The majority of the basic software testing methods and software testing sub-phases rely on the coverage as the stopping criterion, assuming that higher coverage results in higher product quality and lower defect level.
On the other part, product reliability level can be considered as a more objective criterion to stop software testing process.
The coverage criterion verifies that specific types of defects are identified and eliminated, in this way lessening the quantity of faults, while quality is not directly estimated.
The software testing and the reliability criterion guarantee that the faults that can cause problems to customers are identified and eliminated, and the reliability of the software reaches a significant level before software testing stops.