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PHPSpec vs Codedeception comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between PHPSpec and Codedeception?

PHPSpec

https://www.phpspec.net/en/stable/

Codedeception

https://codeception.com/
Programming language

PHP

PHP

Category

Unit Testing

Unit Testing, Acceptance Testing/Functional Testing

General info

PhpSpec is a testing tool based on the concept of emergent design using specification

PhpSpec is a tool to use at the spec level or SpecBDD, a type of BDD; It's process generates code for you and guides you through the SpecBDD process through the command line

Codeception is a full-stack testing framework for PHP

It is inspired by BDD and provides a way of writing acceptance, functional and even unit tests. It is powered by PHPUnit.
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

By testing your PHP classes that run your front-end

Yes

One is able to write acceptance tests which are used to look at functionality from a user's perspective. It is able to look at pages in browser (Chrome, Firefox or PhpBrowser)
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

You can use PHPSpec to test your PHP classes that run your back-end

Yes

It supports back-end tests, by writing functionaltests one can be able to test server behaviour
Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

Yes

You can define fixtures

Yes

One can define a fixture and write the test with Codedeception, use the yii2-codedeceptionextention which will autoload fixtures for you
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 define group fixtures

Yes

One can define 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.

Yes

There are methods that act as generators

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

Free

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)

Yes

It has built in support for Mocks

Yes

Codeception provides Codeception\Stub library for building mocks and stubs for tests
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

In PHPspec, you can group specification files by a certain namespace in a suite

Yes

Codeception consists of three so-called “suites”: A “unit suite” for all unit tests, a “functional suite” for all functional tests, and an “acceptance suite” for all acceptance tests.
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework