Behat vs Karate

Behat is free, open-source software for writing executable specifications in plain language on Linux. It is the PHP implementation of Cucumber and runs Gherkin feature files. Those files can describe complete application behavior and be exercised through browser automation, HTTP API calls, shell commands, databases, filesystems, or PHP code. Behat is intended to work with any PHP framework or without one. Installation uses Composer or a PHAR executable, both running with PHP. An extension system can expand or replace nearly any part of the tool, with extensions covering framework integrations, browser automation, test reporting, and data fixtures. Behat does not provide its own assertion tool, so an external assertion library is needed. It supports current PHP and third-party dependency versions; Symfony 8 support begins with Behat 4.0. Each major version receives security fixes for 24 months after the next major release.

Karate is a testing framework for API, UI, mock, and performance work. Its MIT-licensed core is free for commercial projects and supports REST, GraphQL, and SOAP testing, with JSON and XML assertions and schema validation. It can automate browsers and desktop apps, and combine UI and API steps in one test. Built-in Gatling integration lets teams reuse API tests for performance testing. The Free plan costs nothing and includes community support. Paid plans include IDE Plus at $100 a year, Xplorer Premium at $200 a year, and Pro at $640 a year; Pro adds IDE plugins, debugging, enhanced autocomplete, development async protocol testing, and priority email support. The platform lists integrations including AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Maven, Gradle, Docker, IntelliJ, VS Code, and Gatling. Enterprise async protocol testing covers Kafka, gRPC, and WebSocket, but production CI/CD execution requires an Enterprise runtime license. Platforms include API, extension, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, and Windows.