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Cucumber vs PHPUnit: What are the differences?

Introduction

Cucumber and PHPUnit are both widely used testing frameworks, but they have some key differences that set them apart.

  1. Test Structure: Cucumber is primarily used for behavior-driven development (BDD) and follows a natural language syntax called Gherkin. Gherkin allows non-technical stakeholders to understand and contribute to the test scenarios. On the other hand, PHPUnit is a unit testing framework specifically designed for testing PHP code. It focuses on writing tests at the code level, without the natural language syntax.

  2. Language and Platform: Cucumber is primarily used with Ruby, although there are implementations available for other programming languages as well. It is a tool that can be used across different platforms. PHPUnit, on the other hand, is specifically designed for testing PHP code and is tightly integrated with the PHP language and its ecosystem.

  3. Test Types: Cucumber is designed for high-level acceptance and integration testing, often written from the perspective of end-users. It is mainly used for black-box testing, ensuring that the system behaves as expected. PHPUnit, on the other hand, focuses on unit testing, where individual units of code are tested in isolation. It allows developers to test functions, methods, and classes at a granular level.

  4. Test Execution: In Cucumber, tests are written in plain English using Gherkin syntax, making them more readable and understandable by non-technical stakeholders. These tests are then executed using an automation tool, such as Selenium, that drives the application under test. PHPUnit tests, on the other hand, are written as code using the PHP language and are executed directly by the testing framework.

  5. Test Coverage: Cucumber allows for a higher-level test coverage, ensuring that the application is working as expected from the end-user's perspective. It focuses on testing the application's behavior and functionality. PHPUnit, being a unit testing framework, allows for more detailed and granular test coverage at the code level. It helps in catching bugs and errors in individual units of code.

  6. Integration with Development Workflow: Cucumber is often used in combination with other tools like continuous integration servers (e.g., Jenkins) and version control systems (e.g., Git) to automate the execution of tests and provide feedback throughout the development process. PHPUnit is tightly integrated with PHP development workflows and can be easily integrated into build systems and continuous integration processes specific to the PHP ecosystem.

In Summary, Cucumber is a behavior-driven testing framework primarily used for acceptance and integration testing, while PHPUnit is a unit testing framework specifically designed for PHP code. Cucumber focuses on high-level tests written in natural language, whereas PHPUnit is used for unit testing at the code level.

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Pros of Cucumber
Pros of PHPUnit
  • 20
    Simple Syntax
  • 8
    Simple usage
  • 5
    Huge community
  • 3
    Nice report
  • 5
    TDD Unit Testing
  • 2
    TDD Integration Testing
  • 2
    Software Quality
  • 2
    TDD Acceptance Testing
  • 1
    TDD Unit Testing
  • 1
    Unit Testing
  • 1
    The de facto standard for xUnit testing in PHP

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Cons of Cucumber
Cons of PHPUnit
    Be the first to leave a con
    • 1
      Mocked services require more effort and understanding

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    - No public GitHub repository available -

    What is Cucumber?

    Cucumber is a tool that supports Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD) - a software development process that aims to enhance software quality and reduce maintenance costs.

    What is PHPUnit?

    PHPUnit is a programmer-oriented testing framework for PHP. It is an instance of the xUnit architecture for unit testing frameworks.

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    What companies use PHPUnit?
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    What tools integrate with Cucumber?
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    What are some alternatives to Cucumber and PHPUnit?
    Selenium
    Selenium automates browsers. That's it! What you do with that power is entirely up to you. Primarily, it is for automating web applications for testing purposes, but is certainly not limited to just that. Boring web-based administration tasks can (and should!) also be automated as well.
    RSpec
    Behaviour Driven Development for Ruby. Making TDD Productive and Fun.
    TestNG
    It is a testing framework designed to simplify a broad range of testing needs, it covers all categories of tests: unit, functional, end-to-end, integration, etc.Run your tests in arbitrarily big thread pools with various policies available (all methods in their own thread, one thread per test class, etc.
    JUnit
    JUnit is a simple framework to write repeatable tests. It is an instance of the xUnit architecture for unit testing frameworks.
    Celery
    Celery is an asynchronous task queue/job queue based on distributed message passing. It is focused on real-time operation, but supports scheduling as well.
    See all alternatives