Frequently asked questions

Testpad is a simple, checklist-style test management tool that helps teams organize manual testing without the complexity of traditional test case management. It works more like a smart checklist than a formal tool, so you can easily plan and execute your testing without the bells and whistles you don't need.

We kept it simple so anyone can use it, but it's particularly helpful to developers, testers, product managers, and anyone who needs to organize manual testing. It's popular with testing teams in a mess with spreadsheets, and anyone doing exploratory testing or user acceptance testing.

We kept it simple so the learning curve is near zero and it's quick to set up. We've created a getting started video to help you navigate our way of organising test plans as checklists, but after that it's as simple as ticking a checkbox.

All accounts start by signing up for the fully-featured free trial. The free trial lasts 30 days, includes all features, and supports up to 20 users. No credit card needed. As soon as you're ready to continue with Testpad after those 30 days, just add your card details to your account.

Testpad has been designed so it's easy for anyone to jump in and test — but you'll find lots of guidance in the hints and tips section of our blog. If your team needs help, just drop us a message at support@testpad.com. We can offer a demo if needed.

Just drop us an email at support@testpad.com — we're a friendly bunch!

Email us at support@testpad.com and we'll take a look.

Traditional test case management tools rely on database-style, structured, form-based test cases that can be slow and admin-heavy. Testpad takes a simpler approach with flexible checklists you can edit as you go, making it easy for anyone to jump in and test. You can set up test plans in Testpad similar to traditional test case management if needed, but rather than a database, they're organized into scripts (checklist-style test plans). It's the perfect upgrade from using spreadsheets.

A checklist is the most natural, intuitive way to document a list of tests you want to remember to cover. Because it's so intuitive, anyone on your team can jump in and start contributing without learning a complex tool. New eyes can make immediate sense of what needs doing.

Well, any kind, really. The flexible nature of Testpad's checklist-style test plans means they can be adapted for manual testing, exploratory testing, regression testing, UAT, sanity checks, BDD, and more.

Yes, it's built for exactly this. While your automated tests run in CI/CD pipelines, Testpad handles the manual testing that happens alongside — exploratory testing, user scenarios, edge cases that are hard to automate. And with the API, you can inject results from CI/CD and see automated results in reports alongside your manual test results.

Testpad's flexible checklist-style test plans naturally lend themselves to lists of prompts that guide an exploratory tester — a pragmatic compromise between leaving things too open for pure exploration and overspecifying test steps in a way that loses the value of human intuition and tenacity for finding problems.

No, and that's intentional — we are designed for manual testing. Your automated tests belong in your CI/CD pipeline, whereas Testpad handles the human-driven testing automation can't replace. That said, with our API you can pull automated results into Testpad reports so everything sits alongside your manual testing.

Testpad was designed for more simple and flexible test prompting than formal test cases, but you can nevertheless use Testpad's scripts as collections of test cases complete with steps and expected outcomes. It's not its forte, but many teams enjoy the familiarity of the test case structure combined with the flexibility and simplicity of Testpad's UI.

Testpad handles expected results flexibly. Many teams write test prompts that include what they're checking for — something like "verify error message appears for invalid login" captures both the action and expectation in one line. If you prefer more traditional formatting with separate expected results, you can block out areas of the checklist so there's one pass/fail per section. It's all about how you want to format your tests.

Testpad supports image and file attachments to both tests (to help define a test) and results (to show what happened). In both cases, attach files by dragging and dropping onto the drop zones in either the Test Details dialog or the Test Run Execution dialog. Any problems, just email us at support@testpad.com and we'll help.

You can organize collections of tests into Scripts (test plans), and Scripts into Folders and nested Sub-Folders. Within Scripts, you can tag groups of tests and, per test run, filter which tags to include or exclude.

You have two options, depending on where you are in your release cycle.

For a new build within the same release, use Testpad's Retest feature rather than hitting "New Test Run." Retest creates a fresh column that takes over the progress stats from the previous run, so as fails get retested and fixed, your pass rate can actually reach 100%, rather than being dragged down by old results. More on using Retest to go from build to build here.

For a new release altogether, duplicate the folder from your previous release. When you copy a folder in Testpad, the tests and run headers carry across but the results are left behind so you get a clean slate without losing your historical record. More on copying scripts to go from release to release here.

You can import tests by copy/pasting text into the Import dialog of a script. There may be some format adjustment needed depending on how your existing data is structured — simple text files are a paste-and-go. For spreadsheets it's a little more involved. You can export your data at any time.

Testpad has a few levels of organization: Scripts (your individual test plans), Folders, and nested Sub-Folders. Within each Script, you can use outline-style indentation to create natural hierarchy — similar to how you'd structure a document or mind map. You can also tag groups of tests within a Script and filter by those tags per test run, making it easy to focus on specific areas without duplicating work.

You edit scripts with a fast keyboard-driven editor — hammering out test prompts, hitting enter to start new lines, pressing TAB and SHIFT-TAB to indent and outdent. This works even during a test run. You can add or edit tests mid-session, which is exactly when a lot of new ideas will occur to you.

Reports in Testpad are just webpages. They're always live and ready, with no setup required. You can pull one up at any point during a test cycle and share it directly with stakeholders, without giving them access to edit anything. They show what's been tested and what hasn't, pass/fail summaries, and detailed test run results.

Testpad has guest testing built in — you can invite users outside your licensed group to help test, without them needing a license or full account access. Just send them a temporary link and they're in. It's perfect for freelancers, occasional testers, or UAT clients.

No, sorry. Testpad is web-based and saves all your changes to the server as you interact with it.

Testpad works great on mobile for running tests, with email and QR-code helpers to get you to the right test quickly. For managing, editing, and creating tests, you'll need a bigger screen and a keyboard.

It does! They're part of our simple user interface. Brush up on them here.

Testpad's workflow is deliberately kept simple — we haven't tried to make it customizable because that simplicity is the point. Test formats, however, are very flexible. You can lay out your folders, scripts, and hierarchical test plans however suits your process.

Because Testpad works like a checklist, anyone can contribute without training — developers can add technical checks, PMs can add user scenarios, and the whole team works in the same simple format. Test runs can be assigned to specific team members or guest testers, so it's always clear who's responsible for what. And for UAT specifically, guest testing is a natural fit — clients can be invited in with a temporary link to test against their requirements, no account or onboarding needed.

Absolutely. If they can make a checklist, they can contribute to testing. No technical knowledge of testing tools needed.

You can assign people to test runs, so it's easy to see who performed them. Test runs show who performed them, giving you clear accountability without complex tracking processes.

Very easy. You can edit test prompts directly as you go, adding new tests that pop up whilst testing.

Our integrations are lightweight by design — essentially the ability to link to the right place in tools like Jira so you can update as you go. We also have an API that lets you connect Testpad to other tools for custom workflows.

Not directly, but you can link to Jira issues from test comments — keeping everything connected without a formal integration.

Not formal traceability matrices, though you can link tests to requirements through organization and comments.

With our API, yes. You can pull test results into dashboards when manual testing completes.

Yes, especially from spreadsheets. For complex migrations from other tools, you might need to format the data to import it the way you want in Testpad.

It depends on your current approach. If you're migrating from formal test case management tools, you'll need to simplify and edit your test cases into test prompts to get the most out of Testpad's approach. The import process itself is straightforward.

Many tools assume you want formal test case management with detailed documentation, whereas Testpad assumes you want to test effectively without the extra process work. Ultimately though, it comes down to what tool works best for your team. Have a read of this blog where we round up the best test management tools.

You get speed and simplicity but lose formal documentation and rigid process enforcement. Great trade-off for most teams, but not if you need detailed compliance documentation.

If you need strict regulatory compliance requiring formal test case documentation with detailed audit trails, or if your process demands detailed step-by-step scripts that multiple people execute identically, traditional tools might be better suited to you.

It depends on your specific requirements. We have users in healthcare and finance who find Testpad works well for their needs. However, if you need specific formatting or detailed audit trails for compliance, you'll want to verify that our approach meets your particular regulatory requirements. It's not that Testpad isn't suitable for these industries — it's just that they might need specific configurations or processes to work with their compliance needs.

It's perfect for building up regression checks over time. Add a test prompt every time you fix a bug, then rerun those checks for each release.

You can try us free for 30 days — no card needed.

You can find them on our pricing page. We also offer custom plans for larger teams who want to pay by invoice rather than credit card.

Per user pricing based on your chosen plan. There are no limits on projects or test cases — test as much as you need.

Guest testing isn't available on the Essential plan. On all other plans, guests don't count toward your user limit — you just send them a temporary link and they can get started.

Yes — upgrade or downgrade your plan whenever using the self-service buttons on the subscriptions page in Testpad. If you're on a custom plan, email support@testpad.com for help.

Sometimes! We don't have a formal discount policy, but we consider requests on a case-by-case basis. Drop us a line at support@testpad.com.

Cancel at any time — your plan will simply not renew at the next renewal date (monthly or annually, depending on your plan).

You can export your projects at any time to keep an offline copy. This gives you extra peace of mind and ensures your test data is always accessible — even outside Testpad.

No formal audit trails yet but it's on our roadmap. For version history, Testpad doesn't have a direct feature, but teams using the copy-forward pattern (duplicating scripts at the start of each release) end up with a natural archive: older copies showing what was tested, with what result, at the time.

Testpad is built on scalable AWS infrastructure and works well for teams of all sizes — we have customers managing hundreds of users happily. That said, larger enterprises may find they want features we don't yet support, like SSO, directory service integration, or centralised user provisioning.

Very secure. Testpad is SOC2 Type 2 certified, hosted on AWS infrastructure, and continuously monitored for compliance. Security is built into every layer, from encrypted connections to strict access controls.

Yes. Testpad is fully GDPR-compliant and follows strict privacy practices.

Yes. Testpad has been independently audited and is SOC 2 Type 2 certified, meaning our controls for security, availability, and confidentiality have been verified by a trusted third party.

Testpad offers straightforward role management: team members have full access to create, edit, and manage tests, while guests can test with limited permissions. This keeps things simple while still controlling who can do what.