Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Appium vs Katalon Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Appium
Ranking in Regression Testing Tools
6th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Development Platforms (7th)
Katalon Studio
Ranking in Regression Testing Tools
2nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
API Testing Tools (5th), Test Automation Tools (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Regression Testing Tools category, the mindshare of Appium is 4.0%, down from 5.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Katalon Studio is 16.7%, up from 16.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Regression Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Abhishek-Tiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
Has cross-platform flexibility and a record-and-play option
The challenging part with Appium is that installation can be a bit tricky. It can be challenging to set up in Android versus iOS environments. Appium has some limitations in terms of writing code using simulators and online cloud devices. I faced challenges with native based scenarios, battery turn out percentage, battery charging percentage, and memory capacity. The other challenge I faced involved codes changing from device to device. For example, the piece of code that works in iOS version 10.1 won't work in iOS version 6.0. In upcoming releases, if they can reduce some more of the dependencies like SDK, UIAutomator, etc., it would be great. That is, I'd like to see a consolidated package or bundle release that is much more user-friendly.
Anuradha.Kapoor Kapoor - PeerSpot reviewer
Functional automation features and the recording functionality saves time but the performance and script execution is slow
I would like to see improvements in how Katalon Studio works with iOS applications, especially with React Native applications. The speed is very slow. It takes time. Katalon Studio also takes my laptop memory, and execution becomes slow for the script. There are parallel execution options. I'm sure their online cloud version must be very fast, but as a service-based company, we are under NDA with our clients and can't run their code on our servers. I would like to see iOS improve and see a more capable recording feature. Katalon Studio has released an AI version, and I have a demo scheduled to see the new features.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Appium's best feature is that it supports multiple frameworks."
"The most valuable feature is that it's easy to launch applications. Appium has everything that Selenium has. So many good tools support Appium. We can take some Excel sheets and use them to fill out the text box that's in there. We can also take screenshots of failures."
"The interface is user-friendly, which is beneficial for users, even for those who are new to it."
"We get a list that shows all devices that are connected to the system."
"I haven't explored other solutions in this particular area, but what I like best about Appium is the fact that it shares functions with Selenium. The extension of Selenium functions allows me to use all of the methods that exist in that domain, and it just makes it simpler for me. I've been using Selenium for some time as well, so using Appium just seems like a natural fit for me."
"The best feature of Appium is that it allows you to inspect the element. With the Appium Inspector, you don't have to install another application to do the inspection. I also like that Appium has Android device connectivity. Currently, most people use Appium as automation software, and I haven't found any other tool that's more powerful than Appium."
"We do not need to pay for the solution. It’s free."
"It has great documentation and excellent community support."
"Katalon Studio has the highest number of integrations compared to other tools at a similar price point, such as Jira, Brokerstack, and Jenkins."
"I rate Katalon Studio's scalability a four out of five."
"It is a good tool and provides all the essential features for our business requirements."
"User-friendly and a good solution."
"The tool is easy to use. The product gives me the flexibility to use Selenium. I can also use my Java capabilities in the solution."
"The product provides ease of automation for the cloud."
"The scalability of the product is good."
"We can write code in Java and it is easy to link to other JARs that we find on the internet, which is very handy."
 

Cons

"Image recognition could be improved. We have some images in our mobile applications. It should be able to run from the cloud, so we can automate the catcher."
"The deployment process and configuration are quite complex and require improvement."
"Support-wise, it could be better."
"I rarely use Appium nowadays because I'm now at the managerial level, but the last time I used it, whenever I selected and clicked on an element, Appium was very slow. I tried to debug it, but I still couldn't find the problem, so this is an area for improvement in the solution. Another area for improvement lies with the connector and server. For example, the effort to get into the local machine sometimes causes the emulator to become slow, which then leads to failure in testing, and this is the usual issue I've encountered from Appium. An additional feature I'd like added to Appium in its next release is being able to do automation in iOS without using XPath and the name of the element. In Xcode, you can use previous UI tests for detecting elements, but in Appium, you have to use Xpath and the element name instead of being able to directly put the X-UiPath, which is what you can do in Xcode. In iOS as well, sometimes the element doesn't have a name or a path. Sometimes, there's also no element."
"It breaks down."
"One thing which can be really helpful is that there is some kind of a recorder made available rather than scripting everything."
"We haven't been able to fully leverage Appium for multiple reasons. I think number one is just that the tests take a long time to run. We have had some issues around just the results themselves and how predictable they are, but those are not issues with Appium directly."
"The installation part of Appium is somewhat clumsy, requiring numerous dependencies and configurations."
"The price of the solution is a bit high. It's one of the reasons we decided not to continue using the product."
"There could be many improvements, however, I have not noted them down at this moment."
"We would like to see improved integration with various reporting tools; this would make our testing data more complete."
"One improvement would be if it could support more programming languages such as JavaScript or Python. Right now, it is only on Groovy, which I think is not a too popular language."
"The product’s regression testing time could be reduced."
"It should be faster while executing, and there are some defects, like choosing the new device with the test case."
"Katalon Studio could improve having visual testing, but I think they're launching that feature very soon. We would like to see an increase in the usage of AI."
"Extending the certification validity, especially after the trial period, would be beneficial."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is an open source solution so it does not cost anything for licensing or otherwise."
"The solution is open source so it is free."
"The solution is free."
"We found out that we could explore features of the solution for 30 days trial. We can switch to a permanent license later if we want."
"It's open source, so it's completely free."
"It's completely 100% free, and there are no hidden fees."
"Appium is open source; we can use it for free."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"The cost of Katalon Studio is expensive but it is less than some of the other solutions, such as Micro Focus UFT or SmartBear TestComplete. The cost is the main reason we are using Katalon Studio."
"The prices are very high."
"Katalon Studio is less expensive than other solutions, such as Micro Focus UFT."
"Katalon Studio is a free tool."
"The tool is affordable."
"Katalon Studio is an expensive tool."
"There is no cost for setup or licensing."
"We are using the free version. We plan on getting a paid version because there is a limitation in terms of the number of users. We want to maximize it."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Regression Testing Tools solutions are best for your needs.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
6%
Educational Organization
28%
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend Appium?
I do recommend Appium. It is an open-source solution and completely free of charge. We use Appium and Appium Studio as our base for any type of mobile automation for testing. It has a great interfa...
What do you like most about Appium?
Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Appium?
My experience with Appium from a pricing perspective is favorable due to it being open source, making it a cost-effective option.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Katalon Studio?
I used the trial version of Katalon Studio, which I got for free. For TestComplete, I used an internal license as my organization was partnered with them.
What needs improvement with Katalon Studio?
Extending the certification validity, especially after the trial period, would be beneficial. Providing clearer guidance during the trial period for certification and training modules would also he...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nuvizz, Coupa Software, Eventbrite, Evernote
Coca-Cola Tesla Black Board TaTa Consultancy Services Sony
Find out what your peers are saying about Appium vs. Katalon Studio and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.