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

WebdriverIO

https://webdriver.io/

PHPUnit

https://phpunit.de/
Programming language

JavaScript

PHP

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

PHPUnit is a unit testing framework for the PHP programming language

PHPUnit is a programmer-oriented testing framework and is an instance of the xUnit architecture for unit testing frameworks.
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

Yes

Yes

It's an instance of the xUnit architecture for unit testing frameworks
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

It can perform Unit tests and can test various front-end components and behaviours
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

It can be used to test server side behaviour and functionality

Yes

By performing unit tests on singular back-end components
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

By use of a setup code. The setup code consists of two Important template functions, the 'setUp()' function (called to create the objects to be tested) and 'tearDown()' function (called to cleanup the objects which you tested)
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

It does support 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.

N/A

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

MIT License

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported 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 contains a mocking service called 'wdio-wiremock-service'

Yes

One of its main features is that PHPUnit comes with out of the box support for Mock objects
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

It allows grouping of tests and by using the @group annotation one can tag a test to belong to one or more groups
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework