Software Testing Market Statistics – Key Trends & Figures For 2024

As for demographics, it’s estimated that in 2021, 62% of software testers in the US were men, and 38% were women. The number of women has grown by almost 15% since 2017.

An average software tester in the US is in their early forties. Only 9% were under 30 in 2021. 

Software Testing Automation & Technical Statistics

In this section, we look into the technical aspects of software testing and highlight automation statistics. After all, automation is a priority for many testers today – as many as 30%.

Types of Software Tests

In 2023, unit testing was the most common type of software test. It involves testing the smallest functional segment, or unit, of code. In 2023, it was used in 63% of all software projects.

Functional software testing, which essentially determines that ‘everything works as it’s supposed to, is another common type of software testing. In 2023, it was used in 62% of projects – 10% less than in 2022.

Other common types of software testing are performance, regression, and acceptance testing. The latter, which tests whether the software has met the requirements of a contract or specification, saw the biggest drop in popularity.

Only 36% of software projects underwent acceptance testing in 2023.

Mobile testing is becoming increasingly popular, as more software providers embrace mobile technologies. Perfecto reports that 34% of organizations consider mobile software testing highly important.

Automated Testing

Software tests can be performed manually or automated. However, automation is all the rage right now, and the software testing market is no exception. 

PractiTest reports that in 2024, 30% of testers reported that automation had replaced 50% of their manual testing – 6% more than in 2023.

In 2024, automation replaced 75% or more of manual work for 19% of testers. Only 9% of software testers had no automation in 2023 and 2024. 

Conversely, only 2% of testers say that automation has fully replaced manual testing. That signifies that despite many advancements, full automation of software testing isn’t a reality.

Nonetheless, lack of automation is the second-highest concern for testing teams, as 47% expressed frustration with their lack of resources to create test automation.

Automation skills are in demand in 2023–2024, with around 50% of enterprises reporting the need for test automation skills. Other in-demand skills in 2024 are AI/ML testing – 21% of enterprises require it this year, up from 7% last year.

API testing was automated by the largest share of testers in 2023 – 84%. User interface testing was automated by 52% of testers, and desktop tests by 16%. 40% of testers automate testing continuously and 38% at set milestones.

A PractiTest report states that Jira is one of the most popular software testing tools in 2024, followed by Selenium and Postman. In 2020, JUnit and Selenium’s Web Driver were the most popular testing frameworks. 

Future of Software Testing

In this final section, we consider the possible future trends impacting the software testing market and analyze the extent to which they’re having an impact.

Increased Adoption of Agile and DevOps

Agile and DevOps are the most popular software development and testing frameworks in 2024. That’s no surprise, as they’re very effective at reducing time to market and helping IT organizations operate more effectively.

In the future, we expect Agile and DevOps principles to be adopted even more widely among software teams, blurring the lines between developers and testers.

This can only be a good thing, as it allows significant upskilling for both types of professionals and facilitates end-to-end software delivery.

Accessibility Testing

The issue of accessibility is significant in today’s society, and software testing is rising to the challenge.

It’s great to see that in 2024, 33% of software testing teams invest in accessibility testing.

With the makeup of decision-makers becoming increasingly diverse around the world, we welcome the improvements to the user experience they’re driving – not only to meet specific legal requirements but to improve the experience of all people around the world.

AI Use in Software Testing

Like other markets, advancements in AI are impacting software testing. Although 60% of testers don’t yet use AI for testing, 25% use it to create test cases, and 23% to optimize testing.

Over 50% of testers believe that AI will improve the efficiency of test automation and 41% foresee AI will be able to provide more complex test cases, ensuring better-made software.

We expect that more and more software development and testing teams will soon embrace AI for test case generation, bug detection, and risk prediction.

Concluding Thoughts

This guide explored the software testing market, relevant statistics, and possible future trends. We saw that the market is witnessing significant growth, and the Agile and DevOps methodologies are important drivers of it.

Although many software testers work in the tech industry, banking and finance have a 28.5% share in the European software testing market. Other prominent industries for software testing are healthcare, retail, and education. In terms of market size, the North American market is the largest one.

We put a significant emphasis on automation in software testing because it’s getting increasingly prominent in the field. It replaced 50% of manual software testing for 30% of testers in 2024 and is on track to make the lives of many more software testers much easier.

So, we’re convinced that automation and AI are going to be the future of software testing, penetrating most, if not all, of the manual testing market. We look forward to seeing how they can optimize the work and improve bug squashing.

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