Smoke Testing Vs. Sanity Testing — Learn With Examples

Smoke testing helps in finding issues and bugs quickly right from the early stages of development. The overall quality of the system can be improved through the strategic implementation of smoke testing and upon that there are only a limited number of test cases required for conducting this testing. Sanity testing focuses only on a few specific areas of functionality and thus helps in saving cost and time. In this article, you will get to know about the differences between smoke testing and sanity testing along with an example for each of the testing methods.

What is smoke testing?

It is a testing method where software defects are detected early and continuously in the software development process. Quick scenarios are included that point to the product’s major areas. It is conducted on initial builds before they are released for further testing. Smoke testing is one of the important functional testing types.

Advantages of smoke testing:

• This testing method is very useful in scenarios where a quick test is done to ascertain whether the program stands in terms of functionality and performance
• Major issues are found in the early stages of the software testing process
• Issues in the integration of modules are found
• It checks the build’s stability to determine if it can be moved to further levels of testing.

Smoke testing example:

When an e-commerce application is being developed, the following are a few items that can be tested:

• Options
• Product specifications
• Search functionality based on the “brand name,” “product name” and so on
• Push notifications
• Signup button functionality
• In-stock or out-of-stock indicator
• Delivery options

What is Sanity testing?

It is a testing method conducted on a stable build after making minor changes to the functionality or code. The objective is to ascertain if the proposed functionality works as per the expected requirements. The build is rejected if sanity testing fails, thereby saving costs and time involved in further levels of testing. The new functionality is not thoroughly identified, instead only a few aspects of the software product or application are verified.

Advantages of Sanity testing:

• The small functionalities of an application are verified to make sure that the application is working fine despite small changes
• As only a few areas of the functionality are worked upon, a lot of effort and time are saved
• The tests are carried out in less amount of time as there is no documentation required
• It is a simple testing method to determine the product quality
• Related and missing objects can be easily found.

Sanity testing example:

For example, there is a taxi booking application that needs to be tested.

The features of this application are:

• Signup to the taxi booking app
• Login to App
• Search for the appropriate cab
• Finally, book the cab detailing the date, time and venue

For suppose, all the above mentioned four features have been tested, but, ‘book the cab’ feature is not working. This particular defect will be modified and fixed by the developer. Then after, sanity testing will be conducted only on that specific modified function.

Differences between smoke testing and sanity testing:

Smoke testing

The entire system is exercised from end-to-end

The application’s crucial functionalities are tested to make sure if they are working as expected

The software build’s stability is verified

It is usually scripted and documented

It is a subset of acceptance testing

Sanity testing

Only the particular component of the entire system is exercised

It is conducted to verify if the new bugs/functionalities have been properly fixed or not

The rationality of the system is verified

It is neither documented nor scripted

It is a subset of regression testing

Conclusion: If you are looking forward to implementing smoke testing or sanity testing or both for your specific project, then do get connected with a premium software testing services company that will provide you with a feasible testing roadmap that is in line with your project specific requirements.

About the author: I am a technical content writer focused on writing technology specific articles. I strive to provide well-researched information on the leading market savvy technologies.