In this article, I will review the 15 Best JavaScript Unit testing frameworks that are being used to perform JavaScript Unit Testing.

Frameworks, in general, make it easy for the programmers to make use of particular programming language thus, making the application more responsive.

JavaScript framework is such an application framework written in JavaScript where the programmers can manipulate the functions and use it according to their convenience. 

Sometimes you find the error message on your screen regarding such as ‘Unable to load example.js’ or any other JavaScript error regarding version control, these vulnerabilities come under JavaScript Unit Testing.

Let’s highlight 15 Best JavaScript Unit testing frameworks:

1. MochaJS

It is the most popular testing framework that supports backend and frontend testing.

It is a flexible base for developing tests as you need. It runs the tests asynchronously on the Chrome v8 engine or any other browser.

MochaJS testing framework

Features

  • Works for both frontend and backend.
  • Supports NodeJS debugger.
  • It provides a clean base to develop tests as per the developer’s convenience.
  •  Supports any browser including headless chrome library.
  • Supports object mocking to perform flexible backend tests.

2. Jasmine

It is a user-behavior mimicker that allows you to perform test cases similar to user behavior on your website.

Further, it is useful for a testing frontend for visibility, click clarity as well as the responsiveness of the UI in different resolutions.

Additionally, Jasmine allows to automate user behavior with customs delays and wait time to simulate actual user behavior.

Jasmine Framework

Features

  • Lower overhead due to almost zero external dependencies.
  • It comes with almost every required tool out of the box.
  • Supports Frontend as well as Backend tests.
  • The coding is pretty similar to writing in natural language.
  • Extensive documentation to use it with several frameworks.

3. AVA

It is a minimalistic light-weight testing framework that leverages asynchronous nature of Javascript. 

AVA Framework

Features

  • AVA can perform tests concurrently.
  • Light footprint makes it faster.
  • Thirdly, it runs tests asynchronously and concurrently
  • Faster than most other test frameworks.
  • The simpler syntax for Javascript tests.
  • Cleaner stack traces for any potential errors that are detected.

4. JESTI

It is one of the most popular frameworks that is maintained regularly by Facebook. Most noteworthy, it is a preferred framework for the React-based applications as it requires no configuration.

JEST Framework

Features

  • Surprisingly, it is a single framework fit for NodeJS, VueJS, React, Angular and other Babel based projects.
  • Secondly, it is easier to get off the ground.
  • Furthermore, it has a good documentation and standard syntax of coding.
  • With Live snapshots, it allows managing tests with larger objects.

5. Karma

It is a productive testing environment that supports all the popular test description framework within itself.

It provides your application with  the support to execute tests in different environments.

It has wide support for executing tests on different devices and applications.

Karma - Spectacular Test Runner for JavaScript

Features

  • Can be used to run tests on browsers, headless environments like PhantomJS as well as on devices.
  • Supports tests written in most of the popular frameworks.
  • Allows running tests remotely onto other devices by just coming files.
  • Supports test case debugging using Chrome as well as Webstorm.
  • It has support to integrate with CI/CD engines.

6. Tape

Javascript Unit testing frameworks

It is similar to AVA in its architecture. It does not support globals, hence it doesn’t pollute the global environment and hence, you need to include Tape in each test file. 

Features

  • Clean light-weight footprint.
  • Provides just bare-metal code and gives the developer complete freedom to write test cases.
  • Supports ES6, Typescript and coffee script standards.
  • Supports test execution on most modern browsers.
  • Contains no setup/teardown methods. Instead it opts for a more modular system where you will need to define setup code explicitly in each test making each test clearer. It also stops the state being shared between tests.
  • Typescript/coffeescript/es6 support.
  • Easy and fast to get up and running, Tape is a JavaScript file that you run anywhere that’s running JavaScript, without an overloading amount of configuration options.

7. Nightwatch

The continuous integration and automated testing framework for JavaScript are developed based on NodeJS. But the users can run Nightwatch against Selenium WebDriver Server.

