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Codeception VS Behat

Compare Codeception VS Behat and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Codeception logo Codeception

Codeception is a new full-stack testing PHP framework.

Behat logo Behat

Behat is a tool that makes behavior driven development (BDD) possible.
  • Codeception Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-08-03
  • Behat Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-08-09

Codeception features and specs

  • Unified Testing Framework
    Codeception allows you to write tests for unit, functional, and acceptance testing in one framework, offering a consistent interface and reducing the need to switch between tools.
  • BDD Support
    Codeception supports Behavior Driven Development (BDD) which enables writing human-readable test scenarios, making it easier for non-developers to understand test cases.
  • Modular Architecture
    Codeceptionโ€™s modular architecture makes it highly extensible and customizable, allowing the reuse of modules and integration with popular frameworks like Symfony, Laravel, and Yii.
  • Comprehensive Suite of Helpers
    It offers a wide range of helper modules for various tasks and integrations, such as interacting with web pages and SOAP/REST APIs, which simplifies the setup of tests.
  • Active Community and Documentation
    Codeception has an active community and comprehensive documentation, which provides support and examples for most use cases.

Possible disadvantages of Codeception

  • Complex Setup for Beginners
    The flexibility and feature set of Codeception might be overwhelming for newcomers, requiring more time to understand and correctly set up the environment.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Codeceptionโ€™s comprehensive range of functionalities and modularity may result in a steeper learning curve compared to simpler testing frameworks.
  • Overhead for Small Projects
    For small projects, Codeception might be an overkill due to its complex configuration and multitude of features, which might not all be needed.
  • Heavy Dependency on PHP
    As Codeception is a PHP-based testing framework, teams using multiple languages or technologies might require separate solutions for non-PHP environments.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running complete acceptance tests through browsers can lead to performance overhead, especially for large test suites, possibly requiring more infrastructure and time.

Behat features and specs

  • Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) Support
    Behat is specifically designed for Behavior-Driven Development, enabling teams to write understandable and business-readable tests that facilitate a better understanding among developers, testers, and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Gherkin Language Integration
    It uses the Gherkin language which allows the creation of test scenarios that are easy to read and write. This makes it accessible for non-technical stakeholders to understand the tests.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Behat has a strong community and a wide range of plugins and extensions available to enhance its functionality, such as Mink for browser automation and integrations with other tools.
  • PHP Compatibility
    As Behat is developed in PHP, it seamlessly integrates with PHP projects, making it a preferred choice for testing within the PHP ecosystem.
  • Encourages Collaboration
    By making test scenarios comprehensible to non-developers, Behat encourages collaboration between cross-functional teams, enhancing communication and shared understanding of project requirements.

Possible disadvantages of Behat

  • Steep Learning Curve
    There can be a significant learning curve for those unfamiliar with BDD concepts or the Gherkin language, requiring time and effort to master.
  • Limited to PHP Projects
    Behat is PHP-centric, which means its utility is predominantly for PHP applications. It might not be the best choice for projects written in other programming languages unless PHP is heavily involved.
  • Infrastructure Requirements
    Setting up Behat, especially with browser automation tools like Selenium via Mink, may require additional infrastructure and configurations which can be complex.
  • Execution Speed
    BDD-style tests with Behat can be slower to execute compared to unit tests, as they often involve more setup and teardown work in simulating user interactions.
  • Overhead for Small Projects
    The additional abstraction and ceremony provided by BDD tools like Behat may introduce unnecessary overhead for smaller projects where simpler testing methods might suffice.

Codeception videos

Our First Acceptance Test [6/24] Codeception & Symfony2

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to Run Codeception Tests [5/24] Codeception & Symfony2
  • Review - Bootstrapping Codeception [2/24] Codeception & Symfony2

Behat videos

Behat for Beginners: Automated Testing in 5 Easy Steps

More videos:

  • Review - Making your life easier with Behat + Mink + Drupal Extension
  • Review - Lessons Learned from 2+ Years of Using Behat

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Codeception and Behat)
Automated Testing
81 81%
19% 19
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Browser Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Development Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Codeception should be more popular than Behat. It has been mentiond 8 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Codeception mentions (8)

  • Any pro-tips for writing automated tests with Selenium PHP?
    Personal experience: - donโ€™t use Behat unless you really needed a โ€œstory tellingโ€, it has a intermediate layer Gherkin that youโ€™ll need to code. You can write โ€œGiven/When/Thenโ€ steps but youโ€™ll also need to write โ€œphp codeโ€ that will interpret this step. - using real browser be prepared for instability - any interaction with JavaScript can broken/delay execution - be prepared that this tests are call functional... Source: about 3 years ago
  • PHPUnit, do i need to learn it?
    Codeception: https://codeception.com/. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Advice for an older symfony 4.4 project
    I would say to check out Codeception. Codeceptions has modules for Symfony and database generally. Long and short of it is that if you want you can run api tests that go into the controllers and rollback the database afterwards. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Automating Tests using CodeceptJS and Testomat.io: First Steps
    There are enough blog posts about Jest or Cypress already, so let me introduce Codecept. It comes in two flavors. There is Codeception for PHP, and there is CodeceptJS for JavaScript which we will be using here. - Source: dev.to / almost 4 years ago
  • Testing PHP Applications
    There are many tools you can use for this purpose, but one I particularly like is CodeCeption. What I like most about it is that it's a unified tool that can be used to perform several types of tests, acceptance being one of them. - Source: dev.to / almost 4 years ago
View more

Behat mentions (4)

  • How to migrate from Api Platform v2 to v3?
    Before updating Api Platform, you should make sure that your Api Platform routes are fully covered by tests. You can define integration tests with PHPUnit, Behat or Pest, depending on the tool youโ€™re most comfortable with. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • PHPUnit, do i need to learn it?
    Behat: https://docs.behat.org/en/latest/ Following: Behaviour Driven Development. Source: over 3 years ago
  • How I added zero down deployment to my website
    ^ That's an example of the type of behavioral test I use. I use Behat (beha[vioral]t[est]) to run these, and it does so by opening a headless Chrome / Firefox and does the actual clicking through the real live website. Super useful to get set up - it's saved my bacon many times. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Parallel Behat
    TLDR; Our company dockerized pretty much everything, as such to tackle long waiting time of the CI pipeline, we split the big list of behat files into chunks and process it using docker in parallel using python multiprocessing. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Codeception and Behat, you can also consider the following products

PHPUnit - Application and Data, Build, Test, Deploy, and Testing Frameworks

WompMobile - WompMobile offers tow kind of functions โ€“ first creating new mobile apps and secondly converting the websites into mobile applications.

TestMu AI (Formerly LambdaTest) - Worldโ€™s first full-stack Agentic AI Quality Engineering platform.

OutSystems - Build Enterprise-Grade Apps Fast.

CrossBrowserTesting - Browser Testing made simple! Run automated, visual, and manual tests on 1500+ real browsers and mobile devices. Test more browsers, in less time.

Oracle Mobile Application - Oracle Mobile Application framework or Oracle Mobile Application development platform is a hybrid mobile framework for rapidly developing single source applications for many platforms and devices.