The rising development of utilizing SOA after which microservices as a software program structure has led to the creation of a number of instruments for automated testing of the providers API. This text presents an inventory of open supply API testing instruments.
Wikipedia defines an software programming interface (API) is a approach for 2 or extra laptop applications to speak with one another. This is the case presently for contemporary net and cloud software program architectures, the place purchasers talk with server-side providers, as an illustration to retrieve or replace knowledge.
The API defines the communication protocol between the consumer and the providers and the way providers will behave. You should use totally different protocols or structure conventions to handle interactions in your purposes. The Easy Object Entry Protocol (SOAP) proposes to make use of XML because the message format and talk requests by means of HTTP or SMTP. The Representational State Switch (REST) differs from SOAP as a result of SOAP is a protocol, whereas REST is an architectural type. Lastly, you should use GraphQL that could be a question language and server-side runtime as an alternative choice to REST.
API testing device choice technical standards
In addition to the plain license and value, in the event you choose a business API testing device, there are many technical standards that you should use to decide on your API testing device. Listed below are a few of them:
* How do you outline and handle your exams (code, low code, no code)
* Supported applied sciences (programming languages, platforms, …)
* Integration with different parts of the software program improvement and supply course of just like the CI/CD instruments
* Authentication and authorization
* Logging and monitoring
* Updates
January 7 2025:
added Arex, Bruno, Firecamp
eliminated Knowledge rest-client (404 on GitHub),
November 20 2023: added airborne, APIAuto, Insomnia
airborne
airborne is an open supply RSpec pushed API testing framework. Airborne is a GEM created to check APIs on high of the Rspec and RestClient. Airborne offers a framework to jot down automated exams for APIs. Airborne makes use of rest_client to make the HTTP request, and helps all HTTP verbs. When making a take a look at, you possibly can name any of the next strategies: get, submit, put, patch, delete, head, choices.
Web site: https://github.com/brooklynDev/airborne
APIAuto
APIAuto is a robust and easy-to-use open supply HTTP interface device for agile improvement, machine studying zero-code testing, code era and static inspection, doc era and cursor floating feedback. It’s a one-stop expertise integrating documentation, testing, mocking, debugging, and administration, in addition to environment friendly and easy-to-use shortcut keys equivalent to one-click formatting, commenting/uncommenting, and so on. When it comes to widespread features, it far exceeds varied open supply and business API documentation/testing instruments equivalent to Postman, Swagger, YApi, and so on., and might import use circumstances and paperwork with one click on. It helps GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD and different HTTP Strategies and Content material-Sort, URL /{Path}/{Variable}. It isn’t solely is it appropriate for RESTful, RESTful-like, and GRPC APIs, it’s also the official documentation and testing device really helpful by Tencent APIJSON. Tencent’s inner customers embody a number of departments and groups from the IEG Interactive Leisure Enterprise Group, TEG Know-how Engineering Enterprise Group, and CSIG Cloud and Intelligence Enterprise Group. Exterior customers embody Huawei, a neighborhood department of the Industrial and Industrial Financial institution of China, Transsion, a high 500 listed firm, cross-border e-commerce large SHEIN, trade chief Social Safety Know-how, and so on.
Web site: https://github.com/TommyLemon/APIAuto
Apickli
Apickli is an open supply REST API integration testing framework primarily based on Cucumber. It offers a gherkin framework and a group of utility features to make API testing straightforward and fewer time-consuming. Apickli can be out there as an NPM bundle.
Web site: https://github.com/apickli/apickli
ArexTest
AREX is an open supply automated testing platform by capturing the actual customers exercise and re-use it for API-testing. It information actual site visitors within the manufacturing atmosphere and mocks all invocations to third-party dependencies with Java Agent bytecode injection expertise, then replays the request and mock knowledge within the take a look at atmosphere. Moreover, it compares the recorded and replayed response messages, and lists the variations, permitting builders and testers to rapidly troubleshoot.
Web site: https://github.com/arextest
Bruno
Bruno is an open supply IDE For exploring and testing API. It may be thought of as a light-weight open supply various to Postman or Insomnia. Bruno is an progressive API consumer, aimed toward revolutionizing the established order represented by Postman and comparable instruments on the market. Bruno shops your collections immediately in a folder in your filesystem. It makes use of a plain textual content markup language, Bru, to avoid wasting details about API requests. You should use Git or any model management of your option to collaborate over your API collections. Bruno is offline-only and there are not any plans so as to add cloud-sync to Bruno, ever. Bruno values your knowledge privateness and believes it ought to keep in your system.
Web site: https://github.com/usebruno/bruno
Dredd
Dredd is a language-agnostic command-line device for validating API description doc in opposition to backend implementation of the API. Dredd reads your API description and step-by-step validates whether or not your API implementation replies with responses as they’re described within the documentation. Dredd helps automated testing REST API, producing beautiful report, and producing beautiful REST API documentation primarily based on historic circumstances.
