Beta testing is the testing done by end-users at the end user’s site.
It is also known as beta-site testing or field testing. It is performed by the client or real users who are not the employees of the company. It is the last test before shipping a product to the customers. One of the major advantages of beta testing is direct feedback from customers.
Users test a stable version of the application and provide feedback to the development team about the application’s usability, functionality, performance, and other quality attributes.
Since the end-users testing, the beta version doesn’t have access to the source code of the product, so it involves black box testing only.
It provides an additional level of testing/product validation to the development lifecycle of the product. It also helps in uncovering unexpected errors.
Testing and test environment is not under the control of the development team. It is often hard to reproduce the bugs because the testing environment differs from user to user.