When automation pays off
Test automation pays off when test cases repeat often and the cost of failure is high. Three clear signals:
- Frequency: you run the same case more than 5 times a month
- Stability: the feature does not change every sprint
- Criticality: a bug there costs money, data, or reputation
When manual testing wins
- Exploratory testing of a new feature
- Validating UX and user perception
- Rare edge cases that don't justify the cost of maintaining an automated test
The 80/20 rule
In practice, automate the 20% of cases that cover 80% of the user journey. The rest, covered with exploratory manual testing.
Next steps
If you want us to put together a diagnostic of what to automate first in your product, book a demo.