Imagine you are a software developer and you are buzzing with excitement because you've just deployed a new feature at work. But suddenly, you hear whispers of a critical bug in the old functionality. That gut-wrenching moment reminds us how important it is to know when regression testing should be performed.

The software testing market size was valued at USD 51.8 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of over 7% between 2024 and 2032.

Imagine your development team just rolled out a new feature that fixes a bug but now some parts of your software that used to work flawlessly have stopped working. This is a common risk in Agile development, where changes come fast and often. Since Agile moves quickly with constant updates, regression testing is a key part of making sure the software stays reliable. With each new update, there’s a risk that changes might impact parts of the software that were already working well.

Imagine this: You’ve just rolled out a small update to your application, but suddenly a core feature stops working. Sound familiar? That’s where automated regression testing comes to the rescue. It's like having a diligent, tireless assistant that constantly checks your software for unintended side effects every time you make a change. Let’s dive into how automated regression testing can transform your software development process, saving you time, money, and sleepless nights.

A regression test suite is a crucial component in maintaining software quality over time. It ensures that recent code changes and/or implementations do not negatively impact existing functionalities. This minimizes the risk of breaking existing features, enhances the reliability of new releases, and lowers the cost of deploying new releases.

Imagine that your application is working as if it has no issues at all. This makes customers happy, and you are ready to launch a new feature in the next update. But with the arrival of a new update and new code, everything breaks! It does not only mean that a new feature does not work as intended but also that all functions cease to function correctly. Your team quickly looks for the errors and corrects them, often resulting in increased time, extra costs, and a drop in your company’s credibility.

End-to-end (E2E) testing and regression testing are critical aspects of software testing that play very different roles. E2E Testing evaluates the entire application, simulating real user experiences. In contrast, regression testing checks if recent updates or changes have inadvertently disrupted existing functionality. Choosing the right testing strategies is as important as testing frequently.

The modern-day SDLC methodologies such as agile, CI/CD, and DevOps are flexible enough to incorporate change requests in each sprint, which increases the probability of introducing errors in existing functionality. This makes validating existing functionality, detecting newly introduced bugs, and resolving them mandatory in each build release. Whether manual or automated, such software testing is widespread and referred to as regression testing.

Regression defects are unexpected errors that arise in previously functional software following updates or modifications to the codebase. A significant 85% of development managers agree that reducing technical debt, including regression defects, without compromising innovation has become increasingly difficult. If you’re like most software developers or testers, you’re always looking to improve the quality of your code. One way to do this is by understanding and preventing regression defects.

Regression testing is boring…if you are doing it manually. Indeed, it’s just not efficient when you have to manually repeat the same test steps over and over each iteration. Regression testing is best done with a regression testing tool. These tools allow you to create an automated regression test suite that you can run as a batch when the new build is available. Let’s check out the top regression testing tools on the current market. Here's a quick list.