a project to be used as native functions.^[14]

The main programming language used in Katalon Platform are Groovy and Java.^[15][16] Katalon Platform supports cross-environment test executions based on Selenium and Appium.^[17]

Supported technologies

• Modern web technologies: HTML,^[18] HTML5, JavaScript,^[19] Ajax,^[20] Angular^[21]
• Windows desktop apps platforms:^[22] Universal Windows Platform (UWP), Windows Forms (WinForms), Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), and Classic Windows (Win32)
• Cross-browser testing: Firefox, Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer (9,10,11), Safari, headless browsers^[23]
• Mobile apps: Android and iOS (Native apps and mobile web apps)^[24]
• Web services: RESTful and SOAP^[25]

System requirements

Operating systems: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, macOS 10.11+, Linux (Ubuntu-based)^[26]

Katalon Platform started out as Freeware. In October 2019, Katalon introduced a new product set with proprietary licenses in its seventh release.^[27] The new products and licenses include, including Katalon Platform (Free), Katalon Platform Enterprise, and Katalon Runtime Engine, so that teams and projects of various complexities can have a flexible allocation on budget, licensing, and scalability.^[28] Several features that were previously free were moved to the Katalon Platform Enterprise license.^[29]

Katalon Store serves as a platform for testers and developers to install add-on products (or ‘plugins’) and add more features and optimize test automation strategies in Katalon Platform. Users can install, manage, rate, and write reviews for plugins.^[40]

In Katalon Store, plugins are made available in 3 main categories: Integration, Custom Keywords, and Utilities. Katalon Store also allows users to build and submit their own plugins.^[41]

Katalon Platform can be integrated with other software products,^[42] including:

• Software development life cycle (SDLC) management: Jira,^[43] TestRail,^[44] qTest,^[45] and TestLink
• CI/CD integration: Jenkins,^[46] Bamboo,^[47] TeamCity,^[48] CircleCI, Azure DevOps,^[49] and Travis CI
• Team collaboration: Git, Slack,^[50] and Microsoft Teams^[51]
• Execution platform support: Selenium, BrowserStack,^[52] SauceLabs,^[53] LambdaTest,^[54] and Kobiton^[55]
• Visual testing: Applitools^[56]

• Selenium (software)
• Appium
• Test automation
• GUI software testing
• Comparison of GUI testing tools
• List of GUI testing tools
• List of web testing tools