Test Pyramid / Honeycomb / Trophy or Custard Slice?
22 Mar 2026
In recent years I've steered to using the Honeycomb model (made popular from Spotify). Integration testing has become much faster to execute and easier to maintain.
What is your preferred testing model and why?
What is your preferred testing model and why?
Lewis Prescott
QA Lead
I'm an experienced Test Consultant at Hippo Digital, book author of Contract Testing in Action with Manning Publications. I am also a course author of ATDD for Front End on Test Automation University.
Louise Woodhams
I tend to refer to it as A trifle. All bits of a trifle are good by their own but equally can all go bad in fun and gross ways.
UNIT tests are Jelly.
Integration/feature tests are your spongy cake layer.
API tests are you tasty custard.
UI tests are your creamy layer.
With Manual/Exploratory testing being the fancy sprinkles on the top.
I also find it is a handy way to keep the correct ratios in mind with a trifle model :D
Simon Tomes
I likes the sound of that trifle model, Louise. It's great! Makes me wonder if exploratory testing could get its own layer baked (!?) in at all layers of the trifle. I kinda feel like it sometimes doesn't get enough of the attention it deserves, its influence can be far and wide. Maybe exploratory testing is the fancy glass dish that the trifle sits in. The foundation of supporting and keeping it all together.
Simon Tomes
And perhaps then the fancy sprinkles on the top are the occasional spikes used to explore new tech, languages, tools and techniques. 🤔
Sign in
to comment
Manage your entire QA lifecycle in one place. Sync Jira, automate scripts, and use AI to accelerate your testing.
Explore MoT
See where AI genuinely helps, where it doesn’t, and how testers can stay firmly in control
Boost your career in software testing with the MoT Software Testing Essentials Certificate. Learn essential skills, from basic testing techniques to advanced risk analysis, crafted by industry experts.
Debrief the week in Quality via a community radio show hosted by Simon Tomes and members of the community
