Terrific 13 JavaScript Unit Testing Frameworks You Should Use In 2023🤩

Looking for the best Javascript unit testing framework? Well then here you will find the best Javascript testing frameworks. Although, before we drill down the frameworks in detail, let’s understand what is unit testing and its types.

What Is Unit Testing?

In general, unit testing is a type of software testing that includes testing distinct parts or units of a software application without affecting the rest of the system. Each unit is independently tested during the unit testing process to make sure it fulfills its purpose and performs as intended.

Besides, Unit testing helps in the early detection of errors during the development process. This helps developers find bugs early on before they become difficult or expensive to fix. Writing testable code also encourages programmers to write more modular and reusable code, which raises the standard and maintainability of the code.

Types of Unit Testing:

There are 3 main types of Unit Testing:

1. Manual Testing: This type of testing is performed by a human tester who manually executes test cases, observes the behavior of the software, and reports any issues found. Manual testing can be time-consuming and labor-intensive, but it allows for human judgment and creativity in identifying potential issues.
2. Automated testing: This is a software testing technique that executes a test case suite using special automated testing software tools. It is essentially a test to ensure that the equipment or software performs exactly as intended. It checks for bugs, defects, and other problems that may arise during product development.
3. Continuous testing: It is a software development process that involves testing applications continuously throughout the software development life cycle (SDLC). CT’s goal is to assess software quality throughout the SDLC, providing critical feedback earlier and enabling higher-quality, faster delivery.

Benefits of Using Testing Tools

There are several benefits of using testing tools:

• Improved testing efficiency and effectiveness
• Increased test coverage
• Increased accuracy of test results
• Improved collaboration and communication among the testing team
• Early detection of defects and bugs
• Faster identification of root causes of defects
• Increased automation of repetitive testing tasks
• Better risk management and decision-making
• Increased overall software quality and customer satisfaction
• Reduced testing time and cost
• Ability to test in different environments and scenarios
• Integration with development and deployment tools
• Better traceability and auditability of testing activities
• Enhanced test reporting and metrics tracking.

Before we deploy any of our Admin Dashboards, we test them using some of the following Javascript unit testing frameworks. It helps us deliver a bug-free product that users can use for their projects without any issues.

Best JavaScript Unit Testing Frameworks

Jest

Jest is a popular JavaScript unit testing framework that simplifies the process of writing tests for your JavaScript code. Besides, it offers an intuitive and powerful API for writing tests, which makes it easy to write comprehensive and accurate test suites. With its built-in test runner, Jest can run tests in parallel, making it an ideal choice for large projects.

One of the key advantages of using Jest is its ease of use. Besides, it can be easily integrated into your project using npm, and it comes pre-configured with most of the settings needed to start testing your JavaScript code. Jest also offers excellent code coverage reporting, which allows you to see which parts of your code are being tested and which are not.

Features:

• Intuitive and powerful API for writing tests
• Built-in matchers for checking specific values or properties in your code
• Powerful mocking capabilities for simulating complex interactions
• Built-in test runner for running tests in parallel
• Excellent documentation and large community support
• Easy to integrate into projects using npm
• Pre-configured with most settings needed to start testing
• Excellent code coverage reporting
• Snapshot testing feature for identifying changes and regressions
• Reliable, fast, and user-friendly.

When to use it?

• You are working on a JavaScript project and want to write comprehensive and accurate tests for your code.
• To ensure that your code is reliable, stable, and performs as expected
• You want a testing framework that is easy to set up and use, with a simple API and intuitive syntax.
• Need powerful mocking capabilities for simulating complex interactions and testing edge cases.
• You want a framework that can run tests in parallel, making it ideal for large projects.

Mocha

JavaScript Unit Testing Framework Mocha.js is a popular testing tool that helps developers to test their JavaScript code. It is an open-source tool that provides a simple and flexible API to write test cases. With Mocha, developers can perform unit testing, integration testing, and functional testing on their JavaScript code. Mocha provides a wide range of features such as support for asynchronous testing, customizable reporting, and the ability to run tests in the browser or on the command line.

The framework also integrates well with other tools such as assertion libraries and code coverage tools, making it a powerful testing solution for JavaScript developers. The framework’s simple syntax and flexible API make it easy for developers to write and run tests, regardless of their experience level. Whether you are building a simple web application or a complex enterprise-level system, Mocha.js can help you ensure that your code is reliable, efficient, and bug-free.

Features:

• Open-source JavaScript Unit Testing Framework
• Supports unit testing, integration testing, and functional testing
• Provides a simple and flexible API to write test cases
• Supports asynchronous testing
• Customizable reporting
• Can run tests in the browser or on the command line
• Integrates well with other tools such as assertion libraries and code coverage tools
• Actively maintained a large community of contributors
• Simple syntax and comprehensive documentation
• Helps ensure that code is reliable, efficient, and bug-free

When to use it?

• It is best suited for JavaScript developers who want to ensure the quality of their code by performing automated testing.
• To test the code during the development phase, before releasing their code to production.
• When you want to test changes made to existing code, ensure that new changes don’t break existing functionality.
• You want to test complex systems, including those with asynchronous code or complex dependencies.

Storybook

Storybook.js is a popular open-source Javascript unit testing framework for developing UI components in isolation. Besides, it also allows developers to create, test, and showcase UI components in a sandbox environment without the need for a full application setup. Furthermore, it helps to eliminate issues that arise from integrating components into an application and saves time by enabling developers to identify and fix problems early in the development cycle. With its user-friendly interface, Storybook.js allows developers to collaborate efficiently and improve their development process.

It also supports various JavaScript frameworks such as React, Vue, Angular, and many others, making it a versatile choice for developers. The framework also provides easy integration with popular testing libraries like Jest and Mocha, enabling developers to write unit tests for their components. Overall, Storybook.js is an excellent choice for JavaScript developers looking to streamline their UI component development process, improve collaboration, and ensure high-quality code.

Features:

• Open-source JavaScript unit testing framework
• Used for developing UI components in isolation
• Enables creating, testing, and showcasing UI components in a sandbox environment
• Saves time by identifying and fixing problems early in the development cycle
• Easy integration with popular testing libraries like Jest and Mocha
• automated visual testing, component documentation, and accessibility testing
• Streamlines UI component development process
• Ensures high-quality code through efficient testing and collaboration.

When to use it?

You can consider this Javascript unit testing framework while,

• Developing UI components in isolation
• Testing and showcasing UI components in a sandbox environment
• Aiming to eliminate integration issues with components in an application
• Collaborating efficiently with other developers
• Automating visual testing, component documentation, and accessibility testing
• Working with various JavaScript frameworks
• Integrating with popular testing libraries like Jest and Mocha.

Cypress

Cypress.io is another popular end-to-end unit testing framework for modern web apps. It allows developers to write and run tests in a browser, enabling them to interact with the application’s user interface just like a real user. Besides, it also supports various JavaScript frameworks, including React, Vue, and Angular, making it easy for developers to integrate Cypress into their existing projects.

Furthermore, it also offers an intuitive and easy-to-use interface for writing tests, generating reports, and debugging. This helps developers to identify the errors early in the development process. Due to such amazing features, it becomes an ideal tool for developers that are looking for an efficient and reliable way to test their web apps. It is really easy to write and run tests due to its advanced features and intuitive interface. This ensures that web apps are functioning correctly.

Features:

• End-to-end testing framework for modern web applications
• Supports popular JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular
• Runs tests in a browser, enabling interaction with the application’s user interface
• Intuitive and easy-to-use interface for writing tests, debugging and generating reports
• Comprehensive documentation and active community support
• Helps catch errors early in the development process
• A great solution for end-to-end testing and improving application quality.

When to use it?

You can consider using this Javascript unit testing framework while,

• Developing modern web applications that require end-to-end testing
• Working with popular JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue, or Angular
• Interacting with the application’s user interface during testing
• Needing an efficient and reliable way to catch errors early in the development process
• Improvising the quality of web applications and ensuring they function correctly
• looking for an intuitive and easy-to-use interface for writing tests, debugging, and generating reports.

Jasmin

Jasmine is a popular open-source JavaScript unit testing framework that allows developers to write tests to check the functionality of their code. It provides a simple syntax for defining test suites and cases. Furthermore, using this unit testing tool, Developers can test the JavaScript code in various development environments, i.e. it can be tested in various web browsers and Node.js as well.

Jasmine’s syntax is easy to learn, and it has a large community of users who have developed plugins and extensions that make it even more powerful. The framework’s clean and intuitive syntax allows developers to focus on writing tests rather than configuring their testing environment.

Features:

• Open-source JavaScript unit testing framework
• Provides a simple syntax for defining test suites and cases
• Can be used in web browsers and Node.js
• Built-in assertion library for defining expectations
• Test runner for managing and running tests
• Clean and intuitive syntax
• A large community of users and plugins/extensions
• Helps ensure bug-free and high-quality code

When to use it?

You can consider this Javascript unit testing framework while,

• Testing your JavaScript code’s functionality and ensuring it meets quality standards
• Catching bugs and errors in your code early in the development process
• You want to make sure your code is scalable and maintainable
• Working on a project with multiple developers and needing a standardized way to write tests
• Automating the testing process to save time and increase efficiency
• You want to make sure the reliability and accuracy of your JavaScript code is on level

Puppeteer

Puppeteer, a Node library, provides a high-level API for controlling headless Chrome or Chromium browsers. Besides, it can be used for a variety of tasks such as web scraping, generating screenshots and PDFs, and of course, testing web applications. With Puppeteer, developers can write tests that simulate user interactions, allowing for comprehensive testing of the entire application. Furthermore, Puppeteer’s API is well-documented and easy to use, making it a popular choice among developers for unit testing web applications.

Using Puppeteer for unit testing offers several benefits. Firstly, it provides a robust and reliable testing framework that helps to catch bugs early in the development process. This leads to faster development cycles and a more stable and secure application. Additionally, Puppeteer’s high-level API allows developers to write tests in a clear and concise manner, reducing the amount of boilerplate code required

Features:

• Puppeteer is free and open-source.
• Provides a high-level API for controlling headless Chrome or Chromium browsers.
• Designed for web scraping, generating screenshots and PDFs, and testing web applications.
• Allows for writing tests that simulate user interactions.
• The API is well-documented and easy to use.
• It provides a reliable and robust testing framework for catching bugs early in the development process.
• Puppeteer’s high-level API reduces boilerplate code required for writing tests.
• The framework is actively maintained by a large community of developers.

When to use it?

You can consider this Javascript unit testing tool while

• Automating testing for their web applications.
• Testing applications that heavily depend on user interactions and input.
• Scraping, generating screenshots and PDFs, and other web development tasks.

React Testing Library

React Testing Library is an open-source testing library that aims to provide a user-centric approach to testing React components. It encourages developers to test their components in the same way that users would interact with them, focusing on the behavior rather than the implementation details. By doing so, it promotes better testing practices and helps developers write more robust and maintainable tests.

The library provides a set of utilities to render React components and interact with them using DOM APIs, making it easy to write tests that simulate user interactions such as clicking, typing, and scrolling. It also offers helpful features like debug logging, which allows developers to inspect the rendered output and debug their tests. Overall, React Testing Library is an excellent choice for anyone looking to write reliable and user-focused tests for their React components.

Features:

• Provides a user-centric approach to testing React components
• Focuses on testing component behavior rather than implementation details
• Renders React components and interact with them using DOM APIs
• Simulates user interactions such as clicking, typing, and scrolling
• Offers debug logging to help developers inspect rendered output and debug tests
• Promotes better testing practices and helps write more robust and maintainable tests
• Open-source and free to use for testing React applications.

When to use it?

You can consider React Testing Library while:

• Testing React applications or components
• Aiming to provide a user-centric approach to testing
• Wanting to focus on the behavior of components rather than implementation details
• Simulating user interactions is necessary
• Seeking to write more robust and maintainable tests
• Looking for an open-source and free testing library for React
• Aiming to debug tests with rendered output.

Webdriver IO

WebdriverIO is a popular open-source automation testing framework for Node.js. It provides a simple and elegant way to automate browser interactions using a variety of programming languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python. WebdriverIO is based on the WebDriver protocol, which allows it to interact with a wide range of browsers including Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.

With its user-friendly API, developers can quickly write and execute automated tests for their web applications. One of the key benefits of using WebdriverIO is its ability to run tests in parallel. This can significantly reduce the time it takes to run a large suite of tests, making it easier to catch issues earlier in the development process.

Features:

• Open-source automation testing framework for Node.js
• Provides a user-friendly API for writing and executing automated tests
• Integrates with popular testing frameworks like Mocha and Jest
• Enables parallel test execution for faster testing
• Offers features such as smart waiting and automatic retries to improve test reliability
• Actively developed with a strong community of contributors
• Provides detailed documentation and support for developers of all levels
• Can be used for testing web applications on desktop and mobile devices.

When to use it?

You can consider using this Javascript unit testing framework while:

• Automating browser interactions for web application testing
• Writing automated tests using JavaScript, TypeScript, or Python
• You need to test web applications across multiple browsers
• Using a flexible and powerful testing framework that integrates with popular testing frameworks like Mocha and Jest
• Running tests in parallel for faster testing
• You need features such as smart waiting and automatic retries to improve test reliability
• When you want a reliable and actively developed testing framework with a strong community of contributors.

Playwright

Playwright is a popular JavaScript testing unit framework that offers a robust and reliable solution for automating end-to-end web testing. It allows developers to write tests in multiple languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, and Java, making it a versatile and flexible tool for testing web applications. Playwright offers a powerful set of APIs that enable developers to simulate user interactions, automate browser tasks, and test web pages across multiple browsers and devices.

With its advanced features and intuitive syntax, Playwright simplifies the process of creating, maintaining, and executing automated tests. One of the key advantages of Playwright is its ability to handle complex web testing scenarios with ease. It provides a unified API for automating actions such as filling out forms, clicking buttons, and navigating through web pages.

Features:

• Supports multiple languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, and Java.
• Offers a powerful set of APIs for simulating user interactions, automating browser tasks, and testing web pages.
• It can handle complex web testing scenarios with ease
• Provides built-in support for advanced browser features such as geolocation and network interception.
• Provides rich debugging tools to diagnose and fix issues quickly.
• Highly flexible and can be used to test web pages across multiple browsers and devices.
• Simplifies the process of creating, maintaining, and executing automated tests.
• Offers powerful tools like Codegen, Playwright inspector, & Trace Viewer

When to use it?

You can consider using Playwrite while:

• Automatin
• g end-to-end web testing.
• Testing web applications that have complex user interactions and scenarios.
• You need to test your applications across multiple browsers and devices.
• Testing web pages that require advanced browser features such as geolocation and network interception.

AVA

AVA is an open-source, Javascript unit testing framework for Node.js, designed to provide a fast and concise testing experience. It allows developers to run tests concurrently in separate processes, ensuring that test suites complete quickly. With AVA, developers can focus on writing tests that accurately and efficiently verify their code, rather than dealing with slow and cumbersome testing processes.

AVA has gained popularity among developers for its fast test execution and concise syntax. Its concurrency feature allows for speedy test execution, making it an ideal choice for large and complex test suites. Moreover, AVA’s test selection feature automatically detects and runs only the relevant tests, resulting in shorter test runs and faster feedback loops. These features make AVA a compelling alternative to other test runners in the Node.js ecosystem.

Features:

• Fast test execution with concurrency feature
• Intelligent test selection for shorter test runs
• Easy integration with popular build tools
• Includes TypeScript definitions
• Comprehensive documentation for easy adoption
• Active development community for ongoing support and improvements
• The concise syntax for easy-to-read test code
• Parallel test runs for improved efficiency
• Ability to run tests in specific files or directories

When to use it?

