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AVA vs Mocha: What are the differences?
## Key Differences between AVA and Mocha
AVA and Mocha are both popular JavaScript testing frameworks, but they have some key differences that set them apart.
1. **Concurrency**: AVA runs tests concurrently, allowing for faster test execution compared to Mocha, which runs tests sequentially. This can be beneficial for large test suites as it helps in reducing overall testing time.
2. **Syntax**: Mocha uses a simple and flexible syntax, making it easier for beginners to get started with testing. On the other hand, AVA uses a more opinionated syntax that enforces certain testing practices, providing a more structured approach to writing tests.
3. **Isolation**: AVA sandboxes each test file, running them in parallel to prevent any interference between tests. In contrast, Mocha runs all tests within the same process, potentially causing issues with test data leaking between tests.
4. **Installation**: Mocha requires additional setup and installation of assertion libraries like Chai, while AVA comes bundled with its own assertion library. This makes AVA a more lightweight and self-sufficient solution for testing.
5. **Asynchronous Testing**: AVA natively supports promises and async/await syntax for handling asynchronous operations, making it easier to write and maintain asynchronous tests. Mocha, on the other hand, may require additional setup or plugins to enable this functionality.
6. **Configuration**: Mocha provides more flexibility in configuration options, allowing users to customize test runners, reporters, and other settings. AVA, on the other hand, comes with a minimalistic configuration approach, which may be preferred by those looking for simplicity.
In Summary, AVA and Mocha differ in terms of concurrency, syntax, isolation, installation, asynchronous testing support, and configuration options.
Decisions about AVA and Mocha
Abigail Watson
We use Mocha for our FDA verification testing. It's integrated into Meteor, our upstream web application framework. We like how battle tested it is, its' syntax, its' options of reporters, and countless other features. Most everybody can agree on mocha, and that gets us half-way through our FDA verification and validation (V&V) testing strategy.
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Learn MorePros of AVA
Pros of Mocha
Pros of AVA
- Simple and fast12
- Parallel test running6
- Open source5
- Promise support3
- Test code Instrumenting3
- Babel integration2
- ESM Ready1
Pros of Mocha
- Open source137
- Simple102
- Promise support81
- Flexible48
- Easy to add support for Generators29
- For browser and server testing12
- Curstom assertion libraries7
- Works with Karma5
- No other better tools3
- Simple setup1
- Works with saucelabs1
- Lots of tutorials and help online1
- Default reporter is nice, clean, and itemized1
- Works with BrowserStack1
- Simple integration testing1
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Cons of AVA
Cons of Mocha
Cons of AVA
- No built-in support for DOM1
- No source files compilation1
Cons of Mocha
- Cannot test a promisified functions without assertion3
- No assertion count in results2
- Not as many reporter options as Jest1
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What is AVA?
Even though JavaScript is single-threaded, IO in Node.js can happen in parallel due to its async nature. AVA takes advantage of this and runs your tests concurrently, which is especially beneficial for IO heavy tests. In addition, test files are run in parallel as separate processes, giving you even better performance and an isolated environment for each test file.
What is Mocha?
Mocha is a feature-rich JavaScript test framework running on node.js and the browser, making asynchronous testing simple and fun. Mocha tests run serially, allowing for flexible and accurate reporting, while mapping uncaught exceptions to the correct test cases.
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What companies use AVA?
What companies use Mocha?
What companies use AVA?
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What tools integrate with AVA?
What tools integrate with Mocha?
What tools integrate with AVA?
No integrations found
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What are some alternatives to AVA and Mocha?
Jest
Jest provides you with multiple layers on top of Jasmine.
EVA
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Git
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GitHub
GitHub is the best place to share code with friends, co-workers, classmates, and complete strangers. Over three million people use GitHub to build amazing things together.
Visual Studio Code
Build and debug modern web and cloud applications. Code is free and available on your favorite platform - Linux, Mac OSX, and Windows.