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Product
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Solutions
Bankingaqua ALM helps banks increase testing productivity by over 50%
InsuranceConsistent testing with aqua ensures robust insurance software that increases retention
ManufacturingUsing aqua helps an IoT manufacturer save 3% of revenue by reducing production defects
Governmentaqua paves the way for digital transformation with a portfolio of 7 government organisations
Tech companiesaqua helps reach a defect detection ratio of 98% with thorough and efficient testing
Medicalaqua proudly serves 10+ enterprise medical companies to level up their QA -
Resources
BlogTips & tricks on how to manage testing process effectively and speed up releases
aqua wikiDetailed information on aqua capabilities, functionality and features
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Data centersExplore our infrastructure & global locations
Can the hip tool keep up?
Launched in late 2020, Qase is the latest test management solution to get notable traction. It had a very modern interface and surprisingly mature UX from day one. Still, what exactly do they lack that an established TMS has? Find out, section by section, in just 10 minutes.
Key differences between aqua and Qase
aqua brings AI Copilot for test case generation, test data creation, and requirements with no credit caps
aqua offers On-Premise and Private Cloud deployment
aqua includes configurable workflows, shared views, and KPI Alerts on every paid plan
How we compare
AI
AI is a rapidly developing technology, so we look at cutting-edge capabilities rather than the bare minimum. A mature AI layer in a test management solution should go well beyond simple text generation. Here is what to expect from a tool genuinely built for AI-powered QA:
- Generate full test cases from plain text descriptions or requirements documents
- Create test data automatically to populate and run your tests
- Generate and edit requirements with AI assistance
- Update existing tests automatically after a requirement changes
- Operate without monthly credit limits or bandwidth restrictions
aqua’s AI Copilot is included in every paid plan across all three modules: Test Management, Requirement Management, and Defect Management. It covers test case generation, test data creation, requirements generation, and content editing with no credit caps or bandwidth restrictions. Qase’s AIDEN AI is available on all paid tiers but operates on a monthly credit model: 1,000 credits per month on Startup, 2,000 on Business, and 4,000 on Enterprise. AIDEN’s core strength is converting manual tests into automated ones and running them fully in Qase’s cloud with no infrastructure setup required. Both tools are production-grade, but aqua offers broader coverage across the full QA lifecycle without usage restrictions attached to any plan.
Verdict: aqua wins by offering unrestricted AI Copilot across all modules with no credit caps. AIDEN leads specifically on test automation conversion.
Test management
Test management is the core reason most teams evaluate these tools. A complete solution needs to handle not just test case creation and execution, but also the workflows, visibility, and compliance features that keep larger projects under control. The following capabilities define a mature test management platform
- Create, execute, share, and manage test cases in a unified workspace
- Group tests into scenarios, segment into folders, and assign custom labels
- Navigate the test suite quickly with filters, individual views, and shared team views
- Access the full execution history for every test case
- Store a complete audit log of item changes for compliance purposes
- Visualise requirements coverage and dependencies across test cases
aqua and Qase both offer solid foundations: test cases, test plans, custom fields, execution history, and change logs. Qase adds its own query language for advanced filtering and a test case review workflow from the Business plan upward. aqua includes configurable workflows, shared views, test case parametrisation, and adaptive field logic on all paid plans, making these efficiency features available to every team regardless of plan tier. aqua also provides real-time two-way Jira project sync, going beyond a basic integration.
Integrations
Most QA teams depend on a stack of tools that have been in use for years. A test management solution needs to connect to that stack natively rather than forcing workarounds through a generic API alone. Genuine integration depth means more than just a REST endpoint. Key criteria include:
- Native integrations with test automation frameworks and tools
- Jira integration with real-time synchronisation
- REST API for connecting any additional tooling
- CI/CD and developer ecosystem integrations
aqua offers 14+ native integrations covering the established QA automation stack: Jira, Jenkins, Confluence, JMeter, PowerShell, Database MSSQL, UnixShell, SoapUI, Ranorex, Database Oracle, REST API, Azure DevOps, UFT, and Selenium. Jira integration includes real-time two-way project sync. aqua Capture, a native bug recording and reporting tool, is included in all paid plans. Qase focuses on the developer ecosystem with 35+ integrations including GitHub, GitLab, Cypress, Playwright, Azure DevOps, Slack, Asana, monday.com, ClickUp, Linear, and YouTrack, plus REST API and webhooks from the Startup plan. Qase does not offer a comparable screen capture tool.
Pricing flexibility
Pricing structure matters as much as the headline number. A tool that hides essential features behind its most expensive tier, or charges full price for every type of user, can quickly become costly at scale. Key things to evaluate are:
- Transparent per-module pricing without bundling features you do not need
- Monthly billing option without forcing annual commitment
- Free or lower-cost licences for stakeholders and lighter users
- Custom Enterprise plan for larger organisations
aqua uses modular per-product pricing. The Test Management and Requirement Management modules are each €89/month per user (billed annually) or €119/month (billed monthly). The Test Runner DEV add-on licence is €19/month (annual), designed for developers and QA specialists who execute tests but are not involved in test or requirement management. Free unlimited Guest seats are included in every plan. Qase prices in USD: the Business plan is $30/user/month (annual) or $36/month (monthly). Both offer a 20% annual discount and free read-only access. Qase also provides a free plan for up to 3 users and a 14-day free trial. aqua has no free plan but offers a free demo and free Guest licences on every plan. aqua’s modular structure lets teams purchase only the modules they actually need.
Verdict: aqua wins by modular pricing and free unlimited Guest seats at every tier. Qase wins by offering a free plan and a free trial for teams that want to test before committing.
Deployment Models
Deployment flexibility is a hard requirement in regulated industries such as banking, insurance, government, and healthcare. Many vendors avoid publishing their deployment limitations clearly, so it is worth verifying before committing. Here is what to check:
- Vendor-managed Cloud hosting with GDPR compliance
- Dedicated or isolated Cloud environment for Enterprise customers
- On-Premise installation within your own infrastructure
aqua has offered On-Premise deployment since its first release and continues to provide it under the aqua Suite Enterprise plan alongside Private Cloud. Qase explicitly states on its product page that it does not offer a self-hosted or on-premise version. Qase Enterprise customers can access a dedicated cluster hosted within a private virtual private cloud, which provides additional isolation while remaining a fully managed cloud environment.
Dashboards
QA dashboards serve two purposes simultaneously. They help the QA team track their own progress day to day, and they give other teams and stakeholders visibility into quality health without requiring access to the full tool. A strong dashboard layer should cover:
- Display any workspace data, not just a predefined widget set
- Support both private and team-shared dashboards
- Offer a variety of chart and visualisation types
- Trigger KPI alerts when a metric crosses a threshold
aqua offers fully custom dashboards across all paid plans, drawing on any data from the workspace, and includes KPI Alerts that notify users when a metric moves above or below a defined threshold. Qase offers widgetized dashboards from the Startup plan upward, covering coverage, pass rates, failure trends, flakiness, and cycle time. Qase dashboards are shareable via read-only seats. Both tools make dashboards accessible without requiring a higher-tier plan, but aqua’s KPI Alert capability has no equivalent in Qase and provides proactive rather than reactive quality monitoring.
Reporting
Reporting is the primary way QA communicates value to internal and external stakeholders. The difference between a useful report and a basic metrics export is significant at the project level. A mature reporting layer should give teams full control over structure, data, and presentation:
- Pre-built report templates as a starting point
- Fully custom layouts with drag-and-drop and formatting controls
- Support for any workspace data, pivot tables, and scripts
- External text, image, and data embedding for polished stakeholder reports
aqua provides a fully configurable reporting system including drag-and-drop layouts, pivot tables, custom scripts, parametrised reports, external text and image insertion, and both template-based and fully bespoke report creation. Reports can be shared externally with stakeholders outside the tool. Qase offers widgetized dashboards with quality metrics from the Startup plan but does not offer dedicated custom reporting, saved report templates, pivot tables, scripted automation, or purpose-built external report sharing. Teams that need to deliver structured QA reports to management, auditors, or clients will find aqua significantly more capable.
User management
Granular user management protects data, enforces process, and reduces onboarding friction, regardless of whether compliance is the primary driver. For teams with mixed roles, contractors, or external reviewers, the ability to define exactly what each person can access matters. Key criteria include:
- Default and custom role definitions without plan restrictions
- Per-user permission overrides beyond role-level access
- SSO for enterprise identity management
- User provisioning and directory synchronisation
aqua includes granular roles and permissions on all paid plans, with custom roles available to every customer without a plan restriction. Per-user permission overrides go beyond role-level assignments. Qase adds role-based access control only from its Business plan and restricts SSO to Enterprise, though it can be purchased as a paid add-on at the Business tier. Qase Enterprise supports SCIM user provisioning; aqua Enterprise supports LDAP.
ALM
Full application lifecycle management in a single tool reduces vendor licences and keeps traceability intact across every stage of development. This is not a hard requirement for every team, but it delivers meaningful value when requirements and tests all live in the same system. Here is what a complete ALM offering covers:
- Requirements management with AI assistance and coverage tracking
- Test case management linked directly to requirements
- Project and workflow management across the full team
aqua provides full ALM coverage through its three modules: Requirement Management, Test Management, and Defect Management. Each can be purchased individually or together. Qase includes requirements management from the Startup plan and covers the full lifecycle at a lower entry price point, though without the modular flexibility or configurable workflow depth of aqua.
