Things go wrong. Their value lies in being there when you need them, not installing them and waiting for the right moment. Bug tracking is an excellent method for ensuring that your organization is able to fulfill its customer’s needs as effectively as possible. But what are some of the best bug tracking tools? Let’s find out!
You won’t find a better bug tracking tool than the one you use. So what are bug tracking tools? They are tools that help you track your bugs and improve your software, among other things. When it comes time to choose one, you’ll want to pick carefully. Here are my top 5 bug tracking tools to help you learn more about what are bug tracking tools, how they work, and which tool is best for you.
What is bug tracking?
Bug tracking is the process of logging and monitoring bugs or errors during software testing. It is also referred to as defect tracking or issue tracking. Large systems may have hundreds or thousands of defects. Each needs to be evaluated, monitored and prioritized for debugging. In some cases, bugs may need to be tracked over a long period of time.
“Defect tracking is an important process in software engineering, as complex and business critical systems have hundreds of defects,” says Tutorials Point. “One of the challenging factors is managing, evaluating and prioritizing these defects. The number of defects gets multiplied over a period of time and to effectively manage them, a defect tracking system is used to make the job easier.”
How bug tracking works
A software bug occurs when an application or program doesn’t work the way it is designed to function. Most errors are faults or mistakes made by system architects, designers or developers. Testing teams use bug tracking to monitor and report on errors that occur as an application is developed and tested.
“A major component of a bug tracking system is a database that records facts about known bugs,” says Wikipedia. “Facts may include the time a bug was reported, its severity, the erroneous program behavior and details on how to reproduce the bug; as well as the identity of the person who reported it and any programmers who may be fixing it.”
Instabug
Product Name: Instabug
Overview
Instabug gives mobile devs instant access to user feedback and generates detailed, in-depth bug and crash reports for your apps. Instabug presents the conditions surrounding a bug or crash in a straightforward, transparent way. This makes Instabug an attractive choice for devs who would prefer to read crash data and user feedback as opposed to watching video.
Free option
- Instabug’s free plan grants basic bug feedback and reporting to one member and one app, with a month of data retention and up to a million sessions per month.
Paid option
- The Essential plan adds crash reporting, debugging logs, and basic integrations for four members and two apps, with three months of data retention for $124/month.
- The Team plan adds in-app chats and surveys, feature requests, analytics, and advanced integrations for four members and two apps, with six months of data retention for $249/month.
- The Business plan adds assisted onboarding, API access, and custom reports for four members and two apps, with 12 months of data retention for $499/month.
- The Enterprise plan is custom-priced upon contact, and includes the full feature set for an unlimited number of members and apps, with unlimited data retention and unlimited sessions.
Features
- In-app user feedback
- One month default data retention
- Detailed bug and crash reports
Katalon TestOps
Katalon TestOps is a free, powerful orchestration platform that helps with your bug tracking process. TestOps gives testing and DevOps teams a clear, connected picture of their tests, resources, and environments to run the right test, in the right environment, at the right time.
- Deployable on Cloud, Desktop: Window and Linux system.
- Compatible with almost all testing frameworks available: Jasmine, JUnit, Pytest, Mocha, etc; CI/CD tools: Jenkins, CircleCI, and management platforms: Jira, Slack.
- Real-time data tracking for fast, accurate debugging.
- Live and comprehensive reports on test execution to identify root causes of any issues.
- Plan efficiently with Smart Scheduling to optimize the test cycle while maintaining high quality.
- Evaluate release readiness to boost release confidence.
- Enhance collaboration and increase transparency through comments, dashboards, KPI tracking, actionable insights – all in one place.
- Streamlined result collection and analysis through robust failure analysis across any framework.
Bugsee
Product Name: Bugsee
Overview
Bugsee is a bug and crash reporting tool for iOS and Android apps. It locally records everything that your app is doing—that way, when a bug occurs, the circumstances that led to it have already been recorded. The recording includes video of users’ actions and touches, all network traffic, console logs, and more.
Free option
- The Lite Version retains all tracking data for three days and runs on up to five unique devices per month for free.
Paid option
- The Pro Version grants priority support, retains all tracking data for 30 days, and runs on up to 100 unique devices per month for $99/month (paid annually).
- The Custom option grants premium support, unlimited data retention and a custom amount of supported devices. Custom pricing is available on contact.
Features
- In-app video-recorded bug reporting
- No limit on number of apps and team members
- Bug tracking and chat integrations
- Crash reporting and analytics
- Custom traces/attachments
Kualitee
Kualitee is for development and QA teams who are looking beyond just assigning and tracking bugs. It lets you build high-quality software through lesser bugs, faster QA cycles, and overall better control over your builds.
The comprehensive suite includes all the functionalities of a good defect management tool and also has test case and test execution workflows built seamlessly into it. You wouldn’t have to mix and match different tools; instead, you can manage all your testing from one place.
Features:
- Create, assign, and track defects
- Traceability between defects, requirements, and tests
- Easily reusable defects, test cases, and test cycles
- Customizable permissions, fields, and reporting
- Interactive and insightful dashboard
- Third-party integrations and REST API’s
- Intuitive and user-friendly interface
Pricing: It starts at $15/user/month. Kualitee also offers a free 7-day trial.
Sentry
Product Name: Sentry
Overview
Sentry is an open-source, multi-language bug tracking tool that generally avoids the use of user reports in favor of comprehensive full stack monitoring. It touts itself as the antithesis to vague, unhelpful, and slow user feedback. While front-end user reports are still included as an optional feature, Sentry insists on its ability to help devs find and fix bugs before users notice a problem.
Free option
- The free Developer option for personal projects and early-stage applications features real-time bug tracking, intelligent deduplication, and support for every language.
Paid option
- The Team option allows for unlimited users and projects, starting at $26/month billed annually for monthly event volumes of 100,000.
- The Business option grants more control over resolution workflow and deeper insight into relevant events, starting at $80/month billed annually for monthly event volumes of 100,000.
Features
- Enhanced stack tracing
- Custom queries
- Full stack error monitoring
- Data visualization
Conclusion:
Bug tracking systems are there to monitor issues with your website or web applications. When an issue arises, the tracker is used to document it. This way, you can prioritize what needs to be fixed first. Analyzing bugs will also help you identify potential problems before they impact your users. While you can use free tools to monitor issues on your website, there are also advanced bug trackers that offer advanced features. These advanced bug trackers are pricier than most of the ones available online but are still not too expensive for small businesses and individuals needing more features.