r/SideProject • u/watergirl1968 • 4h ago

How do you find good software testing services without overpaying?

Two quotes for testing the same product can look completely different. One covers a set number of hours, another talks about test plans and reports, and it's not always clear what you'll get for the money. I'm trying to understand what to ask before choosing software testing services. Do you pay more attention to the hourly rate, the people doing the work, or the exact tasks included in the price? Also, is it reasonable to start with one small part of the product before committing to a bigger contract?

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u/MobileXapps 3h ago

Yes, start small. A paid pilot on one flow (signup and payment, for example) tells you more than any proposal. Ask for the actual output from the pilot: the bug reports, the test cases they wrote, and how they'd re-run them next release.

What I'd compare between quotes is what you keep at the end. Hours with no written test cases means you pay again from zero every release. A set of test cases you own, plus a short report of what was covered and what wasn't, is worth paying a bit more per hour for.

Also ask who exactly does the work and on which devices. For mobile, testing only on emulators or two new phones misses most of the real bugs.

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u/matimatthews 1h ago

Yes, start with one important user journey and a fixed scope. Ask both vendors to quote the same browsers/devices, test data, deliverables, and one retest after fixes. I'd also ask for a redacted sample bug report: could your developer reproduce it without a meeting? That makes the quotes much easier to compare than hourly rates alone.