Knapsack Pro

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

JUnit

https://junit.org/junit5/

Behat

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

Java

PHP

Category

Unit Testing, Regression Testing

Functional/Acceptance Testing

General info

JUnit is an open source Unit testing framework for java

JUnit is useful for developers to write and run repeatable tests. JUnit has been crucial in the development of test driven development and is partof the xUnit family of unit testing frameworks

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
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

Yes

It is an instance of the xUnit architecture for unit testing frameworks.

No

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

Yes

You can test front-end components such as individual classes and functions that create the front-end

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.
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

You can test classes and functions that compose the back-end such as database connections and so on

Yes

Behat can be used for Data Integrity Testing to verify that database operations are functioning properly
Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

Yes

JUnit contains a setUp() method, which runs before every test invocation and a tearDown() method, which runs after every test method.

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.
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

You can use setUp() and tearDown() inbuilt functions as group fixtures.

Yes

Behat allows for group fixtures
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.

You can use JUnit-quickcheck to generate test data

By use of third party libraries like moodle-behat-generators
Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

MIT 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)

JUnit does not support mocking internally but you can use a mock framework like Mockito to generate mock objects.

By using third party libraries like Mock and Prophecy
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

Yes

In JUnit you can create a test suite that bundles a few unit test cases and runs them together. You use both @RunWith and @Suite annotation are used to run the suite test.

Yes

You can use tags to group features and scenarios together, independent of your file and directory structure
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework