Difference between Alpha Testing, Beta Testing and Gamma Testing

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Alpha Testing

Alpha testing is a kind of checking that done by the development or QA team, infrequently, by the customer himself as well. The main intention is to find out the software bugs that were not found earlier. At the stage of alpha testing, the behavior and the performance of software is also will be verified under real-life conditions by imitating the end-users’ actions. It helps us to get fast approval from the customer before action to product delivery.

The alpha testing phase carry the following testing types: smoke, sanity, integration, systems, usability, UI (user interface), acceptance, regression, and functional testing. If an error is identified, then it is directly informs to the development team. Alpha testing helps to find out issues that lost at the stage of requirement gathering. The alpha release is the software version that has passed alpha testing. After, the  Alpha testing the next stage is beta testing.

                    Alpha Testing, Beta Testing and Gamma Testing

Beta Testing

Beta testing can be called per-release testing. It can be operated by a limited number of end-users and it is called beta testers before the formal product delivery. The main intention of beta testing is to check software compatibility with different software and hardware structure, types of network connection, and to get the users’ feedback on software usability and functionality.

There are two types of beta testing:

  • Open beta is accessible for a large group of end-users or to everyone interested
  • Closed beta is accessible only to a limited number of users that are selected especially for beta testing.

During beta testing, end users identify and report bugs they have found. All the testing action are behave outside the organization that has developed the product. Beta checking helps to find out the gaps between the stage of requirements gathering and their implementation. The product version that has passed beta testing is called as beta release. After, the beta phase comes gamma testing.

Gamma Testing

Gamma testing is the last stage of the testing that organizes before software release. It confirms that the product is ready for marketing release according to all the given specified requirements. Gamma testing concentrate on software security and its functionality. But it does not consist any QA activities. During gamma testing, the software does not go through any alteration unless the detected bug is of a high priority and severity.

Only a few numbers of users can perform gamma testing, and testers do not participate. The analyze consists of verification of certain specifications but not the whole product. Feedback collected after gamma testing is treated as updates for upcoming software versions. But, because of a limited development cycle, gamma testing is commonly skipped.

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