Top 10 Software Testing Trends to Watch in 2025

What should quality assurance (QA) teams anticipate in 2025? This article will explore the software testing trends QA teams need to brace for to thrive in the upcoming year.

With the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), the landscape of software testing by 2025 is poised to be both simpler and more complex. While AI-powered testing introduces greater efficiencies, the pressure to expedite releases without compromising quality necessitates a fresh approach from QA teams.

According to the latest DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) study, 49% of organizations now deploy code at least once a day, with elite teams enabling on-demand deployments multiple times daily. 

Despite this acceleration in release frequency, software failures remain unacceptable. In 2022 alone, businesses incurred approximately $2.41 trillion in losses attributed to poor software quality. Furthermore, the financial impact of defects continues to climb annually.

For contemporary teams, the consequences of inadequate testing are no longer hypothetical; they are tangible and directly influence revenue, security, and customer trust. Thus, adapting quality strategies is essential for organizations intent on staying competitive.

As a leading software testing partner for some of the world's foremost brands, we have identified key trends and observed how forward-thinking teams are gearing up for the future. Below are the top software testing trends we anticipate for 2025.

10 Trends Influencing Software Testing in 2025

1. Embracing Quality Engineering

Historically, software testing was viewed as a final step for validating functionality pre-release. However, with increasing release speeds and customer expectations, this approach no longer guarantees superior user experiences.

In a market constantly welcoming new competitors, quality can't just be an end-stage check. Businesses must integrate quality right from the start of development.

This is where quality engineering (QE) shines. Unlike traditional QA, QE is a proactive practice essential for building, deploying, and monitoring software with quality embedded from inception. Transitioning to QE from traditional methods requires:

• Embedding testing within the development pipeline as opposed to isolated test runs.

• Catching issues earlier (shifting left) via improved test design, automation, and comprehensive code reviews.

• Constant application monitoring (shifting right) to preemptively catch failures.

• Balancing automation with the expertise of human testers through structured test cases and exploratory testing.

• Promoting a culture where quality is a collective responsibility, ensuring everyone in the organization contributes to software reliability.

2. The Expansion of AI-Powered Testing

The use of AI-driven testing solutions is set to grow significantly into 2025. Current estimates indicate that by the end of this year, up to 80% of software teams could incorporate AI into their processes. 

This marked increase is understandable given AI's ability to reduce maintenance burdens, optimize test execution, and advance software quality while accelerating development timelines.*

At Testlio, we've reaped benefits from AI in streamlining test creation, execution, and resolving issues, achieving a 40% reduction in manual errors and up to a 30% increase in test refactoring speed.

Moreover, Testlio's no-code automation services empower us to bolster automation adoption affordably and efficiently, scaling automation without specialized technical skills.

However, the advancements in AI still require human oversight to confirm effectiveness and reliability. There are certain situations that AI struggles to assess thoroughly.

The leading teams blend AI for execution optimization with human insights for exploratory testing, risk validation, and real-world user testing, safeguarding a smooth user experience.

3. Heightened Scrutiny on AI Applications

This year, AI isn't just transforming software testing; it is pervading our everyday lives, continuously shaping user experiences.

A 2024 survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis revealed that 1 in 3 respondents engaged with AI at least weekly, with some doing so daily.

AI systems are now integral in areas such as personalized recommendations, automated hiring, financial risk assessments, fraud detection, and medical diagnostics, impacting real-world decision-making often devoid of direct human intervention.

These developments introduce new ethical and security considerations, subjecting AI systems to greater scrutiny. Therefore, software testing emerges as a critical process, ensuring AI systems are not only functional but also ethical and trustworthy.

Unlike traditional software, AI systems learn and evolve, posing unique challenges for testing. They thrive on extensive datasets, can shift unexpectedly, and can even reinforce subtle biases. Due to these characteristics, they might not produce consistent results from identical inputs, demanding ongoing validation for accuracy and fairness.

Accordingly, AI testing mandates strategic foresight. Organizations should prioritize AI testing as a proactive strategy to mitigate compliance risks and potential real-world repercussions.

4. The Evolution of QAOps

QAOps unifies quality assurance with IT operations to incorporate quality directly within CI/CD workflows, enabling automated, continuous, and large-scale testing. It ensures real-time validation for every code change, mitigating bottlenecks and expediting release cycles.

QAOps fosters a solid foundation for scalable, dependable testing as it feeds into quality engineering (QE). With QAOps managing rapid validation, teams can refine test strategies, broaden coverage, and tackle complex quality issues preemptively.

With QAOps, quality is a core aspect of the development process, complete with a continuous feedback cycle that strengthens software reliability and user assurance. By identifying defects early and preserving uniformity across environments, QAOps supports teams in delivering high-performance applications that fulfill business and user expectations.

5. Adopting an API-First Development Perspective

APIs form the backbone of modern applications, facilitating smooth communication across microservices, cloud frameworks, and third-party integrations.

In an environment where businesses expand and harness AI-driven automation, comprehensive API testing becomes an indispensable part of ensuring reliability, security, and performance, transforming it from a mere subset of functional testing into a strategic advantage.

The global API Testing market matures from a valuation of US$1.6 billion in 2024 to a projected US$4.0 billion by 2030.

With an API-first development approach, testing should commence early, even before UI elements are constructed, ensuring API functionality, seamless integration, and robust performance under pressure.

Tools like Postman AI, Tricentis, and Apigee AI facilitate simplified test automation, while security protocols like OWASP API Security Testing detect vulnerabilities before they pose serious threats.

Since APIs are pivotal for both backend operations and user experiences, meticulous testing distinguishes a seamless user interaction from a catastrophic system hiccup. Incorporating API validation into CI/CD pipelines allows teams to address issues promptly, heighten performance, and safeguard stability across intricate architectural systems.

