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Behat vs SpecFlow comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between Behat and SpecFlow?

Behat

https://docs.behat.org/en/latest/

SpecFlow

https://specflow.org/
Programming language

PHP

.NET

Category

Functional/Acceptance Testing

Acceptance Testing

General info

Behat is an open source Behavior-Driven Development framework for PHP.

Behat uses the StoryBDD subtype of behaviour-driven development (the other subtype is SpecBDD); This means the tests we write with Behat look rather like stories than code. It is inspired by Ruby's Cucumber

SpecFlow is a test automation solution for .NET

SpecFlow is a test automation solution for .NET which follows the BDD paradigm, and is part of the Cucumber family. SpecFlow tests are written with Gherkin, using the official Gherkin parser which allows you to write test cases using natural languages and supports over 70 languages.
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

No

No

Client-side
Allows testing code execution on the client, such as a web browser

Yes

To enable Behat to test a website, you need to add Mink and a browser emulator (selenium maybe, though slow) to the mix. Mink methods are the connector between Behat and an extensive list of available drivers, and they provide a consistent testing API.

Yes

Front-end behaviour is tested. With specflow specifications of the expected behaviours are made and specflow tests against this
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

Behat can be used for Data Integrity Testing to verify that database operations are functioning properly

Yes

Back-end behaviour is tested. Specifications of the expected behaviours are made and specflow tests against them
Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

Yes

One can use the 'Doctrinefixturesbundle' to create the required fixture loaders and load them in our Behat scenarios when required, using the 'BeforeScenario' hook.

Yes

BeforeTestRun and AfterTestRun are executed once for each thread which is a limitation of the current architecture.
Group fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data for a group of tests (group-fixtures). This ensures specific environment for a given group of tests.

Yes

Behat allows for group fixtures

N/A

Generators
Supports data generators for tests. Data generators generate input data for test. The test is then run for each input data produced in this way.

By use of third party libraries like moodle-behat-generators

Yes

SpecFlow contains a generator component. The SpecFlow IDE integration tries to locate the generator component in your project structure, in order to use the generator version matching the SpecFlow runtime in your project
Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

MIT License

BSD license

Mocks
Mocks are objects that simulate the behavior of real objects. Using mocks allows testing some part of the code in isolation (with other parts mocked when needed)

By using third party libraries like Mock and Prophecy

Yes

Specflow intergrates well with mock to give it excellent mocking capabilities
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

Yes

You can use tags to group features and scenarios together, independent of your file and directory structure

Yes

You can create test suites with specflow
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework