What is Defect Logging and Tracking?

Defect logging, a process of finding defects in the application under test or

product by testing or recording feedback from customers and making new
versions of the product that fix the defects or the clients feedback.

Defect tracking is an important process in software engineering as Complex

and business critical systems have hundreds of defects. One of the
challenging factors is Managing, evaluating and prioritizing these defects.
The number of defects gets multiplied over a period of time and to
effectively manage them, defect tracking system is used to make the job
easier.

Examples - Hp Quality Center, IBM Rational Quality Manager

Defect Tracking Parameters

Defects are tracked based on various parameters such as:

Defect Id

Priority

Severity

Created by

Created Date

Assigned to

Resolved Date

Resolved By

Status
Top 20 Bug/Defect Tracking Tools
You can put this in another way "Better is the bug tracking tool, better the
quality of the product". Some of the best bug tracking tool in software
industries are

1) BugZilla

BugZilla is a popular bug tracking tool. These tool is an open source

software and provides some great features like

E-mail notification for change in code

Reports and Charts
Patch Viewers
List of bugs can be generated in different formats
Schedule daily, monthly and weekly reports
Detect duplicate bug automatically
Setting bug priorities by involving customers
Predict the time a bug may get fixed

2) JIRA

Thousands of software professionals use JIRA as a bug-tracking tool

because of its easy to use framework. JIRA is a commercial product and
helps to capture and organize the team issues, prioritizing the issue and
updating them with the project. It is a tool that directly integrates with the
code development environments making it a perfect fit for developers as
well. Due to its capability to track any kind of issues it is not just restricted to
the software industry. It supports agile projects. It comes with many
add-ons that make this tool more powerful than other tools

3) Mantis

If you have used other bug tracking tool, this tool can be easy to use.
Mantis not only comes as a web application but also has its own mobile
version. It works with multiple databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS
SQL and integrated with applications like chat, time tracking, wiki, RSS
feeds and many more.Mantis main features include

Open source tool

E-mail notification
Supported reporting with reports and graphs
Source control integration
Supports custom fields
Supports time tracking management
Multiple projects per instance
Enable to watch the issue change history and roadmap
Supports unlimited number of users, issues, and projects

4) RedMine
It is an open source bug tracking tool that integrates with SCM (Source
Code Management System) too. It supports multiple platforms and multiple
data-bases while for reporting purpose, Gantt charts and calendar are used.
Redmine is a project management web application developed using Ruby
on Rail framework. Some of the RedMine features include

Gantt chart and calendar

News, document and files management
SCM integration
Issue creation via e-mail
Multiple database support
Flexible issue tracking system
Flexible role based access control
Multilanguage support

5) Trac

Trac is a web based open source issue tracking system that developed in
Python. It is the superior version of wiki and used as the issue tracking tool
for software development projects. You can use it to browse through the
code, view history, view changes, etc. when you integrate Trac with SCM. It
supports multiple platforms like Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, Windows, etc. A
time-line shows all current and past project event in order while the
roadmap highlights the upcoming milestones.

6) Axosoft

It is a bug tracking system, available for hosted or on-premises software. It

is a project management tool for Scrum teams. Project managers and
developers can view each task, its requirement, defects and incidents, in
the system, on individual filing cards, through the Scrum planning board.
With Axosoft, you can manage your user stories, defects, support tickets
and a real-time snapshot of your progress.

Main features

Bug tracking
Scrum planning board
Scrum burn down charts
Requirement Management
Team wiki
Data visualization
SCM integration
Reporting
Help desk or incident tracking

7) HP ALM/ Quality Center

HP ALM is a complete test management solution with a robust integrated

bug tracking System within it. HP ALM's bug tracking mechanism is easy
and efficient. It supports Agile projects too. It is an expensive tool and may
not be very friendly with all the web browsers.

8) eTraxis

eTraxis is an open source bug tracking tool supporting multiple languages.

This tool is developed in a PHP language and supports multiple-database
like Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MS Server. For managing project,
eTraxis gives you a flexible platform involving multiple organizations by
providing a central place for all project activity. It allows to create multiple
users and projects and at the same time view the bugs assigned. Custom
workflows is an additional feature of this system that make handling project
as per your requirement.

Main features

Files exchange and supports attachment

E-mail notification
Flexible permission
Powerful filtering on issues
Custom workflow
View complete history of all events

Bugnet
It is an open source issue tracking system that is written using Asp.Net
platform and requires MySQL as a database. It has got everything that is
required for creating projects, issues and managing them efficiently. It is
free but the pro-version is licensed and commercial.

