TestingBudget

Run

Execution time per case

How long one test case takes to run: machine time for a tool, a tester's time for a manual approach.

Unit
minutes per case
Where you enter it
Run tab, per vendor.

What it means

For an automation tool this is wall-clock machine time — how long the tool takes to execute one case — and it decides how long a run takes, not what it costs; nobody is paid while a machine runs. For a manual approach it is the tester's time, because the tester is the run, and it is counted in full as labour.

The vendor's kind — automation or manual — selects which treatment applies. Nothing is asked twice.

Why it matters to the cost

For manual testing this is the whole story: twenty minutes a case across 300 cases is 100 person-hours per run, twelve times a year. For tools it feeds machine time per run, which matters for whether a suite fits in a pipeline window, and it can carry token consumption for AI-driven execution — but it is deliberately not a labour cost.

Typical values

Automation tools: two to three minutes of machine time per case. Manual execution: fifteen to twenty minutes of a tester's time per case.

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

Execution time per case 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 execution time per case impacts the calculation of test automation costs

Related terms

  • Machine time per run How long a tool takes to execute the whole suite — duration, deliberately not cost.
  • Run effort The person-hours a run costs — preparation, triage, defect write-up and sign-off for a tool; execution itself for manual testing — and the same figure over a year.
  • Runs per year How many times a year the full regression suite is executed — the multiplier that turns a per-run cost into an annual one.

Last reviewed 2026-09-15. All terms.