Over the last few years, the programming landscape has changed drastically.

There have been several notable advancements in the field of web development. Developer communities are now adopting more dynamic frameworks rather than conventional programming languages like Java, PHP, .NET. Developers these days are preferring more dynamic frameworks based on JavaScript.

What is a JavaScript Testing Framework?

The JavaScript testing framework is a dynamic framework based on JS, which is well known for its ease of use in both frontend and backend development. These transitions over time also result in the need for excellent testing tools.

Now let’s go through the most preferred JavaScript testing frameworks in detail.

1. MochaJS

MochaJS has been one of the most popular JavaScript testing frameworks since 2011. It operates on Node.js and provides compatibility for both frontend and backend asynchronous testing. With firm documentation support, Mocha has proven to be a well-established framework over the past few years.

Hosted on Github, Mocha is recognized for its flexibility, and as a result, it has proven to be one of the most depended upon libraries among JavaScript developers.

Key benefits of Mocha:

Provides compatibility for both frontend and backend testing

NodeJS debugger is supported which makes error tracing easier

Accurate reporting

Provides support for all browsers including the headless Chrome library

Very convenient framework for the developers to write test cases

2. JEST

JEST is arguably the most popular JavaScript testing framework used and maintained by Facebook. The JEST testing framework provides a “zero-configuration” testing experience.

JEST is a highly preferred framework for applications based on React. It provides an unambiguous and very convenient user interface. This framework comes bundled with some interesting features like snapshot testing and a built-in tool for code coverage. There are also a lot of resources available online for JEST.

Key Benefits of JEST:

Compatible with NodeJS, React, Angular, VueJS and other Babel based projects

Standard syntax with documentation support

Very fast and highly performant

Managing tests with larger objects is possible using Live Snapshots

3. Jasmine

Introduced in 2010, Jasmine is an open-source JavaScript testing framework. It is capable of testing all types of JavaScript applications. This framework supports Behavioral Driven Development (BDD). Using Jasmine, one can perform test cases similar to user behavior on a website. Jasmine is highly influenced by JS Spec, Rspec.

Jasmine is very beneficial for frontend testing. It includes both visibility testing as well as the responsiveness testing of UI across various devices with different resolutions. One can also automate user behavior with custom delay and wait time for simulating the actual user behavior.

Key Benefits of Jasmine:

Provides small, clean and straightforward syntax for easy testing

Does not require any Document Object Model (DOM)

Provides support for both frontend and backend tests

Ease in coding as the syntax used is very similar to a natural language

Strong documentation and community support

4. Karma

Karma is another popular open-source productive testing environment. It allows a QA to perform tests for an application in different environments. Karma allows the application script to be executed on real browsers and devices like phones and tablets. Karma aims to provide a testing environment for developers wherein they don’t need to set up loads of configurations. Instead, they can just run the tests and get instant feedback.

Key benefits of using Karma:

Supports integrations with top CI/CD tools like Jenkins, Travis, and Semaphore

Tests on real devices and browsers are possible

Provides support for headless environments like PhantomJS

Supports remote testing directly from a terminal or IDE

Is framework agnostic, which means one can describe tests with popular frameworks like Mocha, Jasmine. One can also write a simple adapter for a specific framework.

5. Puppeteer (Node Library)

Note: Puppeteer is a library rather than a framework similar to the rest of the list. It has been included because it offers a number of advantages with regard to JavaScript testing in Chrome.

Puppeteer is a Node library that provides a high-level API. This API is used to control Chrome or Chromium over the DevTools protocol. One of the major limitations of Puppeteer is the fact that it works only with Chrome and Chromium. The Puppeteer can be used for browser-specific applications like page structure tests, taking website screenshots, and more.

One can also crawl and capture pre-rendered content for Single Page Applications (SPA).

Additional benefits of Puppeteer include:

Easy automating UI testing, form submission, and keyboard inputs

Easy generation of screenshots and PDFs of webpages

Support for testing chrome extensions

One can easily diagnose performance issues on a site using the timeline trace. Although Puppeteer has been recently introduced in the testing landscape, it has already been adopted by developers in large numbers. The future for Puppeteer looks promising.

When looking for testing platforms or tools, it is important to choose one that offers integrations with your preferred framework. BrowserStack Automate, for example, supports Javascript testing frameworks for the purpose of making testing significantly simpler and more efficient. Its purpose is to ensure that users can test their products in as effortless and hassle-free a method as possible.