Difference between Acceptance Criteria and Acceptance Tests

1. Acceptance Criteria :
This aims to consider the problem from a customer’s point of view so therefore it must be written in the context of how a user actually experiences any particular application. It is about defining the user stories by considering all the predefined requirements of the customer. They decide that what are the user requirements and the scope of the software application that needs to be developed by taking into consideration the user story. 

2. Acceptance Tests :
It is an approach of software testing where software is examined for acceptability and helps to decide whether or not the software satisfies its Acceptance Criteria by assisting the clients to figure out whether or not to receive that particular software. The most important purpose of this test is to evaluate the compliance of the software with requirements and examine whether it is suited for delivery or not. On the client-side, they implement the acceptance tests to test whether or not the user story is executed and successfully implemented. 

Difference between Acceptance Criteria and Acceptance Tests :

S.No.	Acceptance Criteria	Acceptance Tests
1.	In this, for any user story, there should be some pre-defined requirements of the customer.	It aims to cover those areas which are derived from acceptance criteria.
2.	It is developed in the planning stage.	It is developed in the development stage.
3.	Documentation is not in the priority list, i.e., it does not need much documentation work.	In this, documentation is in the priority list i.e. documentation work is highly required to process further.
4.	It describes what areas to cover or to be done to process further.	It describes how to cover different aspects of the project.
5.	The product proprietor used to write these criteria.	This test is done from the client’s side.
6.	Generally, it is very challenging to understand these criteria from a stakeholder’s point of view.	This testing is easier to understand from stakeholder’s point of view.
7.	There is a role of stakeholders in developing the application.	There is no role of stakeholders in developing the application.

Features	Acceptance Criteria	Acceptance Tests
Definition	Specific requirements or conditions a software product must meet	Formal testing to ensure acceptance criteria are met
Purpose	Define expectations for the software product	Verify the software product meets acceptance criteria
Timing	Determined during the planning phase of the project	Performed after development is complete
Business-focused	Identify business requirements that must be met	Determine whether the software satisfies business needs
Granularity	Higher-level, broader requirements	Detailed, specific tests that verify individual features
User perspective	User-centric and focuses on how the product should behave	Emphasizes end-to-end scenarios from the user’s perspective
Responsibility	Defined by the business owner or customer	Developed by the testing team