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pytest VS NUnit

Compare pytest VS NUnit and see what are their differences

pytest logo pytest

Javascript Testing Framework

NUnit logo NUnit

NUnit is a unit-testing framework for all .Net languages.
  • pytest Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-15
  • NUnit Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-12

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.

NUnit features and specs

  • Open Source and Free
    NUnit is an open-source testing framework, which means it is free to use and allows contributions from a community of developers, ensuring continuous improvement and feature updates.
  • Rich Assertion Library
    It provides a wide range of assertions to validate test results, making it easier to write comprehensive test cases that can handle various scenarios.
  • Compatibility
    NUnit is compatible with various .NET languages and frameworks, providing flexibility and ease of integration into existing .NET applications.
  • Parallel Test Execution
    Supports running tests in parallel, which can significantly reduce the total time required to execute all test cases, especially in large projects.
  • Extensibility
    Offers extension points allowing users to customize and extend its functionality to fit specific testing needs.

Possible disadvantages of NUnit

  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While basic features are easy to grasp, more advanced functionalities can have a steeper learning curve for new users or those transitioning from other testing frameworks.
  • Less Integrated Environment
    Compared to some other testing frameworks that are integrated with development environments like Visual Studio, NUnit might require additional setup for full integration.
  • Limited GUI Support
    NUnit primarily relies on command-line operations and plugins for test running and management, which can be a limitation for users preferring graphical interfaces.
  • Smaller Ecosystem
    While growing, the ecosystem around NUnit is relatively smaller compared to some other testing frameworks, which might limit the availability of third-party tools and extensions.

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

NUnit videos

๐ŸŽ“โญ๏ธ Master .NET and C# Unit Testing with NUnit and Moq Review

More videos:

  • Review - Overview of NUnit's Attributes
  • Tutorial - How to use the TestCase attribute in C# and NUnit

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to pytest and NUnit)
Automated Testing
68 68%
32% 32
Testing
68 68%
32% 32
Online Services
75 75%
25% 25
Browser Testing
65 65%
35% 35

User comments

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Reviews

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

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

NUnit Reviews

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NUnit 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 / almost 2 years 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 / almost 2 years 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 / almost 2 years 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 / almost 2 years ago

NUnit mentions (17)

  • One... Two... Testing
    F# has a bunch of testing frameworks: starting from NUnit, the more generic .Net port xUnit.net, going through FsUnit, and several others of varying levels of adoption, or ease-of-use (yes, while I love it for trivial cases, I'm looking at you Unqoute.). - Source: dev.to / 21 days ago
  • Fluent Assertions 8: Corporate License Update
    In light of these changes, developers have several options moving forward. The simplest short-term solution is to lock dependencies to Fluent Assertions version 7, which remains under the Apache 2.0 license and allows free commercial use; for those seeking alternatives, libraries like Shouldly offer similar functionality with a fluent interface, while testing frameworks like xUnit, NUnit, and MSTest provide... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Essential .NET Libraries Every Developer Should Know
    NUnit is user-friendly and highly extendable for your unit testing needs. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Fluent Assertions: Fluently Assert the Result of .NET Tests
    This library extends the traditional assertions provided by frameworks like MSTest, NUnit, or XUnit by offering a more extensive set of extension methods. Fluent Assertions supports a wide range of types like collections, strings, and objects and even allows for more advanced assertions like throwing exceptions. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • TDD vs BDD - A Detailed Guide
    Next, you need to install a testing framework that will be used for performing unit testing in your project. Several testing frameworks are available depending on the programming language used to create an application. For example, JUnit is commonly used for Java apps, pytest for Python apps, NUnit for .NET apps, Jest for JavaScript apps, and so on. Weโ€™ll use the Jest framework for this tutorial since we are using... - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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.

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

unittest - Testing Frameworks

Froglogic Squish - Squish is a commercial cross-platform GUI and regression testing tool that can test applications based on a variety of GUI technologies.

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

CPPUnit - CppUnitย is the C++ port of the JUnit framework for unit testing.