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Jasmine VS Sinon.JS

Compare Jasmine VS Sinon.JS and see what are their differences

Jasmine logo Jasmine

Behavior-Driven JavaScript

Sinon.JS logo Sinon.JS

Standalone test spies, stubs and mocks for JavaScript.
  • Jasmine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-17
  • Sinon.JS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09

Jasmine features and specs

  • Behavior-Driven Development
    Jasmine is designed for BDD, which makes tests easier to understand and maintain, aligning well with modern development practices.
  • No Dependencies
    Jasmine does not require a DOM and has no dependencies, which simplifies initial setup and integration into various environments.
  • Comprehensive API
    Jasmine provides a rich set of matchers, spies, and utilities out of the box, making it easier to write complex tests.
  • Built-in Mocking
    Jasmine includes built-in features for spying and mocking functions, reducing the need for additional libraries.
  • Wide Adoption
    Jasmine is widely adopted in the industry, which means better community support, extensive documentation, and plentiful resources.
  • Framework Agnostic
    Jasmine can be used with any JavaScript framework or library, offering flexibility for different projects.

Possible disadvantages of Jasmine

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Users new to BDD or Jasmine might find its extensive API and different testing paradigms challenging to learn initially.
  • Async Testing Complexity
    Although Jasmine provides support for asynchronous tests, handling async code can still be complex and less intuitive compared to some other testing frameworks.
  • Verbose Syntax
    Writing tests in Jasmine can sometimes be more verbose compared to other testing libraries, potentially leading to longer, harder-to-read test files.
  • Limited Plugin Ecosystem
    Compared to some other testing frameworks like Jest, Jasmine has a more limited ecosystem of plugins and extensions.
  • Integration with ES Modules
    Jasmine's integration with modern JavaScript features like ES Modules can sometimes be less straightforward, requiring additional configuration or workarounds.

Sinon.JS features and specs

  • Comprehensive Feature Set
    Sinon.JS offers a wide array of features such as spies, mocks, stubs, and fake timers, which are essential for thorough testing, especially when dealing with asynchronous code and external dependencies.
  • Standalone
    It is framework-agnostic and does not require any other libraries, allowing it to be easily integrated with any test framework or used in standalone projects.
  • Extensive Documentation
    Sinon.JS provides well-written and comprehensive documentation, making it easier for developers to understand and effectively use the library's wide range of features.
  • Community Support
    Sinon.JS has a strong community and is widely adopted, which means that developers can find numerous tutorials, guides, and community discussions to help them solve issues.
  • Easy Integration with Popular Frameworks
    It easily integrates with popular testing frameworks like Mocha, Jasmine, and QUnit, enhancing the testing capabilities of these frameworks.

Possible disadvantages of Sinon.JS

  • Steep Learning Curve
    The complexity and vast feature set of Sinon.JS can be overwhelming for beginners, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Verbose Syntax
    Sinon.JS can require a lot of boilerplate code to set up mocks and stubs, which can make tests more verbose and harder to read compared to other libraries.
  • Potential for Over-mocking
    Due to its powerful mocking capabilities, there is a risk of over-mocking, which can lead to tests that do not accurately reflect the real application's behavior.
  • Performance Overhead
    Using Sinon.JS can introduce a performance overhead, especially when used extensively in testing environments, as it adds layers of abstraction and complexity.
  • Maintenance and Updates
    Although Sinon.JS is stable, keeping it up-to-date with the latest releases and maintaining tests can be a challenge, particularly when there are breaking changes.

Analysis of Jasmine

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Jasmine is a good testing framework, particularly for those who want a straightforward, standalone solution for testing JavaScript. Its mature ecosystem and active community support make it a reliable choice.

Why this product is good

  • Jasmine is a popular behavior-driven development framework for testing JavaScript code. It is praised for being easy to set up and having no external dependencies, which makes it a great tool for testing purposes. Jasmine provides a clean syntax that makes tests readable and maintainable. It supports a variety of testing scenarios, including asynchronous testing and mock functionality, which are essential in modern web development.

Recommended for

  • JavaScript developers looking for a BDD framework.
  • Projects where ease of integration and minimal configuration are desired.
  • Development teams who prioritize readable and maintainable test code.
  • Those who need a robust solution for testing both synchronous and asynchronous code.

Jasmine videos

Blue Jasmine - Movie Review by Chris Stuckmann

More videos:

  • Review - Blue Jasmine -- Movie Review
  • Review - Was Jasmine Ever Speechless? [Aladdin 2019 Review]

Sinon.JS videos

Sinon.js Tutorial - How to Use Sinon.js, the Mocking Library for Testing

More videos:

  • Review - JS.everywhere(2012): Unit Testing Your JS w QUnit and Sinon.JS - Nicholas Silva
  • Review - Stubbing Javascript date objects using Sinon.js - Stream Highlight

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Jasmine and Sinon.JS)
Automated Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Front End Package Manager
Developer Tools
69 69%
31% 31
Testing
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Jasmine and Sinon.JS

Jasmine Reviews

20 Best JavaScript Frameworks For 2023
In the State of JS ranking, Cypress has already surpassed some previously leading best testing frameworks, such as Jasmine, and is now ranked fourth for testing, with 35.8% of testers citing Cypress as their preferred testing framework, which is nearly identical to Mocha.

Sinon.JS Reviews

We have no reviews of Sinon.JS yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Jasmine might be a bit more popular than Sinon.JS. We know about 32 links to it since March 2021 and only 24 links to Sinon.JS. 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.

Jasmine mentions (32)

  • Angular vs. React vs. Vue
    Apart from that, there is a lot of common ground regarding testing. All three contenders support the testing tools that many of you use and love, whether it is Jest, Jasmine, and Mocha for unit testing or Cypress, Playwright, and — of course — Selenium for end-to-end testing, among others. A shallow learning curve will be ahead if you want to use these testing tools. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Test Test Test
    Greetings, another week another lab this week covered the topic of automated testing. When selecting a test framework my first thought was to use Jasmine, which I had used previously, however it turns out that Jasmine does not have good support for ES modules. After doing a bit of research I opted to go with Vitest, since it was ES module compatible, and was inter-compatible with the very popular Vite tool chain. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Is the VCR plugged in? Common Sense Troubleshooting For Web Devs
    5. Automated Tests: Unit tests are automated tests that verify the behavior of a small unit of code in isolation. I like to write unit tests for every bug reported by a user. This way, I can reproduce the bug in a controlled environment and verify that the fix works as expected and that we wont see a regression. There are many different JavaScript test frameworks like Jest, cypress, mocha, and jasmine. We use... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • # 5 Testing Frameworks for JavaScript Developers
    Jasmine is renowned for its simplicity and is a popular choice for JavaScript testing. Here are its key features:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Migrating from Jest to Vitest for your React Application
    Vitest makes it effortless to migrate from Jest. It supports the same Jasmine like API. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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Sinon.JS mentions (24)

  • How to get 100% code coverage? ✅
    Now, we need to figure out how to test in general. To begin with, we will use Mocha, Sinon, and to generate C8 reports:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Best Testing Practices in Node.js
    Libraries like Sinon.JS provide robust support for stubs and spies, enabling precise control and inspection of your code's interactions. By favoring stubs and spies, you can keep your tests concise, easier to understand, and less prone to errors. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • An Introduction to Unit Testing in Node.js
    Mocha is a simple and flexible JavaScript testing framework for browser and Node.js applications. Unlike other testing frameworks, it takes a minimalist approach and relies on external libraries for key tasks. It uses Sinon for handling spies, stubs, and mocks, and Chai as the assertion engine. Mocha is extensible through many plugins and can integrate with most test runners. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • Writing an Obsidian Plugin Driven By Tests
    As Obsidian code is not available; we must provide some alternate implementation. If you're familiar with sinon, you might think we can create a stubbed instance like this:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Unit Testing in Node.js and TypeScript: A Comprehensive Guide with Jest Integration
    If you are using a mocking library, such as sinon, jest-mock, or ts-mockito, make sure that it is compatible with Jest. You may need to install additional packages or configure them in your configuration file. For example, to use sinon with Jest, you can install the sinon-jest package and add the following to your configuration file:. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Jasmine and Sinon.JS, you can also consider the following products

Mocha - Sponsors. Use Mocha at Work? Ask your manager or marketing team if they'd help support our project. Your company's logo will also be displayed on npmjs. com and our GitHub repository.

Chai - Chai is a BDD / TDD assertion library for node and the browser that can be delightfully paired with any javascript testing framework.

Mochajs - Mocha is a JavaScript test framework running on Node.js and the browser, making asynchronous testing simple.

EyeJS - A JavaScript testing framework for the real world.

QUnit - What is QUnit? QUnit is a powerful, easy-to-use JavaScript unit testing framework. It's used by the jQuery, jQuery UI and jQuery Mobile projects and is capable of testing any generic JavaScript code, including itself!

Enzyme - Enzyme is a JavaScript testing utility for React.