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mfoster711's avatar
mfoster711
Regular Contributor
12 months ago

Does Smartbear just not care about TestComplete?

This is not a rhetorical question, but I have to wonder does SmartBear just not care about TestComplete? 

 

SmartBear has gotten bigger and bigger and offers a suite of tools now. As a result, it is possible that TestComplete really is not much of a revenue generator in the big picture of all the tools they offer. Maybe they continue to offer TestComplete just to be able to say they have it when trying to make bigger sales. But, the reality might be that it is just not important to them. 

 

I faced a similar question about 15 years ago. We were using Rational Robot as our automated testing tool. Rational had sold the company to IBM and the Rational Robot tool was just not getting much attention. IBM was trying to push users to a new Rational Functional Tester tool but IBM's support for both tools seemed lacking. I am not sure when it occurred but IBM has since ended both products.

 

Ultimately, we decide to switch to TestComplete for automated testing and we have been using it ever since. To be clear, we have been happily using TestComplete since then. But, things have gone downhill with TestComplete and the support is just atrocious. I am starting to wonder if I am in the same situation as I was 15 years ago?

 

I am still holding out hope that things turn around soon. Switching to any new tool would be a tremendous undertaking and I don't want to go down that path unless I have to. Also, we have licensing and support paid up through the end of 2025. But, if I don't see a major turn around in the next year, we will be looking at other options. I am not going to wait until the end of 2025 to make a decision, I will have a new solution in place before our licensing and support ends.

6 Replies

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  • Rache1's avatar
    Rache1
    SmartBear Alumni (Retired)
    12 months ago

    We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. TestComplete continues to be one of SmartBear's best performing and most important products and we are 100% invested in its success...and most importantly, your success! We are aware of a few breaking issues recently, specifically Chrome 113, and are working diligently to find a path forward. We should have an update in the coming days. As far as support goes, we are continuously striving to improve and offer the best services to our users. We will take this feedback back to our leadership and ensure it gets the highest priority. 

  • maumrm's avatar
    maumrm
    Contributor
    12 months ago

    I am concerned with this as well. I've noticed a drastic drop in customer support in the past year, maybe even 6 months. 

  • prashantmohan's avatar
    prashantmohan
    Staff
    12 months ago

    Thank you Rache1 .

     

    mfoster711 It's Prashant Mohan from the Product leadership team at SmartBear. I want to sincerely apologize for the issues you are facing. As Rache1 said, we are fully invested in TestComplete! We want you to succeed with our tool and will do everything in our power to enable that. 

     

    We're working through the weekend to get the Chrome issue resolved, don't have an ETA yet, but we're all hands on deck.

     

    Apologies again.

    Prashant

     

  • Prince_Toms's avatar
    Prince_Toms
    Occasional Contributor
    12 months ago

    mfoster711 - I second your thoughts. I don't think the user base had reduced for TestComplete but rather not being able to keep up with the enhancements. Prioritization and user engagement is the key aspect here which was happening until 2021.

    As an enterprise user and a personal promoter of this product - this is not going so well this year. I hope this thread serves as a wake-up call for the team. 

  • Bonibom's avatar
    Bonibom
    Contributor
    11 months ago

    Hm.... it is very interesting question. Do you have something in mind that will replace TestComplete? I am also thinking about similar solutions.

  • lgrant's avatar
    lgrant
    Member
    11 months ago

    It took 2 days to resolve a request to disassociate my licenses for the new License Manager. I had to rely on someone overseas to take care of it. I constantly called my renewals specialist because I wanted to hear a human voice.