Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

Mocha

10.4K
2.8K
+ 1
430
Selenium

15.7K
12.3K
+ 1
525
Add tool

Mocha vs Selenium: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will discuss the key differences between Mocha and Selenium. Both Mocha and Selenium are popular software testing frameworks, but they have distinct features and purposes. Let's explore their differences in detail.

  1. Installation and Setup:

Mocha: Mocha is a JavaScript testing framework that runs on Node.js. To use Mocha, you need to install Node.js on your system and then install Mocha globally or as a dependency in your project using npm.

Selenium: Selenium is a suite of tools for web automation testing. It requires additional setup compared to Mocha. You need to install Selenium WebDriver and browser-specific drivers (e.g., ChromeDriver, GeckoDriver) to interact with different browsers.

  1. Language Support:

Mocha: Mocha supports multiple programming languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python. It provides flexibility for developers to choose their preferred language.

Selenium: Selenium primarily supports programming languages like Java, C#, Python, and JavaScript. Although Selenium WebDriver allows interaction with the browser using multiple programming languages, support might vary between each language.

  1. Testing Approach:

Mocha: Mocha is primarily designed for unit testing and asynchronous testing in JavaScript applications. It provides a straightforward and flexible structure for writing test cases and supports various test runners and assertions.

Selenium: Selenium is mainly used for functional and end-to-end testing of web applications. It allows testers to write automated scripts to interact with web elements, perform actions, and validate the expected outcomes.

  1. Browser Compatibility:

Mocha: Mocha does not provide any built-in functionality to interact with browsers directly. It relies on support from other libraries or tools to achieve browser automation.

Selenium: Selenium has built-in support for various popular web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. It provides a WebDriver API that enables automation and interaction with these browsers.

  1. Parallel Test Execution:

Mocha: Mocha does not have in-built support for parallel test execution. However, you can use third-party libraries like Mocha-Parallel-tests to run tests in parallel.

Selenium: Selenium supports parallel test execution out of the box. It allows you to run multiple tests simultaneously across different browsers and platforms, saving significant time in test execution.

  1. User Interface Testing:

Mocha: Mocha does not have built-in support for UI testing. It focuses on the logic and functionality aspects of the code and does not provide tools or libraries specifically for UI testing.

Selenium: Selenium is widely used for UI testing. It provides features like locating elements, interacting with them, verifying UI behaviors, and performing visual validations, making it suitable for testing the user interface of web applications.

In summary, Mocha is a JavaScript testing framework primarily used for unit testing and asynchronous testing, while Selenium is a suite of tools for functional and end-to-end testing of web applications, with built-in browser compatibility and UI testing capabilities, along with support for parallel test execution.

Advice on Mocha and Selenium
Needs advice
on
JestJestSeleniumSelenium
and
WebdriverIOWebdriverIO
in

we are having one web application developed in Reacts.js. in the application, we have only 4 to 5 pages that we need to test. I am having experience in selenium with java. Please suggets which tool I should use. and why ............................ ............................ .............................

See more
Replies (1)
Prashanth Marappa
Senior Software Engineer at Mphasis · | 1 upvotes · 213.3K views
Recommends
on
SeleniumSelenium

with the help of selenium we can automate react js for functional testing

See more
Decisions about Mocha and Selenium

We use Mocha for our FDA verification testing. It's integrated into Meteor, our upstream web application framework. We like how battle tested it is, its' syntax, its' options of reporters, and countless other features. Most everybody can agree on mocha, and that gets us half-way through our FDA verification and validation (V&V) testing strategy.

See more
Get Advice from developers at your company using StackShare Enterprise. Sign up for StackShare Enterprise.
Learn More
Pros of Mocha
Pros of Selenium
  • 137
    Open source
  • 102
    Simple
  • 81
    Promise support
  • 48
    Flexible
  • 29
    Easy to add support for Generators
  • 12
    For browser and server testing
  • 7
    Curstom assertion libraries
  • 5
    Works with Karma
  • 3
    No other better tools
  • 1
    Simple setup
  • 1
    Works with saucelabs
  • 1
    Lots of tutorials and help online
  • 1
    Default reporter is nice, clean, and itemized
  • 1
    Works with BrowserStack
  • 1
    Simple integration testing
  • 175
    Automates browsers
  • 154
    Testing
  • 101
    Essential tool for running test automation
  • 24
    Record-Playback
  • 24
    Remote Control
  • 8
    Data crawling
  • 7
    Supports end to end testing
  • 6
    Easy set up
  • 6
    Functional testing
  • 4
    The Most flexible monitoring system
  • 3
    End to End Testing
  • 3
    Easy to integrate with build tools
  • 2
    Comparing the performance selenium is faster than jasm
  • 2
    Record and playback
  • 2
    Compatible with Python
  • 2
    Easy to scale
  • 2
    Integration Tests
  • 0
    Integrated into Selenium-Jupiter framework

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of Mocha
Cons of Selenium
  • 3
    Cannot test a promisified functions without assertion
  • 2
    No assertion count in results
  • 1
    Not as many reporter options as Jest
  • 8
    Flaky tests
  • 4
    Slow as needs to make browser (even with no gui)
  • 1
    Update browser drivers

Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

- No public GitHub repository available -

What is Mocha?

Mocha is a feature-rich JavaScript test framework running on node.js and the browser, making asynchronous testing simple and fun. Mocha tests run serially, allowing for flexible and accurate reporting, while mapping uncaught exceptions to the correct test cases.

What is 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. Boring web-based administration tasks can (and should!) also be automated as well.

Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

Jobs that mention Mocha and Selenium as a desired skillset
What companies use Mocha?
What companies use Selenium?
See which teams inside your own company are using Mocha or Selenium.
Sign up for StackShare EnterpriseLearn More

Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

What tools integrate with Mocha?
What tools integrate with Selenium?

Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

Blog Posts

What are some alternatives to Mocha and Selenium?
Jasmine
Jasmine is a Behavior Driven Development testing framework for JavaScript. It does not rely on browsers, DOM, or any JavaScript framework. Thus it's suited for websites, Node.js projects, or anywhere that JavaScript can run.
Jest
Jest provides you with multiple layers on top of Jasmine.
Chai
It is a BDD / TDD assertion library for node and the browser that can be delightfully paired with any javascript testing framework. It has several interfaces that allow the developer to choose the most comfortable. The chain-capable BDD styles provide an expressive language & readable style, while the TDD assert style provides a more classical feel.
SinonJS
It is a really helpful library when you want to unit test your code. It supports spies, stubs, and mocks. The library has cross browser support and also can run on the server using Node.js.
Cypress
Cypress is a front end automated testing application created for the modern web. Cypress is built on a new architecture and runs in the same run-loop as the application being tested. As a result Cypress provides better, faster, and more reliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Cypress works on any front-end framework or website.
See all alternatives