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WebdriverIO vs Kotest comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between WebdriverIO and Kotest?

WebdriverIO

https://webdriver.io/

Kotest

https://github.com/kotest/kotest
Programming language

JavaScript

Kotlin

Category

Browser Automation, Unit Testing, Functional Testing

Unit Testing

General info

WebdriverIO is the next-gen WebDriver test framework for Node.js made upon Selenium

WebdriverIO is written in JavaScript and uses Selenium under the hood. It also comes with its own inbuilt test runner and supports other testing frameworks like Jasmine, Cucumber, and Mocha

kotest is a powerful, elegant and flexible test framework for Kotlin, formerly known as kotlintest

Kotest has excellent support for data driven testing or table driven testing where it has the ability to quickly rerun the same test over and over with a predefined set of inputs and expected values
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

Yes

No

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

Yes

WebdriverIO allows the use of advanced CSS selectors and makes it easy to find elements for front-end testing

Yes

You can test front-end components with kotest
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

It can be used to test server side behaviour and functionality

Yes

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

Yes

WebdriverIO supports the creation of fixtures

Yes

kotest contains fixtures, that is the setup / teardown functions
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

WebdriverIO supports the creation of group fixtures

Yes

kotest has group fixtures available
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.

N/A

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

MIT License

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 contains a mocking service called 'wdio-wiremock-service'

Yes

You can use a third party library like mockk to create mocks
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

Yes

WebdriverIO allows one to build test suites, you can run these test in parallel and organize them by adjusting the 'maxInstances' property in your config file

Yes

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