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

Appium vs Katalon Studio comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

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
3rd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
47
Ranking in other categories
API Testing Tools (4th), Test Automation Tools (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Regression Testing Tools category, the mindshare of Appium is 3.6%, down from 5.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Katalon Studio is 15.6%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Regression Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Luis Gerardo Meneses Hernandez - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows for direct interaction with an application's DOM but complex configuration
What I like about Appium right now is that it's like Cypress in the sense that I can get to the new DOM of the application and select the components and create the functions to test the components in the way I want them to be tested. That's why I like it right now.
Appu Ashok - PeerSpot reviewer
Expansive integrations boost automation potential across devices
I am in the field of product research and am familiar with Katalon Studio for product comparisons and test automation. Even though I am not an active tester, I have created a few tests using Katalon Studio Some of our customers use Katalon Studio, however, our own product, Tangene, is a…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Obviously because of automation, it reduces manual testing efforts."
"It can be used with different programming languages."
"The way Appium server interacts with mobile apps is fantastic. It provides all the information about the elements inside the app, Android as well as iOS. I can interact with the element quickly, just type some text or get some text values from the element - whether it's a drop-down, or web text, or a native element."
"The most valuable features of Appium are the in-built functionality, which we can use in our code. For example, move back, move front, navigate one page before, and navigate one page ahead. You can do this by using the in-built functions from Appium."
"What I like about Appium right now is that it's like Cypress in the sense that............. to test the components in the way I want them to be tested."
"We get a list that shows all devices that are connected to the system."
"Appium has easy interaction with mobile."
"It runs completely flawlessly and seamlessly every day."
"Katalon Studio has the highest number of integrations compared to other tools at a similar price point, such as Jira, Brokerstack, and Jenkins."
"The recording feature of this product is very valuable for our testing purposes."
"I like the feature where you can define a model that represents your website and then reuse the components from the model. It makes creating more test cases easy."
"The best thing about the solution is that there is a record and playback functionality."
"Smart Wait and XPath healing are valuable features."
"The tool has a good record and playback feature for functionality, which saves time when creating automated tests."
"It provides us daily feedback on the status (failing/working) of the core features of our websites."
"The solution is easy to learn."
 

Cons

"Support-wise, it could be better."
"They should add an in-built framework."
"The deployment process and configuration are quite complex and require improvement."
"The tool needs to add a dependency manager."
"We need some bug fixes for nested elements."
"An application developed on the Unity platform, such as a gaming application, objects are moving in that case. Interacting with those elements is still lacking in Appium. Appium doesn't have the internal library to play with the Unity platform. That is a huge lack right now."
"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."
"Configuring the project to be used in Appium is a little bit tedious."
"They need to work on documentation to make it more centralized and easier to find what you are looking for."
"What it lacks is the Selenium Grid capabilities."
"It seems to lack a few requirements that a typical customer would want. Compared to other solutions, this product is lacking."
"The Object Spy is rather frustrating to work with, so I tend not to use it."
"The price of the solution is a bit high. It's one of the reasons we decided not to continue using the product."
"The price of Katalon Studio is an area of concern where improvement is required."
"Its stability needs improvement."
"It should start working on Silverlight automation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Appium is open source; we can use it for free."
"The solution is open source."
"Appian is open-source, which is not licensed."
"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."
"The solution is open source so it is free."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"This is an open source solution so it does not cost anything for licensing or otherwise."
"The solution is open-source."
"The price is not high it's good."
"I am using the free version."
"There is a free version of the tool to use and support is available through the community forums, but there is a licensed version as well."
"The product is affordable. It has an average and competitive pricing compared to other vendors."
"This product is freeware, so there is no charge for using it."
"The approximate cost is around $8,000."
"We were using the free version of this tool."
"Its pricing is quite reasonable. If you require their help in getting started, then there is a professional services fee on top of the product license cost."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Regression Testing Tools solutions are best for your needs.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
6%
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
 

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?
Katalon Studio is on the expensive side. I rated it eight on a scale where ten is very expensive. I recommend optimizing the pricing, as a moderate value around five would be preferred.
What needs improvement with Katalon Studio?
The pricing could be improved. Offering a discount on Katalon Studio licenses could encourage more users. There is significant competition, so providing a good offer with extra features could be be...
 

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: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.