Main features

Email notification
Issue management
Support multiple projects and databases
Excellent Security
Online support community
Project and milestone management
Easy navigation and administration
Online support community

10) FogBugz

FogBugz is a web based bug tracking system that refers to defects as

cases. It prioritize and organize development task in one central place. It
includes a powerful search engine that enables you to instantly search the
complete content of cases, wiki articles, and customer correspondence.
Fogbugz supports almost all ios, Android, Blackberry, tablets, and ipads. It
is a commercial product but reasonably priced.

Main Features
 Issue tracking
Quick and easy case creation
Support help desk
Automated error reporting with Bugzscout
Automatic upgrades and backups
Integration with other tools
Project management
Time tracking
Integrated wiki

11) The Bug Genie

Recording the issue in the Bug Genie is simple and fast. Also, you can add
any number of the custom field to your issues. It exports all searches and
project timeline as RSS feeds. In issue views and search lists, issue related
actions are available with a single click. While the integrated quicksearch
enables you to quickly view your issue, it also allows to search through wiki
articles, users, teams and more. It is a complete Project management and
issue tracking tool

12) Lighthouse

Lighthouse is the perfect ticket tracking solution. It is simple, organized and

compatible with your mobile devices. To manage the bug, lighthouse give
you all the amenities it requires like custom states, effective tagging system,
advanced search, saved searches and a mass editing tool. It also
integrates with dozens of useful services that integrates with Lighthouse
like Airbrake, Github, Exceptional, Beanstalk, etc. With few clicks, you can
start managing tickets with commit messages or convert the application
exception into lighthouse issues

13) Zoho bug tracker

Zoho bug tracker is a powerful bug tracker that helps you to view issues
filtered by priority and severity. It improves the productivity by exactly
knowing which bugs are reproducible. It is an online tool that allows you to
create projects, bugs, milestone, reports, documents, etc. on a single
platform. With Zoho bug tracker automate reminding and notifying team
members is possible.

Main Features

Bug views and integration

Issue trackers flexible workflow
Classification of issues into different categories

14) BugHost
Though it is a commercial tool, it is affordable. This tool is developed for
large companies who need high volume licensing with a minimum prize.
Bughost is accessible on cloud and can create an issue directly into your
project.

Main features

Record unlimited defects

Integrated emails and file attachments
Bug linking
Update multiple bugs at once
Submission of bugs directly to your project by customers
Strong security protection to access bugs

5) Collabtive

It is an open source web based project management software designed for

small and medium size businesses. It is cloud based and alternative to
tools like basecamp. The key features of collabtive includes project
management, milestones, basecamp import, file management,
collaboration, timetracking etc.

16) Team Foundation Server

Team foundation server enables all stakeholders to participate in the
development process using a single solution, but it is also used as a bug
tracking tool. For bug tracking TFS gives notifications to team members as
well as keeps the record of whom the bug was assigned to. Since TFS
integrates with Active Directory, it is possible to send updates about the bug
to the customer who filed the bug.

Main features

Version control
Agile planning and collaboration
Reporting
Test case management
Bug tracking and notification

17) IBM Rational ClearQuest

IBM ClearQuest tracks, captures and manages any type of bugs. Like any
other tool, IBM rationalquest also gives you all the advantage of bug
tracking system. It support multiplatform, like HP-UX, Linux, Microsoft
Windows operating system. It can improve visibility and control of software
development projects.

Main Features

Integrating with other tools

Supports real time reporting and metrics
Increasing team collaboration

8) Unfuddle
With unfuddle developers can commit source code. It can integrate with
most critical tools for any software project. Unfuddle gives better security to
your data as amazon provides their servers. It helps to track bugs, feature
request and manage the tickets.

Main Features

Bug and issue management

Web-based subversion access
Wiki
Milestone tracking

19) DevTrack

DevTrack is not specially designed as a regular bug tracker tool. It has a

wide range of function but can be considered for defect tracking system.

Main features

Automatically route issues to appropriate users

Email notifications
Help team members to track and resolve issues
Create and assign sub issues
Import and authenticate users from Active directory

20) Salesforce
It is a web-based bug tracking and project management system. The
platform supports tasks planning, creates stories to track tasks, as well as
various reports and statistics. The other features of this tool include

Projects
Clone defects
Defect Sharing
Kanban
Defects
Chatter
Reports
Burn work hours

These are some most common bug tracker tool used in software industry,
but there are few more bug tracking tools which can be used keeping in
mind the requirement of the project.

TestTrack
BUGTrack
BugAware
YouTrack
Request Tracker
BontQ
WebIssues (Open source issue tracking system)
DoneDone