Bug tracking tools are used to keep track of errors, issues, and problems with a website. When there is a problem with the program, the developer will create a bug ticket to represent the problem they are troubleshooting. There are many bug tracking tools out there that can be used for free or for a fee. Today, blog post talks about free bug tracking tools.
What are bug tracking tools? You might wonder. You’ll learn that here. But you will also learn more than just what are bug tracking tools. You will also discover what is the best bug tracking tools for your project, and how to use it effectively. This blog post is exactly what you need if you want to correctly track your website mistakes, errors and bugs. So read on, this one’s for you!
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.” 1
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.” 2
During its lifetime, a single defect may go through several stages or states. They include:
- Active: Investigation is underway
- Test: Fixed and ready for testing
- Verified: Retested and verified by quality assurance (QA)
- Closed: Can be closed after QA retesting or if it is not considered to be a defect
- Reopened: Not fixed and reactivated 3
Bugs are managed based on priority and severity. Severity levels help to identify the relative impact of a problem on a product release. These classifications may vary in number, but they generally include some form of the following:
- Catastrophic: Causes total failure of the software or unrecoverable data loss. There is no workaround and the product can’t be released.
- Impaired functionality: A workaround may exist, but it is unsatisfactory. The software can’t be released.
- Failure of non-critical systems: A reasonably satisfactory workaround exists. The product may be released, if the bug is documented.
- Very minor: There is a workaround, or the issue can be ignored. It does not impact a product release.
In most cases, states and severity levels are monitored in a bug tracking database. A good tracking platform also ties into larger software development and management systems: the better to assess error status and the potential impact on overall production and timelines.
Some bug tracking tools include;
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.
BugHerd
BugHerd is the easiest way to track bugs, gather and manage feedback for web pages. Your team and clients pin feedback to elements on a web page, for precise locating of issues.
BugHerd also captures the information you need to replicate and resolve bugs fast, such as the browser, CSS selector data, operating system, and even a screenshot.
Bugs and feedback, along with technical information, are fed to the Kanban-style Task Board, where bugs can be assigned and managed through to completion. BugHerd can also integrate with your existing project management tools, helping keep your team on the same page with bug resolution.
SmartSheet
Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-style bug tracking tool for businesses managing multiple projects. It helps organizations to manage workflows and helps them improve team collaboration. Smartsheet allows you to automate actions using simple rules.
Features:
- It offers security, user management, and single sign-on capabilities for team and project management.
- Provides solution building to meet your unique needs.
- It provides customizable templates.
- Seamlessly connects to your enterprise ecosystem.
- Helps you to simplify budget and planning.
- It offers powerful analytics and reporting.
- Supports automation, input from web forms, proofing, and approvals.
Userback
Userback is a visual bug reporting and website feedback tool. It’s the fastest way for software teams and users to report bugs from any website and application. Easily collect visual and highly contextual bug reports that help you replicate and fix issues faster. Userback automatically captures annotated screenshots, video recordings, console logs, browser info, custom data and more.
Features:
- Visual bug reporting for you and your users
- User-friendly drawing, annotation and video recording tools
- Manage bugs and user feedback in one place
- Kanban-style task board
- Create custom workflows
- Powerful team collaboration
- Collect bug reports your developers will love!
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 tools are used when you want to manage your software project, including its tasks and bugs. A bug tracking system allows you to add new tickets, add comments and add specific details such as the version of the application and the operating system. But if you already know what a bug tracking tool is and want to immediately start searching for a free tool, we got you covered.