Is Katalon Open Source? What Katalon Studio Includes for Free

Is Katalon open source? The short answer

• Katalon Studio is not open source. It is commercial software from Katalon, offered as a Free plan and paid Professional and Enterprise plans.
• It is built on open-source frameworks. Studio runs web tests on Selenium and mobile tests on Appium, and you can script in Groovy or Java.
• It has a Free plan. You can author and run web, API, and mobile tests locally at no cost.
• Some Katalon projects are open source, such as the plugin platform, the Jenkins plugin, and Katalon Recorder, which is no longer maintained. Sample projects are public on GitHub.

What Katalon Studio is built on

Katalon Studio is a test automation IDE for web, mobile, API, and Windows desktop testing. Under the hood, web tests drive browsers through Selenium WebDriver and mobile tests drive devices through Appium, the same open-source projects many teams use directly.

What Studio adds on top is the part you would otherwise build yourself: a project structure, an object repository for locators, built-in keywords for common actions, record and playback, data-driven testing, and reports. You can build a test case from keywords without code, switch to the script view, and write Groovy or Java in the same test case.

Because it sits on Selenium and Appium, Studio can also bring in existing Selenium work. Selenium WebDriver projects in Java and Selenium IDE projects can be brought into Studio, so those tests don't have to start from scratch.

What is open source around Katalon

Katalon publishes several projects on GitHub. As of November 2026, these are the ones you are most likely to look for:

• katalon-studio/katalon-studio: the public repository for Studio releases, installers, and issue reports. It has no open-source license and does not contain Studio's core source code.
• katalon-studio-platform: published as an open-source platform for building Katalon Studio plugins.
• Jenkins plugin and utilities: the Katalon Studio Jenkins plugin and the utils repository use the MIT license.
• Sample projects: ready-made Studio projects for web, mobile, and API testing are public in the separate katalon-studio-samples organization on GitHub. Most carry no open-source license, so treat them as examples to copy, not open-source software.
• Katalon Recorder: a browser extension and Selenium IDE alternative, published under the Apache-2.0 license. Its GitHub page says it is no longer actively maintained, with no further updates or security patches planned.

So "Katalon GitHub" will show you open-source plugins and integrations, plus public examples, but not an open-source version of Studio itself.

What the Katalon Studio Free plan includes

The Free plan is a full desktop install of Katalon Studio, separate from the 30-day trial of paid features. As of November 2026, it covers:

• Authoring and running tests locally
• Web, API, and mobile testing
• Record and playback for web and mobile
• Basic data-driven testing
• Up to 10 static test suites
• Git-based source control, report export, and email report sharing
• Katalon Academy, the community forum, and the docs for support

Several features need a paid plan (Professional or Enterprise): Windows desktop testing, AI self-healing, parallel execution, BDD with Cucumber, dynamic test suites, the AI agents for test authoring and failure analysis, and Jira and ALM integrations. Running tests from the command line or in CI also needs a paid plan plus the Katalon Runtime Engine (KRE) add-on. TestCloud, for cloud browsers and devices, is a separate paid add-on that works with any Studio plan, including Free.

Professional costs $1,800 per seat per year (about $150 a month), billed annually, and Enterprise pricing is custom. Both are on the Katalon pricing page. A 30-day free trial lets you try the paid features before you buy. For a line-by-line breakdown, see Katalon Studio Free vs Professional vs Enterprise.

Open-source framework vs Katalon Studio at a glance

As of November 2026, here is how a typical open-source framework (Selenium, Playwright, or Cypress) compares with the Katalon Studio Free and Professional plans.

Building a framework vs starting in Studio

With an open-source framework, the first weeks often go into building the framework, not writing tests. A typical Selenium setup means installing a language runtime and build tool, adding WebDriver and a test runner such as TestNG, choosing a design pattern such as the Page Object Model, and then writing helpers for waits, logging, screenshots, and reports.

That work is not wasted. You end up with a framework that fits your application exactly, and every line of it is yours to change. But someone has to maintain it as browsers, libraries, and your application change, and that person needs to be a solid programmer as well as a tester.

In Katalon Studio, the structure is already there. A first web test takes five steps:

1. Create a project: go to File > New > Project, name it, and choose where to store it.
2. Create a test case: in the Tests Explorer, right-click the Test Cases folder and select New > Test Case.
3. Add steps and a verification, by recording, choosing keywords, or writing Groovy in the script view.
4. Add the test case to a test suite: right-click Test Suites > New > Test Suite, then select Add Test Case.
5. Run the suite and review the report.

The trade-off is control. You work within Studio's project structure and keywords, and you can extend them with custom keywords and plugins, but you can't change the tool itself.

Moving Selenium tests into Katalon Studio

If you already have a Selenium suite, switching to Katalon Studio doesn't always mean starting again. As of November 2026, Selenium WebDriver projects in Java (Selenium 4.x with TestNG or JUnit) can be migrated into Studio. You build their dependencies with Gradle, copy the code into the project, and run the classes through the TestNG/JUnit Keywords plugin. Selenium IDE projects (.side files, version 3 or later) import through File > Import Selenium IDE Project. Suites in Python, C#, JavaScript, or Ruby need to be rewritten. The Selenium to Katalon migration page covers the options.

This video walks through importing a Selenium project:

For a deeper look at the differences, see Katalon Studio vs Selenium-based open-source frameworks.

When an open-source framework is the better choice

An open-source framework is often the better fit when:

• Your team writes code every day. Developers who own tests alongside product code tend to prefer a framework in their own language, such as Playwright with TypeScript or Selenium with Python.
• You need full control. You can read, fork, and patch the source, and nothing ties your tests to a vendor's release cycle.
• Budget is fixed at zero. You can run tests in CI, in parallel, on any machine, with no license, as long as you have the engineering time.
• You test one kind of app. A web-only team may get everything it needs from Playwright or Cypress, and a mobile-only team from Appium.

If you want open source with a keyword style closer to Studio's, Robot Framework is worth a look. See Robot Framework alternatives for how it compares with other options.

When Katalon Studio is the better fit

Katalon Studio tends to suit teams where:

• Skills are mixed. Manual testers can record and use keywords while engineers script in Groovy or Java, in the same project.
• You test more than one app type. Web, API, and mobile tests share one project and one object repository, with Windows desktop testing on a paid plan.
• Framework upkeep is slowing you down. The structure, reporting, and locator management come built in, so time goes into tests rather than plumbing.
• You want to start free and scale later. The Free plan covers local work, and Professional adds self-healing, parallel runs, and integrations when you need them. Test management (Katalon TestOps) and cloud execution (TestCloud) are separate products you can add.

Should you choose open source or Katalon Studio?

If the question is "Is Katalon open source?", the answer is no, and that matters if you need to modify the tool or avoid any vendor dependency. In that case, Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, Appium, or Robot Framework will serve you better.

If the question behind it is "Can I use Katalon without paying?", the answer is yes. The Free plan runs real web, API, and mobile tests locally. A practical way to decide is to build the same few tests in your current framework and in Katalon Studio, then compare how long each took and who on your team could maintain them.