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SimpleTest vs XCTest comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between SimpleTest and XCTest?

SimpleTest

https://github.com/simpletest/simpletest

XCTest

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xctest
Programming language

PHP

Swift

Category

Unit Testing, Web Testing

Unit Testing, Performance Testing

General info

SimpleTest is a unit test and web test framework for PHP

It has JWebUnit style functionality and support for SSL, forms, frames, proxies and basic authentication

XCTest is the default testing framework for unit tests, performance tests, and some level of UI tests for iOS apps.

XCTest framework is a testing framework that enables developers write basic unit tests, performance tests, and some level of UI tests for iOS apps.
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

No

Yes

Yes, it is an xUnit style framework
Client-side
Allows testing code execution on the client, such as a web browser

Yes

With SimpleTest common but fiddly PHP tasks, such as logging into a site, can be tested easily

Yes

Developers can test individual front-end components with XCTest
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

Server-side behaviour can be tested by writing simple unit tests to test functionality and behaviour of single components.

Yes

Yes, developers can test individual back-end components with XCTest
Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

Yes

It can import fixtures using a mixin like 'given()' method

Yes

XCTest contains setup() and teardown() fixture methods for setting up and destroying test environments
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

It allows grouping of fixtures

Yes

Group fixtures are available in XCTest
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

Simpletest has support for generators

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1

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)

Yes

It allows for one to build Mock objects.To create a mock version of a class we need to include the mock object library and run the generator. This will create a clone class which we use to create new instances(objects) in our test cases.

Yes

You can create protocol mocks and class mocks with libraries such as MockFive or Cuckoo
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

Yes

There are several ways of grouping tests; one is to simply place multiple test cases into a single file, another is to mark any base test cases that should not be run as abstract, Simpletest gives you a couple of options

Yes

Developers can define test suites from the XCTestSuite class
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework