Using ReadyAPI and Postman Alongside Each Other

Have you outgrown merely exploratory testing your API?
  January 23, 2019

With the world of APIs growing so fast, it can be tough to keep up with all the tools, services, and techniques involved with a successful API lifecycle. One of the API tools we get asked most about is Postman. Postman is an API development tool that has been around for quite a while now, and bills itself as “API Development Made Simple”.  While that may be true (Postman really is a good product!) , what it does not do is make API testing simple

Because of this, we’ve made improvements to our integration to bring the power of ReadyAPI to all Postman users. ReadyAPI is the leading API quality platform, making sure that API functional, security, and performance testing are all right at your fingertips in one easy-to-use interface. Our integration makes it simple to import Postman Collections right into ReadyAPI for more advanced testing. So it’s not so much “Making a move” but joining together in the API lifecycle.

Postman is a fine start for API developers to poke and prod their APIs to make sure they are built correctly - according to an API definition, like the OpenAPI spec, or feature requirements - but it does not provide adequate testing capabilities to truly ensure that your API is functioning and performing correctly in production. While exploratory API testing is needed, and may be sufficient for some really small start-ups, here are just a few places where Postman can fall short for production-ready APIs:

Scriptless Test Creation and Validation

ReadyAPI has built-in assertions and test steps, allowing for a completely scriptless  experience that makes creating tests simple and intuitive. Using A.I. ReadyAPI can also create "Smart Assertions" against entire payloads based on previous request data. To create just one assertion in Postman, you’ll need to learn their proprietary version of JavaScript.

End-to-End Testing Scenarios

Postman is built around each individual endpoint in an API, which makes end-to-end testing all but impossible to track and follow over time. ReadyAPI is built around each test case, so tests can contain several different endpoints, resources, or pieces of data. Each test case can then be added, copied, or deleted inside a Test Suite, and then even higher, a Test Project. This makes managing and maintaining test cases simple.

Data Generation

One of the most challenging aspects of improving testing coverage is dealing with test data. While Postman only allows you to import data via a CSV file and is difficult to configure and automate, ReadyAPI has powerful data provisioning and generation capabilities. In ReadyAPI you can work with data by:

  • Importing from a file ( CSV, Excel, TXT, etc)
  • Importing from a database
  • Generating it synthetically -ReadyAPI can automatically make test data sets like zip codes, credit card numbers, and addresses on the fly

Load & Performance Testing

Time and again, performance of applications and services is rated as the most important criteria for “Success”. Postman does not have performance testing capabilities at all. ReadyAPI has the leading API performance testing tool in LoadUI Pro. 

With one-click you can transform your functional API tests in full-blown performance tests. Generate load from your local machine, or distribute globably in on-prem infrastructure or through the cloud. ReadyAPI also has pre-built load scenarios, making creation of accurate load scenarios a breeze.

Security/PEN Testing

With the advent of DevSecOps, more teams are looking to add security measure to their development pipeline. Postman has no security features at all. ReadyAPI Pro provides a robust API security tool that can inject your APIs with OWASP attacks like XSS bombs and Fuzzing. With one-click, simply transform your functional tests into powerful penetration tests.

Service Virtualization

While Postman has light mocking capabilities, it lacks true Service Virtualization features. With Postman mocking, you can create a static response for your endpoints to use for quick testing purposes. With ReadyAPI you are able to actually virtualize your services - creating life like APIs in just minutes. Add logic to your APIs responses and then feed them with real data, or even customize your mocked APIs performance, testing and developing against complex end-to-end scenarios.

Reporting

Last but not least is reporting. ReadyAPI makes it easy to visualize your Test results with customizable, Junit, CSV, or HTML reporting. Every test run can be tracked and measured - and integrations make it simple to pass data back and forth to robust test management platforms like Zephyr.