6. Real-World Validation as a Market Differentiator

Today's applications and software products reflect unprecedented complexity.

For global enterprises, 2025 necessitates transcending controlled lab settings to replicate real-world scenarios, ensuring seamless user interactions.

An illustration of why realistic conditions matter emerged in July 2024. A malfunctioning update from CrowdStrike led to 8.5 million Windows systems crashing. The root cause? Insufficient real-world condition testing prior to deployment, turning a routine release into extensive disruption.

Incorporating real-world validation helps teams pinpoint overlooked issues, such as device-specific malfunctions, network instability, and regional performance variances. By embedding it within testing workflows, companies can decrease post-launch defects, fortify user confidence, and uphold brand integrity.

7. Increasing Payment Testing Complexity

Purchasing has gone from swiping cards or handing over cash to supporting over 140 payment solutions in the global e-commerce landscape.

Customers demand swift transactions that seamlessly span borders, currencies, and platforms, using technologies like digital wallets and cryptocurrency. Though beneficial for consumers, businesses face unprecedented complexities in accommodating these expectations.

For QA teams, payment testing no longer merely evaluates transaction success but extends to real-time validation, diversified payment gateways, device compatibility, and intricate corner cases. An undetected scenario—like a misrouted currency conversion—can visibly disrupt payment systems and erode customer trust.

Beyond verifying functionality, QA teams also grapple with challenges such as localization, network reliability, and third-party integrations. Payments must operate consistently across various markets and banking systems, necessitating real-world validation.

Hence, companies investing in robust end-to-end payment testing by 2025 can confidently venture into new markets, curtail transaction errors, and foster consumer loyalty in a complex financial ecosystem.

8. An Emphasis on Accessibility Testing

The enforcement of the European Accessibility Act (EAA) starting June 28, 2025, intensifies accessibility testing's importance in safeguarding organizations against legal and reputational harms.

QA teams must incorporate accessibility testing into development from the outset, tackling barriers that hinder users with disabilities from engaging fully with digital products. Priorities include ensuring compatibility with screen readers, enabling keyboard navigation, and maintaining adequate color contrast, among other elements.

Beyond regulatory adherence, accessibility testing enhances digital experiences for all users. Products with inclusive design reduce friction-points, elevate user satisfaction, and strengthen brand reputation. By ingraining accessibility in QA procedures, companies position themselves advantageously to serve diverse user demographics and future-proof digital offerings.

9. IoT and Smart Device Testing

Bugs in IoT devices, like unresponsive smart thermostats or misfiring factory sensors, frustrate users and can have substantial impacts.

As IoT technology cements its role across households and workplaces, testing these devices has become more intricate. The proliferation of connected devices amplifies integration challenges, and without thorough testing, malfunctions can escalate swiftly.

With both businesses and individuals becoming more dependent on IoT, comprehensive testing assumes priority to secure device reliability and security. Key test focus areas include:

- Compatibility Testing – Ensuring IoT devices work consistently across varied platforms, networks, and operating systems.

- Functional Testing – Ensuring every interaction, command, and automation delivers expected results.

- Usability Testing – Guaranteeing an intuitive user-friendly experience with minimal frustration.

- Performance Testing – Assuring consistent device functioning throughout rigorous usage, weak signals, and extreme thermal scenarios.

- Security Testing – Ensuring robust security to protect personal data and entire ecosystems from cyber threats.

Estimated IoT market growth, from $2.03 billion in 2022 to $12.48 billion by 2029, underscores the escalating demand for rigorous, all-encompassing testing. The hallmark of leading IoT devices is their user-friendly reliability, only achievable through thorough end-to-end testing.

10. The Role of Managed Services

Confronting today's software testing trends and expectations is challenging. Software spans numerous devices, platforms, and regions, with in-house teams often lacking the breadth of capacity to address every permutation.

Developing full-scale in-house capability for each scenario is impractical. Consequently, an increasing number of organizations opt for managed testing service partners like Testlio, enabling expanded test coverage, cost-efficient operations, and streamlined test competency.

By adopting managed testing services, companies can dynamically scale testing efforts to match demand, avoiding the financial and administrative challenges of staffing adjustments. Relieving internal teams from mundane and specialized test functions allows focus to remain on core development tasks, alleviating test bottleneck concerns.

Managed services give access to testers with diverse device familiarity, geographic settings, and network situational awareness, offering QA teams nuanced insight into software's real-world performance, ensuring credible validation scalability.

Moreover, managed services present expertise in critical testing areas such as payments, performance, accessibility, and localization. This approach enables staying current with evolving market trends without constant retraining or resource reallocation. Instead, experienced testers rapidly identify intricate issues, assure compliance, and deliver superior user experiences.

Ultimately, managed testing services empower organizations to operate more nimbly, reduce exposure to risks, and confidently release software, assured it's thoroughly vetted in genuine conditions by experts familiar with platform-specific intricacies, geographic peculiarities, and user behavior nuances.

Preparing for Software Testing Trends and Challenges in 2025

These industry trends illustrate the trajectory of software testing development and highlight the need for QA teams to devise smarter, more dynamic methodologies. To remain competitive means harnessing AI intelligence, integrating testing throughout development, and safeguarding quality without stalling progression.

Achieving success in 2025 predicates on strategic foresight, perseverance in process improvement, and prompt adaptation in the face of emerging testing challenges. Whether addressing regulatory mandates or enhancing real-world test capabilities, enterprises need to consistently match pace with intensifying demands, broaden flexibility, and foster advancements—the essentials for thriving future-focused success.