Kilotest

Ensemble testing

Web applications, like all software, can fail to behave as intended unless it is tested. Testing by realistic human users is valuable, but slow and expensive. You can optimize your investment in talented testers by discovering as many problems as possible with automated tests, and resolving those problems, before you ask humans to start testing. Then testers will have less work to do and can concentrate on the subtle issues that automated tests did not detect.

OK, but there are numerous automated testing tools. Which should you use? Tools vary in what and how they test, so each tool discovers only a fraction of the issues that multiple tools discover.

The answer: ensemble testing. Test with several tools that have different strengths. Then assemble their results into a standardized report. That is what Kilotest does.

Kilotest services

Kilotest currently offers two services:

• Kilotest Screen does quick preliminary testing of up to 5 web pages and gives you over-all impact estimates. This service can help if you want to compare the website qualities of various organizations.
• Kilotest Dev runs all the tests of 11 tools on one web page, to identify as many issues as possible before human testing begins.

The tools

Kilotest leverages an ensemble of 11 tools developed by teams around the world, including the USA, Canada, Denmark, Australia, and Portugal. Some of the tools are under active development, and when they get updated Kilotest users get the benefits.

The tools perform more than a thousand tests in total. Specialized open-source software developed initially at CVS Health drives the tools and distills their results into about 300 issues.

The tools in the ensemble are independent of each other and of Kilotest, so Kilotest cannot guarantee that every reported issue is a genuine problem. If you need such a guarantee, you might prefer a single tool, such as axe-core, that is less comprehensive but claims to avoid false positives.

Status

Kilotest is an early-stage proof of concept, launched in November 2025. The currently used tools focus on HTML and CSS standards, usability, and accessibility. Your suggestions, bug reports, and collaboration proposals are welcome! Feel free to post them on GitHub or email them to info@kilotest.com.