What is the Difference between Sanity and Smoke Testing? Give Example

Posted by Hruska William
6
Tech Innovation
Jun 16, 2021
834 Views

Today, every enterprise needs quality software to deliver a great experience to customers. But few challenges like broken functionality or broken feature affects the customer experience (CX) Sometimes these issues can occur from developers end or can occur due to lack testing efforts from testers end. Whatever the reasons may be, these issues severely impact the user experience and brand’s image. To ensure the software is free from all such defects rigorous smoke and sanity testing is needed. Let’s now try to understand both of these testing types in more detail.

Body:

What is sanity testing?

This software testing type is a subset of regression testing and is performed to check whether or not the software functions correctly when new modules or features are added to an existing product.  It is performed to do a quick evaluation of the main functionalities of software to ensures it works properly can be tested further or not.

What is smoke testing?

It is a functional software testing method that is conducted on the initial build of the software to ensure that all the critical functionalities of the software work as expected. The main aim of this testing method is to determine whether the build is stable or not and is it worth further test the product or not. It is also known as ‘Build Verification Testing’. This test has got its name from a hardware testing type where a smoke test is performed on pipelines to check whether it catches fire when it is turned on for the first time. 

What is the difference between sanity and smoke testing?

Sanity testing

Smoke testing

It is performed on stable builds

It is performed on initial builds


Sanity tests are performed to check the stability of the application after the new code is introduced or new feature/functionality is added to the software product

Smoke tests are done to test the stability of the new build


It is usually performed by testers

It is performed by developers or testers

It is a subset of regression testing

It is a subset of acceptance testing


Sanity tests are not documented and are unscripted

Smoke tests are documented or scripted


It checks only the particular component of the entire system

It checks the system’s end-to-end functionalities

It verifies the rationality of the software

It verifies the stability of the software 

It verifies new functionalities like bug fixes

It verifies critical functionalities of the software

It is performed manually

It is performed manually and can also be automated using automation testing tools

It follows a narrow approach where specific parts of the software are tested 

It follows a broad approach where all parts of the software are tested.

Example: 

Suppose there is an online ticket booking application that has the following features to be tested:

  1. Signup to app

  2. Login to app

  3. Search ticket

  4. Book ticket

Assume these four features are tested and it is found that the “Login” feature is not working properly. Then the developer modifies & fixes the defect. The tester then performs Sanity Testing only on the modified function to check if it is fixed properly or not.


Example :

  • Test Description – To check the video launch functionality

  • Steps - Go to the video page and click the video

  • Expected results – Smooth playback of the video

  • Actual result – Video player not popping up

  • Test status – Fail

Failed test results indicate that the functionality of the application is not working properly and need to be fixed by developers. Thus, it is not feasible to test this product further until the issue is fixed.


Conclusion: The need for high-quality software is rising in the market and every business is striving hard to achieve it. The high-quality software not only enhances the CX but also uplifts the brand image. Businesses must ensure their software is free from issues like broken functionality or broken features. To ensure this business must perform smoke and sanity testing. Both software testing types are different from each other and solve different purpose that ultimately improves the software quality. Businesses must leverage smoke and sanity testing from a next-gen QA and independent software testing services provider for high-quality software.
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