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Mockito VS unittest

Compare Mockito VS unittest and see what are their differences

Mockito logo Mockito

Mocking framework for unit tests in Java.

unittest logo unittest

Testing Frameworks
  • Mockito Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-17
  • unittest Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-19

Mockito features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Mockito provides a clean and simple API that makes it easy to create mock objects and set expectations on them, which reduces the learning curve for new users.
  • Flexible Stubbing
    Allows defining behavior for mock objects, including different outcomes for different inputs, which provides detailed control over the mocked behavior.
  • Enhanced Readability
    The use of clear, human-readable language in test cases helps improve the clarity and maintainability of tests.
  • Integration with JUnit
    Mockito integrates seamlessly with JUnit, a popular testing framework, leveraging annotations and runners for cleaner and more structured test code.
  • Active Community and Support
    Backed by a large and active user community, ensuring constant updates, improvements, and plentiful resources for troubleshooting.

Possible disadvantages of Mockito

  • Limited Deep Mocking
    Mockito can struggle with deep mocking scenarios where you need to mock chained or deeply nested calls, which can add complexity to test setup.
  • Static Method Limitations
    Mockito does not natively support mocking of static methods, requiring additional tools or alternative approaches to handle such cases.
  • Potential Overuse
    Extensive use of mocking might indicate poor design choices, such as tight coupling, and can lead to fragile tests that require significant maintenance.
  • Requires Understanding of Best Practices
    Without understanding or adhering to best practices, developers might misuse Mockito, leading to over-mocking or inappropriate test setups.
  • Advanced Features Require Careful Use
    Advanced features such as answers, spies, or argument captors can increase test complexity and require a deeper understanding to avoid introducing flaky tests.

unittest features and specs

  • Standard Library Integration
    Unittest is part of the Python Standard Library, which means it is included with every standard Python installation. This makes it easily accessible and eliminates the need for additional dependencies.
  • Discoverability
    Unittest automatically discovers tests, which makes it simpler to organize and run a large suite of tests.
  • Test Suite Management
    It provides powerful mechanisms for structuring test cases, including test suites, test cases inheritance, and grouping of tests, allowing for better organization.
  • Compatibility with Other Testing Frameworks
    Unittest is compatible with test runners from other testing frameworks like pytest, providing flexibility and integration with more advanced features if needed.
  • Setup and Teardown Facilities
    It provides built-in setup and teardown methods with setUp(), tearDown(), setUpClass(), and tearDownClass(), which help in preparing the environment before tests and cleaning up afterward.

Possible disadvantages of unittest

  • Verbose Syntax
    The syntax for writing tests in unittest can be more verbose compared to some other testing frameworks, like pytest, which may lead to more boilerplate code.
  • Less Expressive Assertions
    Unittest comes with a set of built-in assertions that are sometimes not as expressive or convenient as those provided by other testing libraries like pytest.
  • Limited Fixtures Flexibility
    While unittest provides basic setUp and tearDown methods, it lacks more sophisticated fixtures that other frameworks like pytest offer, which can lead to less flexible test setups.
  • Steeper Learning Curve
    For beginners, unittest can have a steeper learning curve compared to simpler or more modern testing frameworks, mainly due to its structure and the amount of boilerplate.

Mockito videos

Mockito JUnit Example

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Mockito Tutorial - Mocking With Junit and Maven
  • Review - Mockito Annotations - @Mock, @Runwith, @InjectMocks and @Captor

unittest videos

No unittest videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Mockito and unittest)
Automated Testing
58 58%
42% 42
Testing
66 66%
34% 34
Browser Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Online Services
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Mockito and unittest

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unittest Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
nose2 extends the built-in unittest library and provides a more powerful and flexible way to write and run tests. It’s an extensible tool, so you can use multiple built-in and third-party plugins to your advantage.
Source: kinsta.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, unittest should be more popular than Mockito. It has been mentiond 63 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.

Mockito mentions (17)

  • Effective Strategies for Writing Unit Tests with External Dependencies like Databases and APIs
    For database interactions, tools like Mockito for Java or unittest.mock for Python allow you to create mock objects that return predefined responses or simulate specific behaviors like database query results or error conditions. This is especially useful for testing edge cases without needing to rely on a live database. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Top 10 Java Testing Tools Every Developer Should Know
    Mockito simplifies creating mock objects in unit tests, making it popular for behavior-driven development (BDD) in combination with frameworks like JUnit and TestNG. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Tutorial: Build a Java SDK based on OpenAPI Spec
    Testing is critical to maintaining the reliability of your SDK. For Java, tools Like JUnit and Mockito are Standard for unit testing and mocking. JUnit provides a simple, structured way to write tests, while Mockito allows you To mock objects in tests, which is particularly useful for API-driven SDKs where you need to simulate API responses. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • I build CRUDS as an intern. My boss told me my tests were ok, but too slow, so he modified them to run in a specific order to reuse the app context on all tests. Is that a good practice though?
    I would say no. Mocking is generally creating a mock object. Like with Mockito. https://site.mockito.org. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Instancio 2.2.0 released
    Could you explain how this relates to Mockito? Could it be used together perhaps for more advanced mocking? Source: over 2 years ago
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unittest mentions (63)

  • Building a serverless GenAI API with FastAPI, AWS, and CircleCI
    Testing and validating the API is crucial to ensure it is functioning correctly before deploying it. Below are several tests using pytest and unittest packages. The unit tests check if the app runs locally and in AWS Lambda, ensuring that requests work in both setups. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Using Selenium Webdriver with Python's unittest framework
    In this tutorial, we'll be going over how to use Selenium Webdriver with Python's unittest framework. We'll use webdriver-manager to automatically download and install the latest version of Chrome. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Asynchronous Server: Building and Rigorously Testing a WebSocket and HTTP Server
    The last part of our CI/CD was running tests and getting coverage reports. In the Python ecosystem, pytest is an extremely popular testing framework. Though very tempting and might still be used later on, we will stick with Python's built-in testing library, unittest, and use coverage for measuring code test coverage of our program. Let's start with the test setup:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Enhance Your Project Quality with These Top Python Libraries
    Unittest is a built-in module of Python. It’s inspired by the xUnit framework architecture. This is a great tool to create and organise test cases in a systematic way. You can use unittest.mock with pytest when you need to create mock objects in your tests. The unittest.mock module is a powerful feature in Python’s standard library for creating mock objects in your tests. It allows you to replace parts of your... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • An Introduction to Testing with Django for Python
    Unittest is Python's built-in testing framework. Django extends it with some of its own functionality. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Mockito and unittest, you can also consider the following products

JUnit - JUnit is a simple framework to write repeatable tests.

pytest - Javascript Testing Framework

Cucumber - Cucumber is a BDD tool for specification of application features and user scenarios in plain text.

Rumprun - The Rumprun unikernel and toolchain for various platforms - rumpkernel/rumprun

Robot framework - Robot Framework is a generic test automation framework for acceptance testing and acceptance...

PHPTester.net - PHPTester.net gives developers and learners the ability to write their PHP code and get the output online.