The Hungarian Software Testing Forum (HUSTEF) is an independent, non-commercial software testing conference held in Budapest every year since 2011. It is run by a nonprofit organization of testing experts, not by a company. More than half of the attendees come from abroad, in 2019 from 34 countries. The 15th edition took place from October 14 to 16, 2025.
Key Takeaways
- HUSTEF is a nonprofit conference with no commercial organization behind it, and according to Tamas Stoeckert that is exactly what sets its quality apart: expertise comes before business interests.
- More than 260 proposals from around the world, from the US to Japan and South America, competed for 36 session slots, which puts the conference in the same league as EuroSTAR and the Agile Testing Days.
- The 15th edition took place from October 14 to 16, 2025, in Budapest’s Castle District, with keynotes, deep dive sessions and a Career Clinic for career guidance.
- More than half of the attendees come from abroad, and visitors from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are explicitly welcome: German-speaking contacts are available in the organizing team and on site.
What HUSTEF Is and Why It Stands Out
HUSTEF, the Hungarian Software Testing Forum, is an international conference on software testing and software quality, held in Budapest every year since 2011. It’s one of the less famous but most highly regarded meeting points of the European testing community, and in the German-speaking countries it is still something of a blind spot.
What sets HUSTEF apart from many other conferences is who runs it. There is no company and no business interest behind it, but an independent nonprofit organization of testing experts. The organizer is the Hungarian Testing Board, Hungary’s national ISTQB board.
These roots still shape the conference today. The focus is on expertise and a high standard, not on selling. In expert ratings, HUSTEF ranks among the top three testing conferences in Europe, alongside EuroSTAR and the Agile Testing Days.
How HUSTEF Came Out of a Growing Community
The idea for HUSTEF came up in 2010, when the Hungarian Testing Board was really gaining momentum. The community was growing, there were dedicated training courses and exams, and people increasingly asked for ways to connect and share knowledge.
Until then, Hungary had no conference dedicated to software testing and software quality, especially not one that looked at it from a business perspective. That gap was the trigger.
The first conference took place in 2011, with more than 100 attendees and consistently positive feedback. A good start, but without a professional organizing team yet. Less experience, plenty of motivation.
From First Event to International Conference
As demand grew, the organization had to become more professional. From 2012 and 2013 onward, more specialists came from abroad, and the organizers set up a permanent team with project leads for the individual areas.
The high point before the pandemic came in 2019. More than 750 attendees from 34 countries on several continents came to Budapest, a number that surprised even the organizers.
International diversity is now a hallmark of the conference. More than half of the attendees come from abroad. Last year, more than 40 percent of attendees were women, an unusually high share for the industry.
Why a Conference Is More Than Its Program
The pandemic showed what a conference is really about. In 2020, HUSTEF took place online, with good content and internationally known speakers, but with fewer attendees.
The feedback was clear: online feels like a training course. What’s missing is the part that no program can deliver on its own.
“What a conference also gives you is the chance to network: meeting in person, the conversations, everything that happens in the evening, where you can also talk about other topics and challenges in your working life.”
(Tamas Stoeckert)
As soon as in-person events were possible again, HUSTEF went back to that format. Attendance quickly climbed back to pre-pandemic levels.
HUSTEF 2025: The 15th Edition in Budapest
In 2025, HUSTEF took place for the 15th time, from October 14 to 16 in Budapest. The venue was an exclusive location in the Castle District with full technical facilities.
The submissions show how firmly the conference is established on the international calendar. More than 260 proposals came in for 36 slots, from the US to Japan, from South America to Scandinavia. Anyone who knows conferences knows that this ratio is exceptional.
The program committee reviewed and rated every proposal and had to turn down some strong topics, because the number of slots is limited. All of this selection work was done by volunteers, driven by the community and personal initiative rather than by a company.
Which Formats HUSTEF 2025 Offered
The conference ran over three days and combined several formats. Day 0 was a tutorial day, and on the two days that followed, talks ran in parallel tracks.
The program at a glance:
| Format | Content |
|---|---|
| Keynotes | Six keynote sessions |
| Tutorials | A dedicated tutorial day (day 0) |
| Parallel Tracks | Talks in several tracks over two days |
| Deep Dive Sessions | In-depth work on a single topic instead of a short talk |
| Career Clinic | Career reflection with two experts from England |
| Test & Tea | Late-afternoon meetup with tea, cookies and conversation |
The deep dive sessions leave room to get into a topic, build skills and reflect on experience, instead of just listening to a short talk. The Career Clinic helps you figure out where you stand in software quality and software testing and which directions are open to you.
On top of that, there was an evening program and, on request, tips for spending a few more days in Budapest and Hungary. If you’re there in the fall anyway, you might as well see the city.
Is HUSTEF in English? Yes, and German Helps Too
HUSTEF is an English-language conference. If you’re worried about the language, there’s no need to be: German speakers get support in German at several points.
For registration, group travel, check-in and organizational questions, German-speaking members of the organizing team and the board are there to help. On site, there are also more and more German-speaking speakers and board members, so conversations during breaks or in the evening can happen in German.
There’s a concrete reason for this. Hungary is a popular nearshore location for many large German companies, from Siemens and Bosch to Lufthansa, SAP, Audi, BMW and Mercedes. As a result, many Hungarian testing and quality professionals speak good German.
Budapest Is Close and Easy to Reach
A practical advantage: for many people in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Budapest isn’t far away. The city has good flight and rail connections, and from Vienna it’s only a short hop.
The number of attendees from these three countries is rising, and the organizers want to keep reaching out to exactly this group. Beyond the conference, Budapest has more than enough to make a longer stay worthwhile.
Where HUSTEF Is Heading
For the coming years, HUSTEF has two goals: keep growing and respond even more closely to what attendees want.
The conference wants to become even more international, beyond the 34 countries so far. To understand attendees’ needs better, the organizers run a lot of surveys during and right after the conference, and the results feed into the planning.
What has carried the conference for 15 years remains at its core: an independent format driven by expertise that wants to give something back to the community.