Web site: https://github.com/apiaryio/dredd, https://dredd.org/
Firecamp
Firecamp is a open supply API improvement platform that helps builders design, develop, take a look at, and doc their APIs effortlessly. With a user-friendly interface and a variety of highly effective options, it streamlines the API improvement workflow and enhances collaboration amongst group members. It goals to offer best-in-class developer expertise impressed by vscode dx. Firecamp gives multi-protocol testing capabilities with Relaxation, GraphQL, Websocket, and SocketIO APIs and permits collaborating on API collections throughout the workspace and group. You possibly can construct APIs quicker with out switching between instruments and apps. documentation, cli, ci/cd below one roof.
Web site: https://github.com/firecamp-dev/firecamp, https://firecamp.dev/
Frisby
Frisby is an open supply REST API testing framework constructed on Jest that goals to make testing API endpoints straightforward, quick, and enjoyable. Frisby.js comes loaded with many built-in instruments for the commonest issues it’s essential take a look at for to make sure your REST API is working because it ought to, and returning the proper properties, values, and kinds. Once you want one thing customized, Frisby.js additionally offers a simple technique to customise and lengthen assertions to make your job simpler, with much less repetitive and tedious code.
Web site: https://github.com/vlucas/frisby, http://frisbyjs.com/
Insomnia
Insomnia is an open-source, cross-platform API consumer for GraphQL, REST, WebSockets, Server-sent occasions (SSE), gRPC and some other HTTP suitable protocol. With Insomnia you possibly can debug APIs utilizing the most well-liked protocols and codecs, design APIs utilizing the native OpenAPI editor and visible preview, take a look at APIs utilizing native take a look at suites, mock APIs can be coming quickly in November 2023, construct CI/CD pipelines utilizing the native Insomnia CLI for linting and testing and collaborate with others utilizing the various collaboration options to share your initiatives.
Web site: https://github.com/Kong/insomnia, https://insomnia.relaxation/
mountebank
mountebank is the primary open supply API testing device to offer cross-platform, multi-protocol take a look at doubles over the wire. Merely level your software below take a look at to mountebank as an alternative of the actual dependency, and take a look at such as you would with conventional stubs and mocks. mountebank employs a legion of imposters to behave as on-demand take a look at doubles. Your take a look at communicates to mountebank over http utilizing the API to arrange stubs, document and replay proxies, and confirm mock expectations. Within the typical use case, every take a look at will begin an imposter throughout take a look at setup and cease an imposter throughout take a look at teardown, though you’re additionally welcome to configure mountebank at startup utilizing a config file. mountebank employs a number of varieties of imposters, every responding to a particular protocol. Sometimes, your take a look at will inform the imposter which port to bind to, and the imposter will open the corresponding socket.
Web site: http://www.mbtest.org/, https://github.com/bbyars/mountebank
RestAssured
Testing and validating REST providers in Java is tougher than in dynamic languages equivalent to Ruby and Groovy. REST Assured brings the simplicity of utilizing these languages into the Java area.
Web site: https://rest-assured.io/, https://github.com/rest-assured/rest-assured
Schemathesis
Schemathesis is a specification-centric API testing device for Open API and GraphQL-based purposes. It reads the applying schema and generates take a look at circumstances, which is able to make sure that your software is compliant with its schema and by no means crashes. The applying below take a look at might be written in any language; the one factor you want is a legitimate API schema in a supported format. Easy to make use of and but highly effective to uncover hard-to-find errors because of the property-based testing strategy backed by state-of-the-art Speculation library.
Web site: https://github.com/schemathesis/schemathesis
SoapUI
SoapUI is a free and open supply cross-platform practical testing answer for APIs and net providers. It offers the power to check REST, SOAP, and GraphQL APIs. SoapUI is java primarily based, so it runs on most working methods, We take a look at it on a number of Home windows Variations in addition to Mac and the a number of Linux dialects. SoapUI requires a 1.6+ model of the JRE (Java Runtime Atmosphere), not less than 1 GB of reminiscence is really helpful, and about 100 MB of disk house.
Web site: https://github.com/SmartBear/soapui
SupeTest
SuperTest is an open supply Tremendous-agent pushed library for testing node.js HTTP servers utilizing a fluent API. The motivation with this module is to offer a high-level abstraction for testing HTTP, whereas nonetheless permitting you to drop to the lower-level API offered by superagent.
Web site: https://github.com/visionmedia/supertest.https://www.npmjs.com/bundle/supertest
Tavern
Tavern is a pytest plugin, command-line device and Python library for automated testing of APIs, with a easy, concise and versatile YAML-based syntax. It’s quite simple to get began, and extremely customisable for complicated exams. Tavern helps testing RESTful APIs in addition to MQTT primarily based APIs. Tavern acts as a pytest plugin so that each one you must do is set up pytest and Tavern, write your exams in yaml information, and run pytest. This implies you get entry to all the pytest ecosystem. You may also combine Tavern into your personal take a look at framework or steady integration setup utilizing the Python library, or use the command line device, tavern-ci with bash scripts and cron jobs.
Web site: https://taverntesting.github.io/
Extra assets on API Testing
* What’s an API?
* How To Choose a Device For Steady API Testing
* API Testing Challenges
* API Safety Guidelines