Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

pytest VS Mockito

Compare pytest VS Mockito and see what are their differences

pytest logo pytest

Javascript Testing Framework

Mockito logo Mockito

Mocking framework for unit tests in Java.
  • pytest Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-15
  • Mockito Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-17

pytest features and specs

  • Easy to Use
    Pytest is designed to be simple and easy to use, with minimal boilerplate code required to write tests. Its straightforward syntax allows users to quickly write and understand tests.
  • Extensive Plugin System
    Pytest has a flexible and powerful plugin architecture, with a wide range of community-maintained plugins available, allowing for easy customization and extension of its functionality.
  • Detailed Information on Failures
    Pytest provides detailed and informative feedback on failures, enhancing the debugging process by highlighting where and why a test failed.
  • Fixture Support
    Pytest's fixture system allows for easy setup and teardown of test environments, encouraging the reuse of setup code and reducing code duplication.
  • Compatibility
    Pytest is compatible with standard Python testing frameworks such as unittest, allowing for easy migration and integration of existing tests.

Possible disadvantages of pytest

  • Steeper Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While basic usage is straightforward, mastering advanced pytest features, such as writing custom plugins and fixtures, can have a steeper learning curve.
  • Performance Overhead
    For very large projects, the additional features and flexibility of pytest can introduce some performance overhead when running tests, compared to simpler testing frameworks.
  • Complexity in Parameterized Testing
    While pytest supports parameterized testing, setting up and managing complex parameterizations can become cumbersome and might require additional abstraction layers.
  • Plugin Conflicts
    With a vast ecosystem of plugins, there is a potential for conflicts or compatibility issues between different plugins, especially when they modify similar pytest behaviors.

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.

pytest videos

getting started with pytest (beginner - intermediate) anthony explains #518

More videos:

  • Review - Python Code Review: Adding Pytest Tests to an Existing Python Web Scraper
  • Review - pytest: everything you need to know about fixtures (intermediate) anthony explains #487

Mockito videos

Mockito JUnit Example

More videos:

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to pytest and Mockito)
Automated Testing
29 29%
71% 71
Testing
30 30%
70% 70
Online Services
100 100%
0% 0
Browser Testing
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using pytest and Mockito. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

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

pytest Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
Pytest is a widely adopted testing framework that is designed to be easy to use and extend. It helps you to write elegant tests in both small and complex Python codebases.
Source: kinsta.com

Mockito Reviews

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Mockito should be more popular than pytest. It has been mentiond 17 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.

pytest mentions (5)

  • An Introduction to Testing with Django for Python
    Pytest is an excellent alternative to unittest. Even though it doesn't come built-in to Python itself, it is considered more pythonic than unittest. It doesn't require a TestClass, has less boilerplate code, and has a plain assert statement. Pytest has a rich plugin ecosystem, including a specific Django plugin, pytest-django. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How I Added Continuous Integration (CI) to a C++ Project
    For this lab exercise I had the opportunity to add unit tests to a classmate's project and experience their CI workflow. For this exercise I worked on go-go-web by kliu57. Go-Go Web is written in Python and uses the pytest testing framework. This was my first time writing tests for pytest, but I found the pytest docs helpful. However, more helpful was the information provided in the associated issue and the tests... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • CI/CD Part 1: Unit/Integration Testing
    This week, in a setup for a CI/CD pipeline, I added unit and integration testing using Pytest to my Python CLI and utilized pytest-cov for generating a coverage report. As always, the merged commit for changes to the repo can be found here. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Testing in Python
    After looking through the various unit testing tools available for Python like pytest, unittest (built-in), and nose, I went with pytest for its simlpicity and ease of use. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Testing and Refactoring With pytest and pytest-cov
    Up until now we've been using python's unittest module. This was chosen as a first step since it comes with python out of the box. Now that we've gone over dev dependencies I think it's a good time to look at pytest as a unit test alternative. I highly recommend getting accustomed to pytest as it's used quite often in the python ecosystem to handle testing for projects. It's also a bit more user friendly in how it... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago

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 / 8 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: about 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
View more

What are some alternatives?

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

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.

unittest - Testing Frameworks

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

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.

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.