What is Alpha Testing? | Software Testing

In this article, you will learn the following:

• What is Alpha Testing?
• When do we perform Alpha Testing?
• What are the reasons to perform alpha testing?
• What are the features of the Alpha Testing?

What is Alpha Testing?

Alpha testing is conducted within the organization and the application is tested by the representative group of end-users at the developer’s side and occasionally by an independent testing team. It is considered to be real operational testing at an in-house site. It is executed after the unit testing, integration testing, and more. It is used after all the testing. It can also be considered white-box testing and black-box testing depending on the requirements. 

When do we perform Alpha Testing?

It is user acceptance testing. It can only be executed once the product is gone through the stages of testing and is almost prepared for the release. It executes before the beta testing which is also a part of the acceptance testing and is known as field testing. During this type of testing, we can make changes to the software to improve its quality and functionality. It can be performed by the developer’s site where independent developers can monitor and record users' experience and make necessary changes which help in better performance. 

What are the reasons to perform alpha testing?

Alpha testing is executed at the final stage of the testing process. It is an important and popular testing technique. It helps in the delivery of quality software. It is executed before the release of the application. It can also be considered as the first round of independent testing that ensures that the software runs as per the specified requirements. 

Reasons to perform alpha testing:

• The major reason to implement the alpha testing is to be sure that the product should be successful. 
• It gives the freedom to the team to test the application in a real-time environment.
• It helps in validating the quality, functionality of the software, and effectiveness of the product before releasing it in the market.
• Refines the product by finding the bugs that were left undiscovered in the previous test cases.

What are the features of the Alpha Testing?

• It is one type of acceptance testing.
• It can only be executed in the final stage of the testing before delivering the product. 
• It can be executed in the labs where we provide a specific and controlled environment.
• The public is not involved in the testing. 
• Alpha testing can be executed by the in-house testing team within an organization. 
• It helps in gaining confidence in the user acceptance of the software product