What is the Difference Between End to End Testing and System Testing

The main difference between end to end testing and system testing is that the end to end testing helps to check whether the flow of an application is performing as required from start to end while the system testing helps to verify whether the complete integrated system meets the specified requirements.

Software testing is the process of verifying and validating that the software is working as expected. Most software development companies have professional quality assurance engineers and software testers to test the application thoroughly. They identify defects and take necessary steps to prevent them. Hence, this helps to produce a working and reliable software at the end. Also, there are various types of testing, and the end to end testing and system testing are two of them.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is End to End Testing
     – Definition, Functionality
2. What is System Testing
     –  Definition, Functionality
3. What is the Difference Between End to End Testing and System Testing
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

End to End Testing, System Testing

What is End to End Testing

End to end testing is a type of testing that checks the flow of an application from start to finish. It helps to identify the system dependencies. Moreover, it helps to check whether the right information passes through various components of the system. It also tests how the application communicates with the database, network, hardware, and other applications.

For example, in a banking application, log in, check the current balance module, transfer money module, and login cover an end to end testing. Usually, when the product qualifies system testing, it is possible to perform an end to end testing. Thus, this testing is also called chain testing.

What is System Testing

System testing is a type of testing that checks the behavior of the entire system as a whole. It coordinates the adjoined components as one system to ensure that the system meets the required quality standards. It also involves performing functional and nonfunctional testing on the integrated product. The functionality testing checks the functionalities of the system while the nonfunctional testing checks the attributes such as performance, security, etc.

Difference Between End to End Testing and System Testing

Definition

End to end testing is a type of testing that tests whether the flow of an application right from the start to finish is behaving as expected. System testing, on the other hand, is a testing conducted on a complete integrated system to evaluate the system’s compliance with its specified requirements. Thus, this is the main difference between end to end testing and system testing.

Functionality

Moreover, end to end testing helps to identify system dependencies while system testing checks the entire system as a whole.

Main Tasks

End to end testing checks how the system communicates with databases, network and other applications while system testing involves testing the functionalities and nonfunctional attributes such as performance, security, scalability, etc. Hence, this is another difference between end to end testing and system testing.

Conclusion

End to end testing and system testing are two main types of testing. The difference between end to end testing and system testing is that the end to end testing helps to check whether the flow of an application is performing as required from start to end while the system testing helps to verify whether the complete integrated system meets the specified requirements.

Reference:

1. “Acceptance Testing & System Testing – Software Testing Tutorial”, Guru99, 5 Aug. 2011, Available here.
2. “What Is an End-to-End Test? – Definition from Techopedia.” Techopedia.com, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “SDLC – Software Development Life Cycle” By Cliffydcw – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia