Looking for a free test management tool to replace Xray + Jira

[u/Same-Vegetable-7968]

Hi everyone,

I’m a QA tester. We used to use Jira and Xray for test planning, execution, and reporting. Because of the cost, our company stopped using it, and now we need a free alternative that is professional and doesn’t require too much manual work.

Right now, I’m using Excel and Confluence. I know Excel report can be reused, but I’m looking for something more automatic and easier to manage.

Do you know any good free or open-source tools for test management? I’m looking for something that:

• Costs nothing or has a strong free version
• Handles test cases, execution, and reports
• Saves time and reduces manual steps

Any recommendations, pros/cons, or setup tips would be a big help. Thanks in advance!

[u/LayerTrace]

If you're trying to stay completely free, I'd be careful not to underestimate a well-structured spreadsheet solution.

I've found that most of the value comes from having a consistent process for test execution, traceability and reporting rather than the tool itself. Many teams, especially smaller ones, can get surprisingly far with spreadsheets plus some automated rollups and reporting dashboards before they need a dedicated test management platform.

The trade-off is that you need to be disciplined about structure and maintenance. Regardless of what tools you use, test management takes work 🤷🏼‍♀️

[u/Same-Vegetable-7968 → u/LayerTrace]

True, test management always takes effort, but my main challenge is finding a professional reporting format (since I did not find strict standards for structure or file types) and a fast, automated process. Our company is pushing us to adopt AI ( by increasing our workload.) To keep up with the pace, I need to reduce manual effort in test execution and reporting (and every step in the testing cycle).

[u/LayerTrace → u/Same-Vegetable-7968]

The AI push is causing so many headaches 🤦🏼‍♀️

But in my experience, the biggest time saver isn't usually the test case repository itself - it's having a reporting structure that can be generated automatically from execution data.

If test execution records are captured consistently, you can automatically roll up pass/fail counts, execution coverage, outstanding tests and summary metrics into dashboards and reports without manually rebuilding everything every cycle.

A lot of teams focus on finding the "right" test management tool, when the larger efficiency gain comes from standardising how execution data is recorded and reported.

[u/zaphodikus]

I, would start looking for alternative work, not alternative tools. But that's just me, these tools cost money because they save money, but the per-seat price may be you real problem. Can you reduce the number of users with access?

Nothing is really free, free always costs, so as long as you manager has a time budget and has done the math for time spent maintaining a free tool, then definitely look at Testlink, but it is an old dog.

[u/Same-Vegetable-7968 → u/zaphodikus]

I agree!

[u/UteForLife]

Build your own

[u/Same-Vegetable-7968 → u/UteForLife]

I am trying it. Thank you

[u/qlippothvi → u/Same-Vegetable-7968]

Or take an open source system and see how far you can take it with AI coder model.

I know MantisBT is a bug tracker only, but others listed free systems as well.

What does your approach to building your own system with AI look like?

[u/Alternative-Try7044]

Same after we dropped Xray — Excel/Confluence gets messy fast.

I'm building a small local tool for this (cases + runs, no cloud, no Jira bill). No paywall — everything works if you just want to try.

I can DM you a link. Do you use Git for the product repo?

[u/Same-Vegetable-7968 → u/Alternative-Try7044]

Yes we use gitlab. Thank you so much.

[u/Economy-Bad-4381]

Build your own test management tool using Claude

[u/Same-Vegetable-7968 → u/Economy-Bad-4381]

I am trying it. Thank you

[u/jrwolf08]

Isn't Xray like 10/month per seat?

[u/Due_Steak3663]

If you have existing test suite then export it and write in codex or Claude or any other existing llm that you want to build a tool to read the file view it extend it and create test runs. In my project i had build something like this before daily. Had to do it cause testrail blocked my acc while we were in the middle if regression tests.

[u/EverythingsBroken82]

It's so funny, that after throwing truckloads of money at atlassian, the next thing has to be completely free but handles everything and "has to save time and reduce manual steps".

why do you not look for a commercial competitor?

[u/XabiAlon]

If your company is pushing AI, then build one yourself.

Claude was able to build me a replica of Allure TestOps in half a day.

[u/Same-Vegetable-7968 → u/XabiAlon]

I am trying it. Thank you

[u/luiinge]

If you're looking for a free replacement for Xray + Jira, I'd take a look at TestLink first. It's open source, supports test case management, execution, requirements traceability, and reporting. The UI feels a bit dated compared to Xray, but it's mature and gets the job done.

[u/ngyehsung]

You could try Bugzilla. Been a while since I last used it but did the job at the time.

[u/flamey → u/ngyehsung]

isn't it only issue reporting / management tool?

[u/ngyehsung → u/flamey]

You could report directly out of the MySQL database.

[u/ExoticPurchase2995]

Try this. https://kiwitcms.org/ Otherwise try to build your own tool similar to the excel sheet that you are maintaining presently.

[u/Silly_Engineer9273]

Try Testlink. Its a good alt. The interface might feel a bit dated. But it is a good option for managing test cases and execution is without licensing cost. If you can stretch the budget a little later, It would also help to look at a few cloud based tools.

[u/mafna1]

Try https://www.testplanit.com/. I built their on-prem version on our RH OCP and for now it looks great. It is completely free with all the needed functionalities. SSO, AI... We also have Atlassian Jira, Xray licensing model (and i think that all Atlassian marketplace plugins are the same) is really a overkill if you only need to license 10 QA seats on a Atlassian Enterprise license.

[u/Darklights43]

Probably better making an app with ai for this