Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

PhpStorm VS Nightwatch.js

Compare PhpStorm VS Nightwatch.js and see what are their differences

PhpStorm logo PhpStorm

Professional IDE for PHP and Web Developers

Nightwatch.js logo Nightwatch.js

Write efficient and straightforward end-to-end tests in Node.js which run against a Selenium/WebDriver server.
  • PhpStorm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-18
  • Nightwatch.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-30

PhpStorm features and specs

  • Advanced Code Editor
    PhpStorm provides an intelligent code editor with features like syntax highlighting, code completion, and real-time error detection to help you write clean and maintainable code efficiently.
  • Built-in Debugging and Testing Tools
    Integrated powerful debugging and testing tools support multiple frameworks and enable step-by-step debugging, ensuring you can quickly identify and fix issues in your code.
  • Version Control Integration
    PhpStorm offers seamless integration with version control systems like Git, SVN, Mercurial, and Perforce, allowing easy management of your codebase and collaboration with your team.
  • Framework Support
    The IDE supports a wide range of PHP frameworks such as Laravel, Symfony, Yii, and Magento, providing specialized tools and features to streamline development within these frameworks.
  • Database Tools
    PhpStorm comes with built-in database tools that allow you to manage and query databases directly from the IDE, improving your development workflow involving database interactions.
  • Live Edit
    The Live Edit feature enables real-time changes to your code to be reflected in your browser immediately, streamlining the development process by reducing the need for manual refreshing.
  • Cross-platform Compatibility
    PhpStorm is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent development environment regardless of your operating system.

Possible disadvantages of PhpStorm

  • Cost
    PhpStorm is a premium IDE with a subscription-based payment model, which can be a barrier for individual developers or small teams with limited budgets.
  • Resource Intensive
    The IDE can be heavy on system resources, which may affect the performance of your machine, especially if you are using older hardware.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive range of features and capabilities, new users might find PhpStorm difficult to master and may require a significant time investment to become proficient.
  • Overwhelming for Simple Projects
    The multitude of tools and features can be overkill for small projects or beginner developers who do not need the advanced capabilities provided by PhpStorm.
  • Periodic Updates
    While updates usually bring improvements, the frequency of updates can sometimes cause disruptions or require adjustments in workflows.

Nightwatch.js features and specs

  • Simplicity
    Nightwatch.js is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It provides a straightforward syntax which makes it easier for developers to write and maintain test scripts.
  • Built-in Test Runner
    Nightwatch comes with a built-in test runner that is integrated into the framework, simplifying the testing setup and execution process.
  • Cross-Browser Testing
    It supports cross-browser testing by integrating with WebDriver, which allows you to run automated tests on various browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.
  • Comprehensive Documentation
    Nightwatch.js offers comprehensive and detailed documentation which helps developers quickly understand and implement testing solutions without significant difficulty.
  • Community Support
    Nightwatch.js has an active community which can be helpful for finding solutions to common problems, sharing best practices, and staying updated with new features.
  • Integration with CI/CD Tools
    The framework can easily be integrated with continuous integration and continuous deployment tools, enhancing the automation of testing processes in development pipelines.

Possible disadvantages of Nightwatch.js

  • Dependency on Selenium
    Nightwatch.js relies on Selenium WebDriver, which can be a limitation in terms of setup complexity and potential issues related to WebDriver compatibility with browsers.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic features are simple to use, advanced configurations and custom commands require a more in-depth understanding, which may increase the learning curve for some users.
  • Less Flexibility in Command Chaining
    Compared to some other testing frameworks like Cypress, Nightwatch.js might offer less flexibility in terms of chaining commands and writing more complex assertions.
  • Performance with Large Test Suites
    Some users have reported performance issues when executing large test suites, which can slow down the testing process significantly.
  • Limited Built-In Reporting
    Nightwatch.js has limited built-in reporting capabilities, often requiring additional plugins or tools to generate comprehensive test reports.

PhpStorm videos

Testing PHPStorm vs Atom || Code Editor side-by-side

More videos:

  • Review - Introduction to PhpStorm
  • Review - What's New in PhpStorm 2019.1

Nightwatch.js videos

De cero a héroe con Nightwatch.js - Rodrigo Godoy y Alejandra Silva

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PhpStorm and Nightwatch.js)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Browser Testing
0 0%
100% 100
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
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 PhpStorm and Nightwatch.js

PhpStorm Reviews

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Nightwatch.js Reviews

Top Selenium Alternatives
Nightwatch.js simplifies the setup and use of Selenium WebDriver, providing an abstraction layer that is easier to work with for JavaScript developers. While it offers the broad compatibility and standardization of Selenium WebDriver, it aims to improve the development experience with its simplified syntax and support for the Page Object pattern, making it a middle ground...
Source: bugbug.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Nightwatch.js seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 13 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.

PhpStorm mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of PhpStorm yet. Tracking of PhpStorm recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Nightwatch.js mentions (13)

  • Automating Android TV app with Nightwatch
    Nightwatch which will prompt to create a boilerplate framework specifically for Mobile / TV apps. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Learn Automated Testing At Home: A Beginner's Guide
    6.NightwatchJS: NightwatchJS is a Node.js-based end-to-end testing framework. Key Features: Simplifies writing test scripts using a simple syntax. Supports parallel test execution. Integrates with Selenium WebDriver for cross-browser testing. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • CSS Selectors And XPath Locators In Selenium Test Automation Scripts
    I have shown you the examples of using selectors in the Google Chrome dev tools, but the idea is similar when you write your automation scripts. I will use the Nightwatch testing framework to write the following snippets which will navigate to some webpage, wait to ensure that an interactive element has appeared in the DOM, and finally click on it. If you want to learn using Javascript with Nightwatch framework... - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • How To Perform Automation Testing With Cucumber And Nightwatch JS?
    Nightwatch.js is a popular open-source, Selenium JavaScript-based test automation framework for automating browser-based web applications and websites. It is written in Node.js runtime and uses the W3C WebDriver API (formerly Selenium WebDriver) for interacting with various browsers to perform commands and assertions on DOM elements. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
  • Properly Configuring Nightwatch to Run Geckodriver
    I’ll get right to it: both the stock Nightwatch configuration file (as of at least Nightwatch v. 2.0.9) and the Nightwatch docs are inaccurate for using the geckodriver web driver (specifically, v. 0.30.0) to run tests. Here is what you need to do, isolated to the firefox environment portion of the test_settings object in a nightwatch.conf.js file:. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing PhpStorm and Nightwatch.js, you can also consider the following products

IntelliJ IDEA - Capable and Ergonomic IDE for JVM

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.

Microsoft Visual Studio - Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.

Cypress.io - Slow, difficult and unreliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Install Cypress in seconds and take the pain out of front-end testing.

Eclipse - Eclipse is an open source community, whose projects are focused on building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle.

WebdriverIO - Webdriver module for Node.js. that makes it easier to write Selenium tests