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
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
56
Ranking in other categories
API Testing Tools (4th), Test Automation Tools (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Regression Testing Tools category, the mindshare of Appium is 2.6%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Katalon Studio is 11.0%, down from 17.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Regression Testing Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Katalon Studio11.0%
Appium2.6%
Other86.4%
Regression Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

AS
Independent consultant, at OpenText
Efficient mobile testing with intuitive emulation capabilities and a user-friendly interface
Initial setup for Appium (especially for iOS) is not beginner-friendly.Consumes too much of your host machine's resources, potentially slowing down the machine.Appium Inspector often lacks deep insight or crashes with certain app builds. Improve test flakiness by intelligently selecting robust self-healing locators,simplified installers, better documentation, GUI-based config management,smart wait mechanisms and better failure logs.
Ramanagowda Hullur - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Automation Engineer at Stryker
Recording limitations and remote access challenges have affected desktop application testing
Katalon Studio has proven effective in our deliverables, particularly in designing the framework where other tools typically require coding in client libraries such as Python or Java. With Katalon Studio, there is no such complexity, allowing us to organize projects modularly based on folder structures without needing to write separate code. The self-healing feature for web application automation and its built-in CI/CD ecosystem integration eliminates the need for external tools for pipeline setup. Katalon Studio excels in CI/CD integration, providing an inbuilt ecosystem without the need for external setup, and it features a postings structure along with keyword and library availability. Newcomers to the team can easily adapt to the setup or project structure, which contributes to its popularity, along with its low-code or no-code capability that allows for a comprehensive platform supporting web, mobile, API, and desktop automation. The self-healing mechanism for test cases autonomously identifies issues with locators and ensures they continue functioning, which is impressive, along with the robust object repository. Katalon Studio has significantly aided our team, especially when clients expect deliveries for CI/CD integration that requires automation test scripts to run on a daily schedule. The self-healing feature automatically identifies available locators for elements in the DOM, ensuring that test cases remain functional. Katalon Studio has positively impacted our organization by facilitating faster delivery when clients have urgent requirements. We can deliver quickly based on urgency due to the features Katalon Studio provides. This has led to significant reductions in time spent on framework configuration, designing, and training individuals who are unfamiliar with the tool, helping us save both time and costs.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We develop apps using the React Native framework, and Appium integrates well for testing those apps. The Appium automation framework also has good integration with GitHub Actions and plenty of other tools and frameworks, including BrowserStack."
"It's an open-source solution with a very large community and available documentation."
"Appium helps me to do as much as much as I want to."
"The library is extensive so the driver interacts with most functions or actions on mobile devices."
"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 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."
"Appium's best feature is that it supports multiple frameworks."
"Appium provides a record-and-play option, and the commands are the same as those that Selenium uses. So a person who has some exposure to Selenium will be able to write a piece of code in Appium."
"Katalon Studio is user-friendly."
"Video capture on failure is a must have. A picture is worth a thousand words. A video is worth a thousand pictures (literally)."
"The automation is very fast and you don't need to be overly proficient in coding."
"The most valuable feature of Katalon Studio is that everything can be managed from one platform."
"Katalon Studio has positively impacted my organization by helping the team reduce manual regression effort and improve release confidence by catching UI issues earlier."
"The most valuable feature of Katalon Studio is the ease of use of the solution."
"Whenever I speak to the support team of Katalon Studio, I learn that some new features will be included in the product. It is a scalable product."
"Katalon Studio has positively impacted our organization by helping our team save a lot of time by automating repetitive testing, allowing us to test faster, find issues earlier, improve test accuracy, and reduce manual effort."
 

Cons

"The tool needs to add a dependency manager."
"We previously worked with native applications, and there weren't any good mobile app testing tools. We started working with React Native, which works well with Appium, but it would be good to see better integration; the way elements are displayed can be messy. React Native is very popular nowadays, so it's essential to have that compatibility."
"If it had more facility for configuration it would be a spectacular solution."
"Stability is an area that needs some improvement."
"It breaks down."
"They should add an in-built framework."
"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."
"There is always a concern about the amount of code that is required to enhance the automation process. The idea of having less code or no code is what we would like to see in future updates."
"There could potentially be more reporting within the solution. We need more issue reports, for example."
"Support options need improvement. It is sometimes hard to find a solution to any given problem, thus you are forced to use another solution."
"Now we are having difficulties in using it and had to limit our automation experts to the features that Katalon allows us to use for free. It was free access and they claimed that it would be free for all time."
"The tool's maintenance is very difficult since they do not follow call by value or call by reference. Due to this, any change happening is not reflected throughout all the test cases. There are some issues with data parameterization as well."
"The pricing could be improved. Offering a discount on Katalon Studio licenses could encourage more users."
"The reporting is very good, but it could be better."
"They need to work on documentation to make it more centralized and easier to find what you are looking for."
"It seems to lack a few requirements that a typical customer would want. Compared to other solutions, this product is lacking."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"This is an open source solution so it does not cost anything for licensing or otherwise."
"Appium is open source; we can use it for free."
"There is no license for this solution because it is open-source."
"The price is good for people to be able to make a favorable decision for the value."
"It's completely 100% free, and there are no hidden fees."
"It's open source, so it's completely free."
"The approximate cost is around $8,000."
"The product’s pricing is very, very low."
"We are using the free version of Katalon Studio at this point."
"Katalon Studio is an expensive tool."
"The tool's licensing costs are yearly."
"Katalon Studio is less expensive than other solutions, such as Micro Focus UFT."
"The tool's pricing is cheap compared to other alternatives. I would rate the tool's pricing a three out of ten."
"The product is expensive."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Regression Testing Tools solutions are best for your needs.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Retailer
5%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise19
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise25
 

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 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 needs improvement with Appium?
The deployment process and configuration are quite complex and require improvement. Additionally, the wait time functionality could be enhanced as I experienced failures with longer wait times.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Katalon Studio?
Pricing felt reasonable for the features provided, especially considering the time saved during the automation setup and execution. From a user perspective, Katalon Studio offers good value, partic...
What needs improvement with Katalon Studio?
I feel nothing needs improvement for Katalon Studio, as it is already the best in the industry, providing the best enhancement for users. Katalon Studio is already top-notch with no need to improve.
 

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: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.