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QA Wolf vs Katalon
QA Wolf and Katalon are AI software testing tools, which write and run automated tests that click through an app the way a user would. Our editors read both companies' own sites, then read what QA engineers and developers say about the two tools in public reviews, community boards and chat forums. The table below compares price, limits and features.
| What buyers compare | QA Wolf | Katalon |
|---|---|---|
| Price per monthSources 3, 4 | Per test run: $1 web, $2 mobile, $2 desktop. Volume pricing from sales | Professional $2,199 per seat per year (about $183 per month). Offer until October 31: $1,000 per seat per year on the first 3 seats. Enterprise: quote |
| Free plan or trialSources 3, 4 | Not published | Free Studio for local authoring and runs. 30-day free trial of Professional Free plan |
| How usage is countedSources 3, 4 | Each test covers up to 5 minutes, longer tests billed in 5-minute blocks. Up to 3 attempts per run at no charge | Unlimited AI sessions, test suites and parallel runs on Professional |
| Seats and usersSources 3, 4 | No user limits | Priced per seat |
| Integrations and featuresSources 3, 4 | Tests written in open-source Playwright and Appium. Bugs filed to Linear or Jira | Web, mobile, API and desktop testing. MCP server. CI and tool integrations |
| Security and deploymentSources 3, 4 | Not published | Enterprise: SSO, SAML, SCIM, audit logs, private cloud or on-premises deployment |
| Best forSources 1, 2 | Product engineering teams that need broad end-to-end test coverage fast and would rather have the vendor write and maintain the tests | QA and engineering teams that want one AI-assisted studio for web, mobile and API tests, priced per seat |
List prices in US dollars per month before tax, as published on each vendor's site on October 16, 2026, billed monthly unless the cell says otherwise. "Quote" means the vendor sets the price through its sales team. A green check marks a row where the published data shows a clear edge.
Which one fits
Katalon is a studio your team uses, while QA Wolf writes and maintains tests for you and charges per run.
Choose QA Wolf if
- You want broad end-to-end coverage quickly and would rather pay per test run than hire for it.
- You want to keep the tests if you leave. QA Wolf writes them in open-source Playwright and Appium.
- You do not want AI token bills. QA Wolf includes AI use in the per-run price.
Choose Katalon if
- Your QA team wants one studio for web, mobile, API and Windows desktop tests.
- You want to start free. Katalon Studio's free version authors and runs tests on your own machine.
- You need on-premises or offline licenses. Enterprise offers private cloud, on-premises and offline runtime licenses.
What buyers say
“QA Wolf is better if you don’t have automation people, they just build and maintain the tests. Katalon is better if your QA team wants to write and own the suites themselves.”
sharadvelocity · r/softwaretesting · · source
“Go with Katalon when you need web, mobile, and API in one place. Go with something Playwright-based like QA Wolf when you don’t want to get stuck in a proprietary format you can’t leave.”
Yet_Another_JoeBob · r/QualityAssurance · · source
“QA Wolf wrote and maintains our end-to-end tests in Playwright, and we pay per run instead of hiring. Katalon is better if your own QA team wants to write the tests, and that was not our situation.”
VP of engineering, Series B marketplace
Representative buyer view
Verdict
QA Wolf (8.1 out of 10, Recommend) is the pick if you would rather pay per test run than hire automation engineers, since it writes and maintains the tests for you in open-source Playwright and Appium. Katalon (7.5 out of 10, Recommend) is the pick if your own QA team wants to write the tests in one studio that covers web, mobile, API and desktop.
Methodology
We read the QA Wolf and Katalon pricing pages and product sites on October 16, 2026 and recorded every published price, limit and plan feature. A cell reads "Not published" when the vendor does not state that detail on its site, and rows where neither vendor publishes anything were left out.
Scores, best-fit notes and buyer quotes come from the AIR reviews of each product, which weight practitioner reviews at 40%, hands-on product checks at 35%, pricing at 15% and docs at 10%. Paid reviews and pay-for-play sites are excluded. Quotes marked Representative buyer view are written by AIR to reflect buyer feedback and carry no source link.