You can consider this Javascript unit testing framework when,

• Want to test a runner for Node.js
• Testing large & complex suites that require concurrency for efficient execution
• Automatically running only the relevant tests to shorten feedback loops
• You want to write easy-to-read test code with a concise syntax.
• Improvising the speed and efficiency of your testing workflow
• You want to use a tool with an active development community and comprehensive documentation

Vitest

Vitest is a fast Vite-native unit test framework that allows developers to test their web applications easily. Besides, it helps developers to simulate real-world scenarios and identify any issues in their apps before they deploy. Additionally, it also offers a variety of features, such as the ability to run automated tests, monitor performance metrics & load testing.

Furthermore, Vitest is highly flexible & adaptable as it supports multiple programming languages, frameworks, and databases. Apart from that, its cloud-based infrastructure allows developers to test their apps on various devices like mobile, tablet, pcs, etc., and browsers like Chrome, Firefox, etc. This makes sure that the apps work properly for a wide range of devices & users.

Features:

• Vite’s config, transformers, resolvers, and plugins. Use the same setup from your app!
• Jest Snapshot
• Chai built-in for assertions, with Jest expect compatible APIs.
• Smart & instant watch mode, like HMR for tests!
• Native code coverage via c8 or istanbul.
• Tinyspy is built-in for mocking, stubbing, and spies.
• JSDOM and happy-dom for DOM and browser API mocking
• Components testing
• Workers multi-threading via Tinypool (a lightweight fork of Piscina)
• Out-of-box TypeScript / JSX support

Testcafe

The next one on the list is TestCafe. With TestCafe, developers and testers can easily create automated tests in JavaScript or TypeScript and run them in popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Furthermore, it eliminates the need for browser plugins. Also, to make it easier to create robust and stable tests, it provides automatic waiting and synchronization.

One of the core benefits of TestCafe is its ability to run tests on remote devices and browsers. This allows developers & testes to test their apps on different devices and platforms, ensuring that they work well across various environments. Additionally, it also provides detailed reports of test results and can integrate with popular testing frameworks such as Mocha, Jasmine, and Cucumber.

Features:

• Works on all modern browsers
• Easy to set-up
• Stable tests and no manual timeouts
• Rapid test development tool
• Latest JS and TypeScript support
• Detects JS errors in your code
• Concurrent test launch
• PageObject pattern support
• Easy to include in a continuous integration system

Selenium.dev

Selenium is another open-source Javascript unit testing framework. With this tool, testers can automate tests using Java, Python, or Ruby, depending on their preference. With Selenium, testers can ensure that web applications are functional, reliable, and secure, ultimately improving the quality of the software.

Furthermore, it is a cross-browser-compatible framework that supports all modern browsers. Additionally, it also offers a variety of features, including the ability to create tests without coding, record and playback functionality, and advanced scripting capabilities.

Features:

• Open-source
• Supports multiple programming languages such as Java, Python, and Ruby
• Offers powerful tools executing automated tests, such as Selenium IDE, Selenium Grid, and Selenium WebDriver
• Cross-browser compatible framework
• Offers the ability to create tests without coding, record and playback functionality, and advanced scripting capabilities

When to use it?

You can consider this Javascript unit testing framework while,

• Automating web browser testing to make sure that the web apps are functional and reliable
• Testing Cross-browser compatibility
• Regression testing to make sure that changes to the app codebase don’t introduce new bugs or issues
• Load testing to ensure that the app can handle a large number of users and traffic
• Security testing to ensure that the app is secure and does not have any vulnerabilities
• Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) to automate the testing process and ensure that the app is always in a deployable state.

Conclusion:

Well, unit testing is a crucial part of software development, and JavaScript unit testing frameworks provide developers with the required tools to ensure that their code functions as intended. There is a wide range of options available, including Jest, Mocha, Jasmine, and more, you can choose the framework that best suits your needs and preferences.

Each JavaScript unit testing framework mentioned here comes with its own strengths and weaknesses, it is important to choose a framework that fits the project’s requirements and the development team’s expertise. So, choose one accordingly.

I hope this article helps you pick your choice of Uniunit testing framework. let me know your thoughts through the comment section below. Also, in case I missed any here, you can suggest the one you found or you are using already.