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PHPUnit VS Testcontainers

Compare PHPUnit VS Testcontainers and see what are their differences

PHPUnit logo PHPUnit

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

Testcontainers logo Testcontainers

Testcontainers is a modern Java library that comes with the exclusive support of Junit tests.
  • PHPUnit Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-26
  • Testcontainers Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-07

PHPUnit features and specs

  • Comprehensive Testing
    PHPUnit provides a wide range of tools and functionalities for unit testing, allowing developers to thoroughly test their PHP code.
  • Command-Line Interface
    PHPUnit includes a robust CLI that facilitates the running of tests, which can be easily integrated into automated build and deployment processes.
  • Integration with CI/CD
    PHPUnit integrates seamlessly with continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines, enhancing the DevOps workflow.
  • Mock Objects
    The framework provides built-in support for creating mock objects, which can simulate the behavior of complex dependencies, making unit tests more isolated and reliable.
  • Rich Documentation
    PHPUnit has extensive documentation and a strong community, offering a wealth of resources and support for developers.
  • Code Coverage Analysis
    PHPUnit can be used with Xdebug or PHPDBG to generate detailed code coverage reports, helping identify untested parts of the codebase.

Possible disadvantages of PHPUnit

  • Steep Learning Curve
    For beginners, PHPUnit can be daunting due to its comprehensive set of features and conventions, requiring a significant time investment to master.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running a large number of tests with PHPUnit can introduce performance overhead, making test execution slower especially in larger projects.
  • Complex Configuration
    Setting up PHPUnit in a complex development environment can sometimes be tricky, requiring careful configuration and maintenance.
  • Limited Functional Testing
    PHPUnit is primarily designed for unit testing and may not be as suitable for functional or end-to-end testing, necessitating additional tools for comprehensive test coverage.

Testcontainers features and specs

  • Isolation
    Testcontainers provides a high level of isolation for tests by using Docker containers, ensuring that each test runs in a clean environment without interference from the previous tests.
  • Realistic Testing
    By using actual instances of services like databases or message brokers, Testcontainers allow for more realistic integration and end-to-end testing scenarios.
  • Ease of Use
    Testcontainers simplifies the setup of complex environments, allowing developers to quickly specify the containers they need without extensive configuration.
  • Cross-Platform
    As Testcontainers rely on Docker, they are inherently cross-platform and can be used on any system that supports Docker, such as Windows, Mac, and Linux.
  • Compatibility with CI/CD
    Testcontainers can be seamlessly integrated into CI/CD pipelines, enabling automated testing with consistent environments on every build.

Possible disadvantages of Testcontainers

  • Docker Dependency
    Testcontainers requires Docker to be installed and running on the host machine, which may be an additional dependency that some environments do not support.
  • Performance Overhead
    Running tests in Docker containers can introduce additional resource overhead, which may slow down test execution compared to running tests natively.
  • Complex Debugging
    Debugging issues in a containerized environment can be more complex due to the additional layer of abstraction, requiring familiarity with Docker commands and tools.
  • Limited UI Testing
    Testcontainers are more suited to backend and integration testing rather than UI testing, as graphical applications can be challenging to run in a headless container.

PHPUnit videos

PHP Unit Testing with PHPUnit | Automated PHP Testing Tutorial [2021]

More videos:

  • Review - DrupalCon Dublin 2016: Automated Testing: PHPUnit all the way
  • Review - Our first PHPunit test in Drupal 8

Testcontainers videos

Testcontainers – From Zero to Hero

More videos:

  • Review - Testcontainers: a Year-in-review (Kevin Wittek)
  • Review - Testcontainers: a Year-in-review (Kevin Wittek)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PHPUnit and Testcontainers)
Automated Testing
72 72%
28% 28
Online Services
38 38%
62% 62
Development
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Testcontainers might be a bit more popular than PHPUnit. We know about 40 links to it since March 2021 and only 33 links to PHPUnit. 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.

PHPUnit mentions (33)

  • 19+ Laravel Best Practices for Developers in 2024
    Laravel also has out-of-the-box testing tools like Pest and PHPUnit and functionalities to enable expressive testing. It also supports executing automated testing sessions that are more precise than manual ones. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Focusing your tests on the domain. A PHPUnit example
    The example is built over a Symfony environment and using the PHPUnit library, but the idea is valid for any language or framework. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Run PHPUnit locally in your WordPress Plugin with DDEV
    Okay, I am digressing; the focus here is PHPUnit for plugins. As with many of my other articles, my goal is to create a reference for myself to use when I need it in the future. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Wordpress tests with Pest and WP Setup
    Today, I finished the first implementation of this environment, adding Pest and PHPUnit in v10.5, which is currently not supported by default with WP Env. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Laravel Fundamentals: A Cheat Sheet for Rapid Development
    Laravel integrates with PHPUnit for unit testing out-of-the-box. Tests are stored in the tests directory of your Laravel application. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
View more

Testcontainers mentions (40)

  • Testing MongoDB Atlas Search Java Apps Using TestContainers
    Even though we’re going to be using the Java TestContainers project here, TestContainers is available for lots of languages and platforms. You can check it out on their website. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Spring Boot AI Evaluation Testing
    Start Docker Compose with both Ollama and PGVector using Testcontainers. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
  • How to test Umbraco against a real database
    In my last post about Test Driven Development, I briefly touched on testing with a real database and how I used TestContainers to do it. - Source: dev.to / 28 days ago
  • Ask HN: Go libraries for managing Docker container pools and executing commands
    Our use case is to execute test scripts in a sandbox mode. This is multi host and multi region setup. We might run millions of test scripts per day. One of our engineers found https://testcontainers.com. We find it interesting and it seems like it won’t maintain container live. Instead, it start and remove the container for each test. We might need to implement lock mechanism to run only maximum number of... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Learning TDD by doing: Umbraco & EF Core
    Use a real database. TestContainers works very well. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PHPUnit and Testcontainers, you can also consider the following products

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

Arquillian - Arquillian is an open-source testing platform that offers no more container lifecycle, deployment hassles, and mocks.

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

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

WritePHPOnline.Com - WritePHPOnline.Com is an online site that enables you to write code in PHP and view its output.

RSpec - RSpec is a testing tool for the Ruby programming language born under the banner of Behavior-Driven Development featuring a rich command line program, textual descriptions of examples, and more.