Crowdsourced Testing Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Component (Platform, Services), By Testing Type, By Application, By Organization Size, By Industry, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030

Report Overview

The global crowdsourced testing market size was valued at USD 2.62 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7% from 2023 to 2030. The increasing need for cost-effective and flexible Quality Assurance (QA) practices drives the growth of the market. Crowdsourced testing is a software testing type that uses testers available throughout the day and in different locations. It has a better possibility of finding a bug as there are many testers, and the tests are conducted under various conditions, such as connectivity, user locations, and devices. Crowdsourced testing offers benefits such as lower test costs and is a customer-centric testing method as the testing is done by actual users worldwide.

Crowdsourced testing platforms connect the client with a team of crowd testers. These platforms can also connect the client with professional testers depending on the client’s target demographic who will use the software application. Crowdsourced testing platforms understand the client’s needs, plan the test methodology, recruit crowd testers, and initiate the test process across software and devices. The results are then validated, and clients are provided with an in-depth analysis of the test life cycle.

Market players are looking to provide innovative solutions for clients, helping them improve their digital experience. For instance, in February 2021, Applause App Quality, Inc. announced the launch of the Product Excellence Platform (PEP). The platform provides businesses with access to digital experts and digital testing solutions. With this launch, the company aimed to improve the ability to find software bugs and improve the application development lifecycle for its customers.

Crowdsourced testing platforms have been adopted rapidly in North America, a region with many crowdsourced testing companies and developed technological infrastructure. The region has high internet and smartphone penetration, driving North America's crowdsourced testing market growth. The market is fragmented, with many market players present in the market. The market players and new entrants are adopting strategies such as product launches and expansion to gain a competitive edge.

COVID-19 Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic had a positive impact on the crowdsourced testing market. Companies adopted the Work-From-Home (WFH) model due to government regulations for social distancing and travel restrictions. Many companies struggled to transition from in-office to a remote working model. Companies suffered from a lack of remote infrastructure to move their in-house Quality Assurance (QA) teams to remote working scenarios. Many organizations’ QA teams could not operate efficiently due to a lack of proper remote infrastructure, aiding the market growth.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digitization, with more people adopting mobile applications for various use cases, including digital payment and online shopping. It also positively impacted mobile application development as businesses shifted to online channels to meet customer expectations. Healthcare, entertainment, and video calling applications saw increased adoption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowdsourced testing offers benefits such as a faster test life cycle process, reduced costs, and availability of remote testers, contributing to the market’s growth due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Component Insights

In terms of component, the market is classified into platform and services. The platform segment dominated the overall market, gaining a market share of 70.7% in 2022. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.3% throughout the forecast period. Crowdsourcing companies provide organizations access to vetted crowd testers where they can manage test activities, create quality tests, and execute them through the crowdsourced testing platform.

The wide availability of crowdsourced testing platforms with feature-based pricing options is driving the growth of the platforms segment. Moreover, some platforms offer integration of the company’s tech stacks with their platform, improving productivity. For instance, Global App Testing (Spa Worldwide Limited)’s platform can integrate with Atlassian’s Jira or GitHub, Inc.’s GitHub, among others.

The services segment is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR of 12.5% throughout the forecast period. Services include test management, test plan creation, support, and consulting services. This is a managed crowdsourced testing approach, as the customer doesn’t interact directly with crowd testers, and a dedicated resource provides insights. Services save the organization test management time and improve the development life cycle, driving the segment growth.

Testing Type Insights

In terms of testing type, the market is classified into exploratory, Graphical User Interface (GUI), usability, functional, performance, and other testing types. The usability testing segment dominated the overall market, gaining a market share of 25.4% in 2022. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.1% throughout the forecast period. It determines issues or bugs in an application, and real-life users do the testing.

Crowdsourced testing involves testing an application by crowd testers located at remote locations. Testing done by many crowd testers helps determine the bugs in an application quickly and helps companies determine if the application needs revision. Moreover, many crowdsourced companies offer usability testing functionalities. Hence, the benefits and availability of usability testing are driving the segment's growth.

The performance testing segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 13.6% during the forecast period. It helps determine how efficiently an application can handle the growing number of transactions, users, and data volumes. It helps companies avoid unexpected failures and ensure applications can handle growing demand. The need to ensure efficient and responsive applications even when there are many users is driving the segment growth. Cigniti and StarDust (Computer Task Group, Inc.) are market players offering performance testing solutions.

Application Insights

In terms of application, the market is classified into mobile applications, web applications, and native desktop applications. The mobile applications segment has dominated the market, gaining a market share of 40.9% in 2022 and witnessing the fastest CAGR of 12.9% during the forecast period. Growing internet and smartphone penetration worldwide, especially across developing nations, is driving the growth of this segment. Consumers are increasingly using mobile applications for various tasks, such as digital payment, online shopping, and digital media consumption, among others. Moreover, mobile applications are platform specific and are more complex than web applications in terms of functionality and features. Hence, crowdsourcing platforms are being used to improve the overall functionality of mobile applications across platforms and devices.

The web applications segment is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 11.2% throughout the forecast period. Web applications are comparatively less complex than mobile applications as they are not platform specific. However, the need to ensure the smooth functioning of web applications and improve customer experience is driving the growth of this segment. Market players such as Testbirds B.V. and Ubertesters Inc. offer website testing solutions.

Organization Size Insights

In terms of organization size, the market is classified into Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and large size enterprises. The large-size enterprises segment held the maximum share in the market, with a share of 63.1% in 2022, and is expected to witness a CAGR of 10.9% throughout the forecast period. Large-size enterprises might find it difficult to test every application and feature across countries and devices with in-house Quality Assurance (QA) teams. Moreover, the in-house Quality Assurance (QA) teams may miss out on application bugs that crowd testers would identify as they would not have any bias. The need to identify and fix maximum bugs in an application and improve application scalability are driving large enterprises' adoption of crowdsourced testing. 

The Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) segment is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR of 12.8% throughout the forecast period. Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly adopting or looking to adopt digital technologies to improve business processes and operations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2021 survey, there was a rise in interest in using digital technologies among Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in 2021 compared to 2019. This will likely lead to growth in application development by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The need for cost-effective software test methods is driving the growth of this segment.

Industry Insights

In terms of industry, the market is classified into Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI), retail, IT & telecom, media & entertainment, healthcare, and native desktop others. The BFSI segment has dominated the overall crowdsourced market, gaining a market share of 22.5% in 2022 and witnessing a CAGR of 11.9% during the forecast period. The growing digitization of banking platforms and applications to improve customer experience is driving the growth of the BFSI segment. Mobile banking is witnessing growth in adoption as customers increasingly use mobile applications for applications such as instant payment and investments.

The retail segment is anticipated to witness the fastest CAGR of 13.6% throughout the forecast period. The growth in e-commerce sales worldwide, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is driving the growth of this segment. E-commerce websites and applications must load quickly and provide an easy navigation path in addition to efficient checkout and payment processes. Many crowdsourcing companies, such as Testlio, Bugcrowd, and Applause App Quality, Inc., serve the retail sector.

Regional Insights

North America dominated the overall market in 2022, with a revenue share of 31.1%. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.8% throughout the forecast period. North America has prominent market players such as U.S.-based Testlio, Test IO (EPAM Systems, Inc.), and Ubertesters Inc. Moreover, developed technological infrastructure is aiding the growth of the region. High mobile app development, computer software Research & Development (R&D), and a favorable cloud ecosystem is aiding the growth of application development in the region. This is aiding the adoption of crowdsourcing test platforms in the region.

Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 13.0% over the forecast period. Asia Pacific has a developing technology infrastructure and rising internet & smartphone penetration. This, along with the region’s huge population, is aiding the growth in mobile application usage for various applications, including online shopping and mobile banking services. Hence, the demand for efficient applications across devices and platforms for various sectors is likely to grow to meet the customer demand in the region. Crowdsourced testing can improve the overall test lifecycle and the overall customer experience.

Key Companies & Market Share Insights

The market is fragmented and is likely to witness high competition in the market. Some prominent players in the market include Cigniti, Testlio, Digivante Limited, Global App Testing (Spa Worldwide Limited), Test IO (EPAM Systems, Inc.), Applause App Quality, Inc., Ubertesters Inc., Crowdsprint, Testbirds B.V., Userfeel Ltd, THE Β FAMILY AB., StarDust (Computer Task Group, Inc.), Bugcrowd, Rainforest QA, Inc., msg systems ag, and Mob4Hire, among others.

These players are adopting strategies such as expansion to gain a competitive edge. In September 2021, India-based Cigniti announced the opening of their new office in Prague, Czech Republic. The company aimed to grow its presence in Europe and meet the digital transformation needs of large European enterprises. Some prominent players in the global crowdsourced testing market include:

• Cigniti

• Testlio

• Digivante Limited

• Global App Testing (Spa Worldwide Limited)

• Test IO (EPAM Systems, Inc.)

• Applause App Quality, Inc.

• Ubertesters Inc.

• Crowdsprint

• Testbirds B.V.

• Userfeel Ltd

• THE Β FAMILY AB.

• StarDust (Computer Task Group, Inc.)

• Bugcrowd

• Rainforest QA, Inc.

• msg systems ag

• Mob4Hire

Recent Developments

• In June 2023, Applause announced the expansion of its capabilities in assisting clients with the training, testing, and validation of high-quality generative AI models through enhanced crowd-testing services

• In May 2023, Testlio and Bugcrowd partnered to provide businesses with thorough quality and security testing services that capitalize on the unique efficiency benefits of crowdsourced testing 

Crowdsourced Testing Market Report Scope

Global Crowdsourced Testing Market Report Segmentation

This report forecasts revenue growths at global, regional, as well as at country levels and offers a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the latest industry trends for each of the segments and sub-segments from 2017 to 2030. For this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global crowdsourced testing market report based on component, testing type, application, organization size, industry, and region:

• Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

  • Platform

  • Services

• Testing Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

  • Exploratory Testing                       

  • Graphical User Interface (GUI) Testing

  • Usability Testing                

  • Functional Testing             

  • Performance Testing                     

  • Others           

• Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

  • Mobile Applications                       

  • Web Applications                

  • Native Desktop Applications

• Organization Size Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

  • Small And Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

  • Large Size Enterprises       

• Industry Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

  • BFSI              

  • Retail            

  • IT & Telecom                       

  • Media & Entertainment                

  • Healthcare               

  • Others           

• Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

  • North America

    • U.S.

    • Canada

  • Europe

    • UK

    • Germany

    • France

  • Asia Pacific

    • India

    • China

    • Japan

    • South Korea

    • Australia

  • Latin America

    • Brazil

    • Mexico

  • Middle East & Africa

    • Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

    • U.A.E.

    • South Africa