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Katalon Studio review

#8 in API Testing ToolsScore 8.7/10Checked Nov 15, 2026By BestSoftwareGuides Editorial Team

Katalon Studio is a test automation tool for web, API, mobile and desktop testing. It ranks #8 of 11 in our API testing tools list (8.7/10). Best for QA teams that want API tests alongside web and mobile UI tests in one tool.

Price: Free plan · paid from $150/user/mo (annual) · 30-day free trial (per pricing page).

Visit Katalon StudioFull pricingAlternatives

What Katalon Studio is

Katalon Studio is a test automation IDE that covers web, mobile and API testing, including REST, SOAP and GraphQL requests. Paid plans add headless and CI/CD execution (via Katalon Runtime Engine) with Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, GitLab and Docker.

Pros and cons

Where it wins
  • API, web and mobile tests live in the same project
  • Supports REST, SOAP 1.1/1.2 and GraphQL requests
  • Free plan covers local authoring and execution
Where it falls short
  • Free plan has no headless, CI/CD or parallel execution and is limited to 40 static test suites
  • Professional is sold annually only at $1,800 per seat per year; no monthly price shown
  • No API mocking or load testing mentioned on the API testing page

Katalon Studio pricing

Katalon Studio pricing plans
PlanBilled annuallyBilled monthlyAnnual savingNotes
FreeFreeFree—Katalon Studio Free
Professional$150/mo——Per seat; '$1,800 / seat / year' (≈ $150/seat/month), annual billing only
EnterpriseCustom quoteCustom quote—Custom annual contract

USD, per user per month unless noted. "—" means the price is not published or we could not confirm it. Last checked Nov 15, 2026. Status: verified on Katalon Studio's pricing page.

Key facts

Free planYes. Local authoring, record and playback, local execution; up to 40 static test suites; no CI/CD or parallel execution
Free trial30-day free trial (per pricing page)
Paid from$150/user/mo billed annually
Minimum seats1
PlatformsDesktop app, Cloud execution (TestCloud add-on)
REST API testingYes
GraphQL testingYes
Load testingNot confirmed
API mockingNot confirmed
CI/CD integrationYes
Facts checkedNov 15, 2026 · verified on the vendor's own site (source)

Katalon Studio alternatives

Apidog 9.8/10
Teams that want API design, mocks, tests and docs in one tool at a low per-user price
Karate 9.8/10
Engineering teams that want code-based API tests in CI without a per-user client fee
Postman 9.8/10
Teams of any size that want one shared tool for API requests, tests and mocks
Bruno 9.4/10
Developers who want API collections versioned in Git with no cloud account
Insomnia 9.4/10
Developers who want a local-first or Git-synced API client with CLI test runs
Hoppscotch 8.9/10
Teams that want a free, self-hostable API client with low per-user cloud pricing
Apache JMeter 8.8/10
Teams that need free load testing of HTTP, REST, SOAP and GraphQL endpoints
ReadyAPI 8.1/10
Enterprise QA teams testing many API protocols, including SOAP and messaging
iceDQ 7.8/10
Enterprise QA and data teams testing ETL pipelines, migrations and BI reports
REST Assured 7.5/10
Java teams writing API tests as code alongside JUnit or TestNG

Frequently asked questions

How much does Katalon Studio cost?

Katalon Studio has a free plan and paid plans start at $150 per user/month billed annually. Prices last checked Nov 15, 2026.

Is Katalon Studio free?

Yes. Local authoring, record and playback, local execution; up to 40 static test suites; no CI/CD or parallel execution

What are the best Katalon Studio alternatives?

Apidog (9.8/10), Karate (9.8/10), Postman (9.8/10) are the highest-scoring alternatives in our API testing tools ranking.

Sources