Tesbo vs TestLink
TestLink has been the open-source answer to test case management for about twenty years, and it is still maintained. Since Tesbo Community is also free and self-hosted, this comparison is not about price at all.
Claims last checked against TestLink’s own pages on Aug 22, 2026
The short answer
TestLink is free, GPL-licensed, and has run in thousands of organisations for two decades. Tesbo Community is also free and self-hosted, but it is a modern app whose agent drafts your test cases, with a hosted option if you stop wanting to run it yourself. Pick TestLink if a PHP and MySQL stack you fully control is the requirement. Pick Tesbo for a current interface and the typing done for you.
At a glance
- Both are free. TestLink is GPL-2.0; Tesbo Community is free forever and self-hosted.
- TestLink is a PHP and MySQL application you install, patch and back up yourself.
- TestLink’s current release is 1.9.20. Its repository is still active, with commits into December 2025.
- TestLink has no hosted option. Tesbo has one if you later decide you would rather not run it.
- TestLink has no AI features. Tesbo drafts cases with an agent and requires a person to approve them.
- TestLink needs no AI provider key and makes no external calls, which some teams will prefer.
Where Tesbo is different
The cases get written for you
TestLink is a good filing cabinet: you still type every precondition, step and expected result yourself. Tesbo drafts them from a one-line description and asks you to review. Same filing cabinet, far less typing.
A way out of hosting it, if you want one
TestLink only runs on your own server, so somebody owns PHP upgrades, MySQL backups and security patches forever. Tesbo Community runs the same way if that is what you want, but you can move to Tesbo Cloud for $360 a year and hand the maintenance over.
An interface built this decade
TestLink works, and it looks like software from 2008. That matters when you are asking developers and product managers to read test results rather than just QA specialists.
Modern integrations out of the box
Tesbo connects to Jira and Linear on the paid plan, and posts CI results through its API. TestLink has integrations, but most of them are community-maintained and need work to keep running.
Tesbo and TestLink, side by side
| Capability | Tesbo | TestLink |
|---|---|---|
| CostNeither of us is charging you to self-host. This row is a draw. | Community free forever. Cloud Pro $360 a year per workspace. | Free, GPL-2.0 |
| Licence | Open source, self-hostable | GPL-2.0 |
| Hosted option | Yes, Tesbo Cloud | No — self-hosted only |
| Stack you maintain | Containerised deployment | PHP and MySQL, patched and backed up by you |
| AI test case drafting | Yes, with a required human review | None |
| Makes external AI callsIf no outbound calls at all is a hard requirement, TestLink wins this row. | Only to the AI provider whose key you supply | No |
| Track recordWorth something real if you are risk-averse. | New | About twenty years, thousands of deployments |
| Active development | Active | Active — commits into December 2025, current release 1.9.20 |
| Commercial support | Available on Tesbo Cloud | Community forums only |
What it costs
Neither tool charges you to run it yourself. TestLink is released under the GPL-2.0 licence and is free to download and self-host; your costs are the server and whoever keeps PHP, MySQL and the backups healthy. Tesbo Community is likewise free forever and self-hosted, with unlimited projects, members and test cases. The only paid option in this comparison is Tesbo Cloud, at $30 per workspace a month billed annually — $360 a year — if you would rather we ran it. Checked 22 August 2026.
What it costs at your team size
Both are free to self-host at any size, so this table is mostly here to make the point that money is not the deciding factor.
| Team size | Tesbo | TestLink |
|---|---|---|
| 5 people | $0 self-hosted, or $360 hosted | $0 |
| 20 people | $0 self-hosted, or $360 hosted | $0 |
| 50 people | $0 self-hosted, or $360 hosted | $0 |
The cost that does not appear in either column is administration. A self-hosted PHP application needs someone to apply security patches, keep MySQL backed up and test the restore. If that person is already on your team and does not mind, TestLink is free in a way nothing else here is. If they are not, $360 a year is less than a day of their time.
Bringing your data across
TestLink exports test cases and suites to XML, and its database is MySQL that you already control, so nothing is locked away. Tesbo imports CSV, so the usual route is XML out, convert to CSV, import.
- 1Export one test project from TestLink as XML.
- 2Convert to CSV with one row per case and separate columns for steps and expected results. A short script handles this.
- 3Import into a scratch Tesbo project and check that suite structure and custom fields landed sensibly.
- 4Because you own the MySQL database, keep a dump as your archive. That is your run history, and it costs nothing to retain.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Tesbo if
You want the case writing drafted for you, or an interface that people outside QA will actually open, or the option to stop self-hosting later. Or nobody on your team wants to own PHP patching for the next five years.
Pick TestLink if
You need something with a twenty-year track record and no vendor in the picture at all. You have a hard requirement that the tool makes no outbound network calls, which rules out any AI feature including ours. Or you already run a healthy TestLink instance, in which case the honest advice is that there is no emergency here.
TestLink vs Tesbo: common questions
Can I import my test cases from TestLink?
Yes. TestLink exports test suites and cases to XML. Convert that to CSV — one row per case, with steps and expected results in their own columns — and import it into Tesbo. You also own the MySQL database directly, so nothing is ever stuck.
Is TestLink still maintained?
Yes. The current release is 1.9.20 and the repository was still receiving commits in December 2025. It is not abandoned, which is worth saying because people often assume it is. It is simply an older application with no AI features and no hosted option.
If both are free, why switch?
Two reasons, and neither is price. First, Tesbo drafts test cases for you instead of making you type them, which is where the hours actually go. Second, you can stop self-hosting whenever you like and move to Tesbo Cloud for $360 a year, where TestLink is self-hosted permanently.
Does Tesbo Community have fewer features than the paid plan?
It has unlimited projects, members and test cases, and one core agent. The paid Cloud plan adds the full agent marketplace, Jira and Linear integrations, and hosting we look after. The Community edition is not a crippled trial — it is the product, on your hardware.
Try it against your own suite
Both are free to try properly. Stand up Tesbo Community next to your TestLink instance and import one project into each.
Sources
Last verified Aug 22, 2026.
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