Unlock a Seamless and Secure Network Connection with Sauce Connect 5.0

In an era when cyber threats have surged, security has become a top priority for businesses with a digital presence. Protecting your digital assets is more important than ever — a fact recognized by the 75% of businesses that have intensified their security efforts over the past year, per the 2023 PSA Certified Security Report. This increased focus on security applies not only to software delivery but also to the vital task of testing websites and mobile apps to drive quality improvements.

To do this effectively, you require not only proven and efficient security protocols but also a high-performing and scalable infrastructure. Whether running tests on virtual or real device clouds, it's common to require a secure connection to software behind a corporate firewall or in your local environment. And, of course, you want to run these tests smoothly and with minimal hassle. 

Building upon Sauce Labs impressive 13 years of experience, we are bringing secure testing to the next level. Sauce Connect has always been a foundational element of our platform, providing a crucial layer of connectivity and testing security. As industry standards and practices evolve, so do we. We've taken an innovative approach to secure testing with Sauce Connect 5 that can enhance your testing performance using industry standard protocols and streamline the developer experience using package managed installation.

We're thrilled to announce that Sauce Connect 5.0 is now in general availability! This release marks the next chapter of highly secure and performant testing. 

With Sauce Connect 5.0, you'll unlock enhanced performance, advanced security protocols, and simplified integration and onboarding.

With this latest release, we've optimized the Sauce Connect 5.0 protocol to enhance both speed and memory resources. You can experience up to five times improvement in your test speed, which means lower latency and faster test executions. You'll especially notice this improvement when multiple test sessions use the same Sauce Connect Proxy instance. Not only is Sauce Connect 5.0 faster, but it's also lighter on your resources. It uses up to 50 times less memory compared to the previous version, allowing you to run more tests with less overhead.

With Sauce Connect 5.0, the era of proprietary protocols is over. The latest release moves us from a very secure (but obscure) KGP protocol to the widely accepted HTTP/2 protocol with SOCKS5 and websocket proxy support. This evolution simplifies the approval process for security teams, making it easier for engineering teams to establish a secure connection with Sauce Labs.

Streamlined implementation has been a key focus for us with this release. With fewer steps to navigate, Sauce Connect 5.0 simplifies the onboarding and integration process. Plus, by embracing a universally accepted protocol, Sauce Connect simplifies integration into CI/CD environments, enabling secure testing with minimal support required.

The transition from Sauce Connect 4 to the newly launched Sauce Connect 5.0 signifies a substantial upgrade in security and performance. Unlike its predecessor, Sauce Connect 5.0 utilizes the standard HTTP/2 protocol, eliminating challenges associated with security approvals.

Following the Sauce Connect 5 beta, we're happy to introduce industry-leading performance insights through a Prometheus metrics dashboard, which is accessible via the Grafana marketplace.

Sauce Connect 5.0 stands as a robust network connection solution, providing heightened security, standardization, and enhanced performance. As you begin the Sauce Connect 5.0 installation, note that we have added, changed, and removed some flags. Check out documentation here to learn more.

With Sauce Connect 5.0, we're enhancing your testing experience across security, performance, and implementation.

The migration process is simple. You can have Sauce Connect 5.0 up and running in minutes. Visit the installation documentation to get started today.