What people say
Here are a few things people like and dislike about both tools.
“I was surprised to find such a comprehensive and mature tool for test management in the German market without having taken it seriously beforehand.”
Jörg Großmann
Head of Development at Bank 11
“The main thing which got us using Qase was their UX, which is way more convenient to use than most of the competition. There is room for improvement, such as reporting — especially cross-team reporting and building holistic views on how all projects are doing across the company”.
Mikko V.
Enterprise (>1,000 emp.)
“The reporting is meaningful and provides a good basis for decisions. After the employees have used aqua, they recognize the added value very quickly.”
Thomas Haeske
Head of Organisation/IT at Berlin Hyp
“There is one area where I feel Qase could improve: the process of writing test steps for similar cases. While the platform provides some tools to make this easier, writing out the same steps for multiple cases with similar characteristics can still be quite time-consuming and tedious“.
Luka C.
Small business (<50 emp.)
“Manual test cases are easily automated with aqua. Seamless integration with test automation tools helps here.”
Jörn-Hendrick Sörensen
Test Manager at KBA
“There is a distinct lack of filters available on a test run level and on a test case level, e.g.: 1. Filter only the test runs which contain failing tests among thousands of test runs (triggered by automation) 2. Filter out test cases that no longer exist in the code (we deprecated and old feature and therefore removed the tests)”
Lee W.
Small business (<50 emp.)
“I was surprised to find such a comprehensive and mature tool for test management in the German market without having taken it seriously beforehand.”
Jörg Großmann
Head of Development at Bank 11
“The reporting is meaningful and provides a good basis for decisions. After the employees have used aqua, they recognize the added value very quickly.”
Thomas Haeske
Head of Organisation/IT at Berlin Hyp
“Manual test cases are easily automated with aqua. Seamless integration with test automation tools helps here.”
Jörn-Hendrick Sörensen
Test Manager at KBA
“The main thing which got us using Qase was their UX, which is way more convenient to use than most of the competition. There is room for improvement, such as reporting — especially cross-team reporting and building holistic views on how all projects are doing across the company”.
Mikko V.
Enterprise (>1,000 emp.)
“There is one area where I feel Qase could improve: the process of writing test steps for similar cases. While the platform provides some tools to make this easier, writing out the same steps for multiple cases with similar characteristics can still be quite time-consuming and tedious“.
Luka C.
Small business (<50 emp.)
“There is a distinct lack of filters available on a test run level and on a test case level, e.g.: 1. Filter only the test runs which contain failing tests among thousands of test runs (triggered by automation) 2. Filter out test cases that no longer exist in the code (we deprecated and old feature and therefore removed the tests)”
Lee W.
Small business (<50 emp.)
Final verdict
aqua is an established Enterprise-grade solution with modular pricing, mature custom reporting, On-Premise deployment, and unrestricted AI Copilot on every paid plan. Qase has grown significantly and is genuinely competitive for cloud-first, developer-adjacent teams, particularly with AIDEN's automation conversion capabilities and 35+ integrations. However, Qase still lacks custom reports, configurable workflows, granular per-user permissions below Business tier, and any on-premise deployment option.
Winner
FAQ
How do aqua and Qase compare across pricing, user satisfaction, and features?
aqua’s Test Management and Requirement Management modules are each €89/month per user (annual), with a Test Runner DEV add-on at €19/month and free unlimited Guest seats included on every plan. Qase’s Business plan is $30/user/month (annual) or $36/month (monthly). Both offer 20% annual discounts. aqua offers a free demo and free Guest licences; Qase offers a 14-day free trial and a free plan for up to 3 users.
Which AI test automation capabilities differ between aqua and Qase?
aqua delivers AI Copilot for test case generation, test data creation, and requirements generation on all paid plans with no credit restrictions. Qase’s AIDEN AI covers test generation and manual-to-automated test conversion, operating on monthly credits that vary by plan tier from 1,000 to 4,000 per month.
What distinguishes reporting and dashboards in aqua compared to Qase?
aqua provides a full custom reporting suite including drag-and-drop templates, pivot tables, scripts, and parametrisation, alongside custom dashboards with KPI Alerts. Qase offers widgetized dashboards with quality metrics but has no dedicated custom reporting functionality, no saved report templates, and no KPI Alert system.
How do aqua and Qase differ in deployment options?
aqua supports cloud and On-Premise deployment, making it suitable for regulated industries with strict data residency requirements. Qase is cloud-only and explicitly states it has no self-hosted or on-premise version. Qase Enterprise offers a dedicated cluster for additional isolation within their managed cloud.
Do aqua and Qase both offer granular user permissions?
aqua includes granular roles and individual per-user permissions on all paid plans. Qase adds role-based access control from its Business plan ($30/user/month annual) and restricts SSO to Enterprise, with an option to purchase it as a paid add-on on Business.
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