Severity vs Priority — 30 Real Bug Examples (2026 Interview Guide)

Last updated 2026-07-20 · 10 min read · By Avinash Kamble, reviewed by Priyanka G.

Severity is the technical impact; priority is the business urgency. Confusing them is the #1 reason QA loses credibility with product managers. This guide gives you 30 real bugs, classified, so you can answer the interview question and — more importantly — get triage right on Monday.

Key takeaways

• The 4×4 matrix used by mature QA orgs.
• 30 bugs from production, classified by severity + priority.
• How to escalate a Sev-1/Pri-3 without sounding alarmist.
• Interview answer script that scores 10/10.

Severity = how badly the defect impacts the system's behavior (data loss > crash > wrong result > cosmetic). Priority = how soon it must be fixed (immediate > next release > backlog).

                Priority 1        Priority 2        Priority 3        Priority 4
Severity 1 (Critical)   Fix now, hotfix   Next release      Rare — investigate  Almost never
Severity 2 (High)       Fix now           Next sprint       Backlog             Won't fix
Severity 3 (Medium)     Next sprint       Backlog           Backlog             Won't fix
Severity 4 (Low)        Backlog           Backlog           Won't fix           Won't fix

Bug                                                             Sev  Pri
1. Payment double-charged                                        1    1
2. Login broken for all users                                    1    1
3. Data loss on save (edge case, 1 user affected)                1    2
4. App crashes on Android 15 fresh install                       1    1
5. Checkout total wrong by $0.01                                 2    1
6. Password reset email never sent                               1    1
7. Search returns wrong sort order                               2    2
8. Cart persists across incognito sessions                       2    2
9. Newsletter unsubscribe fails                                  2    2
10. Prod logs contain PII                                        1    1
11. Report PDF export blank                                      2    3
12. Dark-mode toggle stuck                                       3    2
13. Typo on marketing page                                       4    1  (CEO saw)
14. Broken image on 404 page                                     3    4
15. Timezone off by 1 hour in EU                                 2    2
16. CSV export truncates at 65K rows                             2    3
17. Rate limiter blocks admin dashboard                          1    1
18. Search suggest lags 800ms                                    3    2
19. Push notification duplicated                                 2    3
20. Refund flow silently fails after retry                       1    1
21. Copy button on API key doesn't work in Safari                3    3
22. Terms link opens 404                                         3    2
23. Login page shows stale banner from campaign                  4    2
24. Session cookie SameSite=None missing                         1    2
25. Slow LCP (5.2s) on mobile home                               2    2
26. Broken deep-link from email                                  2    2
27. GraphQL timeout on 10MB payload                              2    3
28. Wrong currency symbol for GBP                                3    2
29. Screen reader skips checkout heading                         2    2  (a11y)
30. Feature flag stuck on for 3% of users                        2    2

Never lead with the severity number — product doesn't care. Lead with the business outcome: "Users can't complete checkout on Android 15 — we're losing conversions." Then attach the severity and let the release manager set priority. See our bug report guide for the exact template.

"Severity is technical impact — how badly the system misbehaves. Priority is business urgency — how soon we must fix. A cosmetic typo on the homepage seen by the CEO is Severity 4, Priority 1. A data-loss bug affecting one user is Severity 1, Priority 2. They're independent axes." Pair with the bug life cycle, then rehearse in the AI mock interview.