Software quality assurance services
Software quality assurance is the discipline around testing, not the testing itself: the test strategy, the independent verification, the audit of a QA process you already run, the standard a release is measured against. We run that discipline as a service, so you get a documented, independently verified answer to "is this ready to ship" instead of a pile of raw bug reports.
If you want testers doing the work day to day, start at QA outsourcing. If you want us to own the whole testing function end to end, start at managed testing services. This page is the layer above both: the strategy, the audit and the sign-off that makes either model accountable.
// what we run
- Test strategy and planning
- Independent verification
- QA process audits
- Quality metrics and reporting
Quick answers
What does software quality assurance do?
Software quality assurance sets and checks the standard a release has to meet before it ships. It covers planning what to test and how deeply, running the testing itself, and judging whether what came back is good enough to go live. Done well, it catches the defects that cost the most to find after release: the ones a customer, a regulator or an attacker finds first.
What are software testing and quality assurance services?
Testing is the hands-on work: running test cases, automated scripts and exploratory sessions against a product. Quality assurance services are the layer around that work: the strategy, the standards, the independent verification and the reporting that make the testing results mean something to a business or a regulator. Buying both as a service means you get testers and the judgement that goes with them, without carrying either in-house.
Is QA replaced by AI?
Not in the part that matters. AI speeds up writing test cases, generating test data and triaging which failures to look at first, and we use it for exactly that. It does not decide what "good enough to ship" means for your product, your users or your regulator, and it has no stake in being honest about a finding that is inconvenient. That judgement still needs an independent person, which is the whole argument for buying this as a service rather than automating it away.
What software quality assurance as a service covers
The phrase gets used two ways. Sometimes it means testing, full stop. We use it more precisely: the layer of process, strategy and independent judgement that sits above the testing work and decides whether it was enough.
- Test strategy. What gets tested, at what depth, in what order, and what the release criteria actually are before anyone writes a test case.
- Independent verification. A sign-off from a team that did not build the software and has no release deadline of its own to protect.
- QA process audits. A review of the testing you already do: where it has gaps, where it duplicates effort, and whether your coverage claims hold up.
- Quality metrics and reporting. Numbers a board or a regulator can read, tied to defects that were actually found rather than a pass rate that only measures what was run.
Not every engagement needs all four. A team that already tests well sometimes just needs the audit. A team under a compliance deadline usually needs the independent verification first and the strategy work after.
The testing disciplines this draws on
The strategy and the sign-off are only as good as the testing underneath them, so here is exactly what is in scope when we plan, audit or verify against it:
- Manual testing. Exploratory and scripted testing by a person, for the judgement calls an automated check cannot make.
- Test automation. Regression and smoke suites that run on every build, built to survive a UI change rather than break on one.
- Security testing. Vulnerability scanning and manual penetration testing against the product, not just a checklist.
- Performance testing. Load and stress testing to find where a product actually breaks under real traffic, before your users do.
- Accessibility testing. WCAG-based manual and automated checks, so an audit or sign-off can say a product works for assistive-technology users, not just that it passed a scanner.
Five tools we built ourselves support that work, at no separate licence cost. What each one does, and what this costs, is covered under what it costs below.
How this differs from outsourcing and managed testing
All three sit on the same team, and the difference is what you are buying.
QA outsourcing gets you people: a dedicated team or project-based testers who do the work under your direction. You keep the strategy and the sign-off.
Managed testing gets you an outcome: we own the plan, the work, the reporting and the staffing, and one person answers for the result.
Software quality assurance as a service gets you the judgement layer on its own: the strategy, the audit, or the independent verification, without necessarily taking over the day-to-day testing. It is the right starting point when the question is "how good is our QA, really" rather than "we need more testers."
Most clients end up buying a mix. A QA audit often turns into managed testing once the gaps are named; a managed engagement usually includes an ongoing strategy function once it beds in. We will tell you honestly which piece you need first.
How an engagement runs
We start by reading, not testing. A QA process audit or an independent verification engagement opens with us reviewing what exists: your test plans, your coverage, your past release history, and where defects have actually escaped to production. That alone often answers the question a client came in with.
From there, the shape depends on what we found. If the gap is strategic, we write the test strategy and hand it to your team or ours to execute. If the gap is in execution, we recommend outsourcing or managed testing to close it, rather than inventing work to justify a bigger contract. If the question is simply "can an independent party confirm this release is sound," we run the verification and report on it, pass or fail, in writing.
Every audit and verification report is written to be forwarded, as is, to a board, a client or a regulator.
What it costs
$25 to $45 an hour, depending on seniority and the mix of strategy, audit and verification work. A QA process audit is usually scoped as a fixed-fee piece of work once we know the size of what we are reviewing; independent verification and ongoing strategy work are billed hourly.
Five tools we built ourselves are included at no licence cost: BugBoard for test management and AI test generation, Flows for automation that repairs its own selectors, Auditi for GDPR, WCAG and FDA auditing, BetterFlow for hour-by-hour transparency, and our AI Security Toolkit.
Why trust us with the judgement call
An audit or a sign-off is only worth as much as the independence behind it. We are not the team that built your software, and we have no development work on your product to protect by softening a finding.
- Four ISO certificates. ISO 9001:2015 (quality management), ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (information security), ISO 14001:2015 (environmental), ISO 13485:2016 (medical devices). The quality management system we hold ourselves to is the same one we audit clients against.
- Holder of the NATO NCIA Basic Ordering Agreement NCIA/BOA/42405442 (NCAGE 1JGAL).
- Avetta Consortium member since February 2025, the supply chain prequalification network large buyers use to pre-screen contractors.
- 4.9/5 from 65+ verified client reviews on Clutch. It is the one item on this list written by clients rather than by an auditor.
- Clients in 20+ countries, with 50+ engineers available across the testing disciplines a strategy or audit engagement needs.
We hold ISO 27001 (information security management). We send the certificates with their scope statement, so your procurement team reads it first-hand.
What we will tell you that a sales call will not
Sometimes a QA process audit finds that your testing is already sound and the real problem is upstream, in requirements or release discipline. Sometimes the honest answer to "can you verify this release" is that we need two more weeks of access before we can, and saying so costs us nothing but a delayed invoice.
Any of those answers costs us a larger contract. Being willing to give them is the only reason a BetterQA sign-off is worth forwarding to someone else.
Common questions
What exactly is software quality assurance as a service?
It is the strategy, independent verification, process auditing and reporting layer of QA, bought as a service rather than built in-house. It covers deciding what to test and to what standard, confirming independently that a release meets that standard, and auditing an existing QA process for gaps. BetterQA runs it at $25-45/hr with four ISO certificates behind the sign-off.
How is this different from QA outsourcing or managed testing services?
QA outsourcing gets you testers who do the work under your direction. Managed testing gets you an outcome, with us owning the plan, the work and the staffing. Software quality assurance as a service is the judgement layer above both: the strategy, the audit, or the independent sign-off, which can stand alone or sit on top of either model.
Can you audit a QA process we already have in place?
Yes. A QA process audit reviews your existing test plans, coverage and release history, and names specific gaps rather than recommending you simply buy more testing. It is usually scoped as a fixed-fee engagement once we know the size of what we are reviewing.
How much does it cost?
$25 to $45 an hour, depending on seniority and the mix of strategy, audit and verification work. Our five QA tools are included at no licence cost.
Talk to us
Tell us whether you need a strategy written, a process audited, or a release independently verified. We will tell you which one actually fits, and whether outsourcing or managed testing would serve you better alongside it.
Clients in 20+ countries. 4.9/5 on Clutch from 65+ verified reviews.