Smoke Testing vs Regression Testing: A Detailed Comparison

The bug only won’t bite you when your code is tested effectively. Software testing aims to increase the quality of the code/software. This can be done by identifying the flaws in the code and reducing/eliminating them. By doing so, developers are making the software cost-effective, enhancing its performance, allowing ease of adding new features, and ensuring customer satisfaction.

This makes software testing crucial in the software development life cycle (SDLC), as any undetected error/bug in code can cause catastrophic consequences at any stage of SDLC.

There are various types of testing, including unit testing, integration testing, system testing, functional testing, acceptance testing, smoke testing, regression testing, performance testing, security testing, user acceptance testing, end-to-end testing, and more.

In this blog, we will discuss the key differences between regression testing and smoke testing. But first, let’s examine both types of testing individually (meaning, features, pros, cons, etc.).

What is Smoke Testing?

Smoke testing is a software testing process/type of software testing. It is also known as “Build Verification Testing,” and “Confidence Testing”.

Build Acceptance Testing

First used in the hardware testing procedure, Smoke testing is preliminary, non-exhaustive, initial white box testing performed at the beginning of the development process/initial stages of the software development life cycle (SDLC) post-software build to identify the stability/working of most critical functions/core of the software. It is like the smoke test in Hardware Testing which involves seeing the hardware functionality by looking for smoke upon switching on the hardware component.

It is a subset of acceptance testing that enables developers to identify the blocker bug (blocker is the severity of the bug’s impact on the application) at an early stage of software development.

It is shallow and broad testing used by developers to declare the software build good for further detailed testing and give them the confidence to ship new. After completing the APID, the QA can proceed to Sanity Testi Regression Testing.

Smoke Testing Execution

As seen in the above image, after the development team deploys the build in the QA environment, the build is passed for an initial smoke test, which executes the test cases. The test cases are prioritized based on the software’s critical functionalities. The software is then tested for created tests.

If the build passes the smoke test, functional and regression testing proceeds. However, if it fails, the build is sent back to the development team to resolve the issue.

Types of Smoke Testing Methods

• Manual Testing
• Automated Testing
• Hybrid Testing

The types of smoke testing are categorized into Formal Testing and Informal Testing.

Features

• Does not require the design of test cases
• Documented or scripted
• Verifies “stability” of the application
• Shallow and wide
• Performed manually or automatically

Advantages of Smoke Testing

• Helps to find show-stopping bugs in the early stage of testing
• Less number of test cases required
• Requires less time to execute smoke testing
• Ensures the previous build does not impact the app’s significant functionalities
• Helps improve overall app quality
• The developer can execute the test, eliminating the need for a QA team
• Reduces the risk of app failure
• Reduces the possibility of integrations-related threats

Limitations of Smoke Testing

• Does not cover the detailed testing of all functionalities(core functionalities only)
• Not being able to find minor issues due to the minimum number of test cases
• The requirement of a special team for proper documentation
• Manual smoke testing consumes a lot of time
• Smoke testing is no substitute for completing functional testing

Tools used for Smoke Testing:

• Selenium
• PhantomJS

Good Read: 25 Popular Software Testing Tools To Look For In 2023

Now that we have a brief overview of smoke testing Let’s understand more about Regression testing to get a better idea of the difference between smoke testing and regression testing.

What is Regression Testing?

Also known as Verification Method, Regression Testing is a type of software testing that is conducted when code is changed, revised, updated, improved, or optimized and the developer wants to ensure the code change does not negatively impact the existing functionalities of the system or the proper working of the product.

‘Regress” itself means “return to a former or less developed state.”

It is done by re-executing test cases or re-running non-functional and functional tests on the quality of outputs. This is why it is often misunderstood as re-testing,g, but it is not,t, as it is a black-box testing technique.

In a nutshell, developers fear the unexpected consequences of small tweaks in the software code, Regression tests saved the existing functionalities from being impacted by these small tweaks in code.

Regression Testing Process

As you can observe in the above flowchart, when Regression testing starts, developers encounter a bug in the code. The bug may be introduced when the developers make any changes or new versions (add new functionality, optimization, error corrections, deletion of existing features, or any such software maintenance activities) in the source code.

After changing the source code, when the program fails, this is where the Regression testing process starts. The code is debugged to find the thatch failed in code execution.

Required modifications are made to resolve the detected bug. Further test cases are selected from the existing ones that cover the source code-modified module. If the team finds any new test c requirement, they can generate themes and execute the selected test cases for the module’s regression testing.

To select the test cases for regression testing, the following techniques can be used:

• Selection of all test cases
• Selection of test cases randomly
• Selection of modification traversing test cases
• Selection of higher-priority test cases

Features of Regression Testing

• Makes development time and cost-effective
• Test cases are mainly automated
• Parallel Multiple Test Execution

Advantages of Regression Testing

• Increases the product’s quality
• Keeps existing functionalities safe from impact from any bug due to changes or updates
• Ensures no reoccurrence of resolved issues
• Helps developers maintain software stability
• Facilitates efficient software development process
• Ensures code compatibility and functionality simultaneously

Limitations of Regression Testing

• Manual Regression Testing execution is tedious and time-consuming
• Has a huge number of test cases
• The regression test is executed after every modification or new build
• As the software ages, regression suite size increases exponentially
• Test execution is resource-intensive

Types of Regression Testing

• Corrective Regression Testing
• Selective Regression Testing
• Progressive Regression Testing
• Retest-all Regression Testing
• Unit Regression Testing
• Complete Regression Testing
• Partial Regression Testing

All these are different types/forms of regression testing that are best fitted for various distinctive testing scenarios/specific code updates and testers’ requirements.

Regression Testing tools

• Selenium
• WATIR
• IBM Rational Functional Tester
• Rainforest QA
• Sahi Pro
• Silktest
• TestDrThe the list continues. You can find testing tools that fit your requirements and other personal preferences.

The above brief introduction about both testing types helps understand the detailed comparison of SMVS and regression testing.

To summarize, all here are regression tests. g vs. smoke testing comparison ta, which provides you with all the key differentiators in a concise form.

Smoke Testing vs Regression Testing

Good Read: Top 15 API Testing Tools To Look For In 2023

Final Thoughts

For the developer, it regresses. n vs. smoke testing is a crucial decision, as any missed error in the code will have a catastrophic impact on the software’s various functionalities.

To help you make the right decision based on your scenario testing requirement, the thing here is that you can choose either of the testing processes.
When is the Smoke Testing Recommended?

• Before starting a detailed testing
• After deployment
• New functionalities of the software are developed and integrated with existing builds.
• Before you commit code to a repository
• Any time that you need to test your system is working

When do you Need Regression Testing?

• Update in an existing feature
• Fixed to solve defects in a codebase
• A new feature or functionality is added
• Optimizing source code to fix performance issues
• Configuration updates

Both testing processes are crucial in various scenes, Rios so that you can choose either smoke or regression testing.