10 Best Unit Testing Tools in 2023

JUnit is a unit testing framework that allows developers to build up-to-date foundations to test their Java and JVM applications. JUnit is open-source and makes it simple to write repeatable tests. It is currently in version 5 and has incorporated the most recent features of Java.

The framework gives testers the ability to run dynamic tests while writing less code but nevertheless producing clean tests. In addition to assertions and extensions, JUnit also incorporates fairly sophisticated testing features such as method parameters and injecting dependencies.

You can easily integrate and run JUnit from any Java-based IDE such as Eclipse and IntelliJ. JUnit can also be integrated with other software platforms and tools including Java, ScalaTest, LambdaTest, TestContainer, Karate DSL, TestLeft, and so on. 

JUnit is free.

Parasoft JTest provides a comprehensive set of Java testing tools to maintain quality code and comply with industry-based standards. It allows developers, testers, and QA teams to monitor their progress toward their quality goals. JTest makes this possible, in part, by providing the means for creating a baseline for measuring and establishing coding standards.  

Jtest does this by automatically generating compliance verification documentation. It also adheres to modern DevOps practices like agile development cycles. Furthermore, Parasoft enables you to achieve higher code coverage faster by integrating seamlessly into your development ecosystem and CI/CD pipeline. 

Jtest allows you to improve team test efficiency with its runtime unit analysis and AI-infused software testing. Jtest integrates with Jira software, Jenkins, Bamboo, GitHub, and so on.

Parasoft JTest pricing is available upon request.

JMockit offers Java developers out-of-container integration testing, especially for Java EE and Spring-based apps. It is an advanced library that provides automated processes across a range of functions such as mocking, faking, and integration testing.

Among the features it provides are code coverage tools, mocking API for armed with recording and verification syntax, and faking API for replacing implementations. 

JMockit provides more comprehensive mocking mechanisms compared to other equivalent frameworks, for instance, the ability to mock final classes, including private, and static methods. It provides other encapsulation capabilities to enable mock implementations and other instances to execute tests without any explicit knowledge of the actual implementation classes. This subsequently gives JMockit the capability to more accurately verify objects through the use of regular assertions. 

JMockit functionality makes it possible for programmers to spend less time debugging code but more time building features. It provides various APIs for mocking, known as “Expectations API” for mocking dependencies. Others exist for automatic initialization or instantiation of objects, and some for other relevant purposes. 

JMockit is open source and free.

Embunit is a unit testing tool for developers working with C or C++. While it can be used for various types of software development, it is primarily aimed at embedded applications. 

Embunit capitalizes on what is basically the worst-kept secret in software development — the fact that developers hate writing tests of any kind. Embunit reduces this mundane task by allowing developers and QA teams to specify what they want the test case to do as a sequence of operations. It then proceeds to make the work of C or C++ programmers easier by auto-generating unit source code. It even goes the extra mile by facilitating the maintenance of units.

Embunit provides you with an XML file that has the definition of test cases. Because its XML schema uses meaningful and simple words, Embunit makes it easy to understand and review changes by simply comparing XML files. 

Embunit is designed with flexibility, so it can be customized for a variety of tests for various microcontrollers and hardware platforms. However, it isn’t tied to any toolset but is primarily designed to accommodate the common shortcomings of embedded C++ compilers. 

Embunit costs from ~$109 (£95) for a single user license. You can try it for free for 30 days.

EMMA is an open-source toolkit for measuring and reporting Java code coverage. The tool can instrument classes for coverage either offline (before they are loaded) or using an instrumenting application classloader. It supports coverage types such as class, method, line, and basic block. EMMA is also easy-to-use and intuitive to set-up. EMMA does not require access to the source code in order to work; it degrades gracefully with a decreasing amount of debug information available in each input class.

EMMA is free to use.

HtmlUnit is a command line, Java-based testing framework used for unit testing automation. HtmlUnit provides an implementation of a web browser without a GUI. Hence, it serves as a Java headless browser; which allows developers to perform HTTP requests on websites and parse the HTML content.

GUI-less browsers have the advantage of being used programmatically without the need to be directed by a user. It is a powerful HTML parsing platform that in addition to unit testing, it can also be utilized for web scraping and data mining purposes. 

HtmlUnit is ideal for web application automated testing, as it enables testers to simulate what users can do on a browser such as click events, and submit events. More so, it supports JavaScript and AJAX functionality.  

HtmlUnit also offers users a lightweight implementation of a WebDriver. HtmlUnit Driver is one of the fastest Headless browser drivers available. Headless browsers like HtmlUnit affords testers and QA teams the ability to perform cross-browser testing accurately without requiring the browser on which the application needs to be tested. 

HtmlUnit can be used in conjunction with other development and testing frameworks such as Spring, Maven, and Selenium. 

HtmlUnit is open source and free. 

Microsoft Visual Studio is a full-fledged software development platform. Visual Studio provides test coverage for developers and testers, allowing them to maintain the health of their codebase through debugging and running unit tests. It provides software professionals with an integrated environment to troubleshoot and find errors before customers do.

Visual Studio also offers an automatic testing feature called Live Unit Testing. It operates in real-time, detecting the tests impacted by the code changes and simultaneously running them in the background. This immediately gives the programmer feedback on whether a particular line of code is failing or passing its test coverage. 

While Microsoft Visual Studio provides debugging and testing capabilities, it also offers Visual Studio Test Professional as a performance testing solution. Test Professional empowers users to create and manage test scenarios throughout the SDLC process. Compared to open source test tools in the market, Test Professional scores high points for its user-friendly and intuitive interface. 

Microsoft Visual Studio and Test Professional integrate seamlessly with other apps in the ecosystem like Microsoft SQL Server and database. 

Visual Studio Test Professional Subscription download is priced at $2,169.00, with renewals costing $899.00. For its Business tier, the Professional and Enterprise subscriptions are priced at $45 per month. 

As its name suggests, PHPUnit is a unit testing framework for PHP developers. Its blueprint and building block is derived from the xUnit design for the unit testing system. PHPUnit can be run from the command line. 

One of its main features of attraction is how it enables PHP developers to create pre-written assertion methods. PHPUnit’s assertion methods encapsulate testable logic and are used to test for the expected behavior of units, subsequently highlighting results by turning green/red.

PHPUnit is integrated with virtually all of the main PHP development such as Laravel, Symfony, Zend, Yii, CakePHP, and so on. 

PHPUnit is open source and free.

NUnit is an open-source unit testing tool for the .NET platform and languages. It is also part of the .NET Foundation. NUnit is a convenient framework for writing tests, along with its accompanying documentation. 

It allows developers and QA testers to add relevant metadata attributes to improve a unit test's context. Subsequently, they can run improved tests based on the specific values provided by the metadata. 

NUnit comes with a category feature that makes it possible to mark tests related to a specific feature. In doing so, it allows QA testers to execute a set of unit tests related to that feature, instead of running a multitude of other tests. In addition, it has many built-in assertions that can be read and used fluently out of the box. 

NUnit offers API access that can be used to integrate with third-party apps like Xamarin, Visual Studio, Launchable, TestLeft, LT Browser, Opsera, and many more. 

NUnit is free to use. 

SimpleTest is a PHP unit test and web test framework that users of JUnit will probably find familiar. SimpleTest offers support for SSL, forms, frames, proxies, and basic authentication. SimpleTest is designed to make common but tricky PHP tasks, such as logging into a site, as easy as possible to test repeatedly.