Knapsack Pro

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

JUnit

https://junit.org/junit5/

Spock

http://spockframework.org/
Programming language

Java

Java

Category

Unit Testing, Regression Testing

Unit 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

Spock is a testing and specification framework for Java and Groovy applications

Spock has a highly expressive specification language, and due to its JUnit runner, Spock is compatible with most IDEs, build tools, and continuous integration servers.Spock is inspired from JUnit, RSpec, jMock, Mockito, Groovy, Scala, Vulcans among others
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

Spock tests front-end components and functionality by unit testing individual classes and functions
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

Spock tests back-end components and functionality by unit testing individual classes and functions
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

Spock contains four methods for setting up environments :setup() (run before every feature method), cleanup() (run after every feature method), setupSpec() (run before the first feature method), cleanupSpec() (run after the last feature method)
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

You can use the fixture methods to setup environments for groups of tests.
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

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

Apache License 2.0

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.

Yes

Spock has inbuilt mocking capabilities and has no need for external libraries
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 create suites manually in spock
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework