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Pest

pestphp.com

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Spec score 8.3 #5 of 32 in Unit Testing

What it is

Pest is a free PHP testing framework for developers and AI agents, installed in a PHP project as a Composer development dependency. Pest 5 requires PHP 8.4 or later. It supports parallel execution, coverage, mutation and snapshot testing, profiling, architectural testing and browser testing. Its Browser plugin uses Playwright for page interactions, while the Agent plugin lets coding agents run one-off application checks and can drive a real browser when the Browser plugin is installed. Pest Evals combines deterministic tests with AI-powered scorers for evaluating LLM output. The Tia Engine reruns tests affected by recent changes and requires PCOV or Xdebug as a coverage driver. Pest 5 includes PHPStan and Rector plugins; team-maintained plugins include Faker, Laravel and Livewire. JetBrains maintains the PhpStorm plugin, included by default since version 2023.3. Pest supports parameterized cases but does not include built-in mocks. Its maintainers say bug fixes for outdated major versions are available for 12 months after the latest version's release, without a guaranteed resolution time or fix for every issue.

Spec sheet

Purpose
Pest is a PHP testing framework for developers and AI agents.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Intended users
The maker describes Pest as a testing framework for PHP developers and AI agents.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Integrations
Pest's team-maintained plugins include Faker, Laravel, and Livewire.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Security
The homepage shows a security architecture testing preset, but the opened maker pages did not state a security certification or compliance standard.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Support
Pest's maintainers say they cannot guarantee a fixed bug resolution time or a fix for every issue; bug fixes for outdated versions are available for 12 months after the latest version's release.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Maker
The site describes Pest as a PestPHP project by Nuno Maduro.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
AI agent checks
The Agent plugin lets coding agents run isolated checks against a live app and save screenshots as proof.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
AI evaluations
Pest Evals can combine deterministic checks with AI-powered scorers to assess LLM output from a test suite.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Browser testing
The Browser plugin uses Playwright to run browser tests that can interact with pages, including clicking buttons and filling forms.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Editor integration
JetBrains maintains the Pest plugin for PhpStorm, where it has been included by default since version 2023.3.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Framework integrations
The Pest 5 Tia Engine documentation says it detects Laravel, Symfony, Livewire, Inertia, and browser assets automatically via Composer.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Install
Pest is installed in a PHP project as a Composer development dependency.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
LLM evaluations
Evals use ordinary Pest tests and can apply AI-powered scorers to responses.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
PHP requirement
Pest 5 requires PHP 8.4 or greater and is built on PHPUnit 13.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
PHP tooling
Pest 5 includes first-party plugins for PHPStan and Rector, and its release page describes time-balanced sharding for CI machines.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Security testing
Pest's Evals documentation describes a toBeSafe() scorer for checking whether an AI agent resists prompt injection.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Support policy
Pest says bug fixes for outdated major versions are available for 12 months after the latest version's release, with no fixed resolution time or guaranteed fix for every issue.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Test features
Pest includes parallel execution, coverage, mutation testing, and snapshots.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Test impact analysis
The Tia Engine reruns tests affected by recent changes and requires PCOV or Xdebug as a code coverage driver.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Testing features
Pest lists parallel execution, browser testing, profiling, architectural testing, coverage, mutation testing, and optional plugins among its features.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com
Who it is for
Pest says it is suitable for small personal projects and large-scale enterprise applications.Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com

Plans and prices

Pest Free Open-source PHP testing framework · Requires PHP 8.4+ for Pest 5 Read 5 Oct 2026 · pestphp.com

Every Pest plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Free PHP testing framework.
  • Supports parallel execution, coverage, mutation and snapshot testing.
  • Browser plugin uses Playwright for page interactions.
  • Parameterized test cases are supported.

Limits

  • Pest 5 requires PHP 8.4 or later.
  • Built-in mocks are not included.
  • Tia Engine requires PCOV or Xdebug.

Who it suits

Pest suits PHP developers and coding agents needing tests that can extend to browser interactions or LLM evaluations. The project describes itself as suitable for personal projects and enterprise applications.

Verdict

Pest combines core PHP testing with browser, agent and LLM evaluation options. Check the PHP requirement and coverage-driver needs, and note that the maintainers do not promise a fixed bug-resolution time.

Where Specifiction places it

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