It makes it easier for JS programmers testers to write test scripts by providing simple syntax. The testers can use Nightwatch to write tests quickly with JavaScript and CSS.

What is Nightwatch.js? - The Official 360logica Blog

Features

  • The tests can be run in parallel or sequentially through a built-in command-line test runner provided by the framework. 
  • Tests can further extend Nightwatch according to precise project needs by running flexible commands and integrating with assertions libraries. 
  • It can even be integrated with various continuous integration systems and cloud testing solutions.

8. Cucumber

Cucumber is among the best JS testing framework, especially for behavior-driven development.

Usually, it operates by defining the tests in Gherkin form. Thus, making gherkins executable by triggering them to code.

Gherkin is the Domain Specific Language used in running Cucumber tests. Secondly, it allows for test scripts to be written in a human readable format.

Javascript Unit testing frameworks

Features

  • Merges specification and test documentation,
  • keeps the specifications up to date. 
  • the open source framework facilitates close collaboration between various stakeholders in the project by generating executable specifications.
  • The tools provided by Cucumber further enable testing professionals to produce accurate test results without putting extra time and effort. 
  • The QA testers can even run Cucumber on both web browsers and NodeJS.

9. Cypress.io

It is an exciting testing framework that practically runs on the browser. Cypress Testing framework

Features

  • It provides an interactive UI on the browser in the form of a web page. 
  • It can be easily installed on Mac, Windows as well as Linux. 
  • It is an independent test runner that does not need to integrate with your code closely.

10. Puppeteer

 It is an excellent test execution framework built by a team at Google. It provides a headless chrome API for NodeJS applications.

Javascript Unit testing frameworks

Puppeteer is primarily used for applications specific to the browser like crawl test, page structure test, take screenshots and even capture pre-rendered content for single page applications. 

Features

  • Ability to set custom resolutions and sizes for the browser
  • Provides Support to test chrome extensions
  • Automation support for form submission, UI testing, and keyboard inputs
  • Supports ES6 functionalities like await and async

11.ChaiJS

It is a framework that focuses on behavior-driven testing. It can be used in parallel with any other framework.

It has been around for quite a while now and has evolved with the evolution in Javascript standards.

Chai.js Assertion Library · GitHub

Features

  • ChaiJS works with Node, browser, rail and got great support community and documentation.
    • It has a well-developed utility belt thus, suitable for plugin developers.

12. Qunit

It is a powerful testing framework dedicated to using the frontend. It is the first choice by developers of the JQuery, JQuery Mobile and JQuery UI libraries.

Javascript Unit testing frameworks

Features

  • It can be written as an independent JS file and executed on any webpage. 
  • The standard method of testing using Qunit is to include the file onto the webpage and run tests using Qunit plugin. 
  • Can be used to build re-usable test scripts
  • Provides a ready-to-deploy web interface for viewing test case outputs visually
  • A pool of plugins built on top of it allows faster test case development

13. Selenium

Selenium

Selenium is an automated browser web testing Java tool. Most developers use this tool to test frameworks in large-scale web application testing. Web-based administration tasks can also be automated.

Key Features:

  • Choose between Selenium WebDriver or IDE
  • Runs in many browsers and operating systems
  • Can be controlled by many programming languages and testing frameworks

14. Junit

Junit

JUnit is a framework that helps write repeatable tests. It is considered to be one of the top testing frameworks out there.

Key Features:

  • Simple unit test tool
  • You can test one block of code at a time

15. Mockito

Mockito

Mockito is one of the developer-favorites when it comes to Java mocking frameworks. It allows you to write tests with a clean and simple API.

Key Features:

  • Produce readable, clean tests, and verification errors
  • Stub method calls
  • Verify interactions
  • Slim API
  • Natural mocking when TDD-ing Java code
  • Similar syntax to EasyMock

Conclusion

You will agree with me that unit testing is essential to ensure code changes don’t break the application, and it works as per business requirement.

One should feel pretty confident in choosing any of the above.

However, the choice should depend on what you and your particular project want or need.

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