SmokeVsSanityTesting

Smoke and Sanity Testing are the most confusing topics in Software Testing.

There may be some similarities between the two testing methods, but there are also distinct differences that set them apart from each other.

What is Smoke Testing?

Smoke testing taken from the word ‘Smoke’ – it originated from the concept when a piece of hardware was tested to ensure that it did not catch fire,  merely clarified that it was safe to test the piece of hardware.

 

Deriving from the above – when a piece of software is tested for meeting its basic requirements and confirming that it is not totally contrary to the expected product, it is called smoke testing. Smoke testing is done immediately after receiving the build (the first few instances) and can thus be termed as “Build Verification Test”.

In Smoke testing, just the basic functionalities are tested, without going in for the deep, minute and important functionalities.

It is executed "before" any detailed functional or regression tests are executed on the software build.The purpose is to reject a badly broken application, so that the QA team does not waste time installing and testing the software application.

What is Sanity Testing?It is done to ensure that a product has been given to you in its cleanest form after making certain modifications to it to fix some existing problems. Thus, sanity testing is done after a new build is obtained after minor updates. 

Thus in case of Sanity Testing - when a product is delivered with bug fixes and new features, a set of regression test cases are selected and executed in order to ensure that no major new bugs have been introduced into the software.
Sanity testing is mostly done after a product has already seen a few number of releases or versions 

If sanity test fails, the build is rejected to save the time and costs involved in a more rigorous testing.

 

The objective is "not" to verify thoroughly the new functionality, but to determine that the developer has applied some rationality (sanity) while producing the software

Smoke Testing	Sanity Testing
Smoke Testing is performed to ascertain that the critical functionalities of the program is working fine	Sanity Testing is done to check the new functionality / bugs have been fixed
The objective of this testing is to verify the "stability" of the system in order to proceed with more rigorous testing	The objective of the testing is to verify the "rationality" of the system in order to proceed with more rigorous testing
This testing is performed by the developers or testers	Sanity testing is usually performed by testers
Smoke testing is a subset of Regression testing	Sanity testing is a subset of Acceptance testing
Smoke testing exercises the entire system from end to end	Sanity testing exercises only the particular component of the entire system
Smoke testing is like General Health Check Up	Sanity Testing is like specialized health check up