TestingBudget

Run

Defects found per run

How many real bugs a regression cycle typically finds — a property of your product, entered once, and the only "failures" figure you are asked for.

Also called: defect yield · bugs per regression cycle · true positives

Unit
count per run
Where you enter it
Run tab, "All vendors" column.

What it means

The number of genuine defects a full regression run surfaces on a typical release. It is a fact about the product and the team's development practice, not about any test tool, so it is entered once at the application level and is the same for every vendor column.

Teams know it from their defect tracker: count the bugs raised from the last few regression cycles and take the average. It feeds the write-up effort directly and is one of the three components of failures per run.

Why it matters to the cost

Each confirmed defect costs write-up time whichever tool found it, so this line is the same across vendors and never changes a ranking — but it is real cost, and it is the part of a run's human effort that automation cannot remove. Five defects at twenty minutes each is 100 minutes every run.

Typical values

Two to ten per run for a stable product; more during a large change.

Typical values describe a category of tool — AI-native, codeless, script-based, homegrown, manual — never a named product. Why we do not price named products.

Where it appears in the model

Run — every release

tests broken per run
Total test cases × Test breakage rate ÷ Runs per year — found here, repaired under Maintain
flaky per run
Total test cases × Flaky failures per run
Failures per run
Defects found per run + tests broken per run + flaky per run — derived, never asked
Run effort
Prepare and start a run + Failures per run × Triage one failure + Defects found per run × Write up one defect + Report and sign off — an automation tool
Run effort
Prepare and start a run + Total test cases × Execution time per case + Defects found per run × Write up one defect + Report and sign off — a manual approach — the tester is the run
Machine time per run
Total test cases × Execution time per case — automation only; duration, not labour
Run cost per year
Run effort per run × Runs per year × Effective hourly rate + Token cost

Every name is a link to its definition. See the whole model.

Try it with your numbers

Defects found per run is a row in the calculator. Change it and every total on the page moves with it — free, in your browser, nothing to install.

See how defects found per run impacts the calculation of test automation costs

Related terms

  • Defect validation The human work of proving that a failed test is a real product defect and getting it in front of a developer — priced as triage per failure plus write-up per defect.
  • Failures per run Everything a person has to look at after a run: defects found plus tests the product broke plus flaky failures — derived, never typed.
  • Write up one defect The time to reproduce a confirmed defect, log it with steps and evidence, and hand it to development.
  • Triage one failure The time to look at one failing test and decide what it is: a real defect, a broken test, an environment problem, or a flake.

Last reviewed 2026-09-15. All terms.