FsCheck vs PHPUnit
FsCheck
fscheck.github.io
PHPUnit
phpunit.deSide by side
| Figure | FsCheck | PHPUnit |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Unit Testing Frameworks | 8.4 (#2) | 8.3 (#5) |
| Audience | FsCheck is for developers who want to test properties of .NET programs with generated inputs. | The getting-started guide teaches writing simple unit tests and running them for PHP code. |
| Installation | FsCheck and its NUnit and xUnit.NET plugins can be installed from NuGet. | PHPUnit 13 can be downloaded as a PHAR archive or installed as a per-project development dependency with Composer. |
| Purpose | FsCheck automatically tests .NET programs by checking properties against randomly generated cases. | PHPUnit is a testing framework for PHP. |
Plans
In their own words
FsCheck
FsCheck checks properties of.NET programs against randomly generated cases. Developers can express properties in F#, C# or VB, then run them with the built-in runner from an interactive session, a command-line program or a test framework. Integrations are documented for xUnit.net and NUnit, with user-created integrations for Expecto, Fuchu, AutoFixture and MSTest. When a property fails, FsCheck shrinks the input and shows a minimal counterexample. Developers can also define custom generators and shrinkers and group them in Arbitrary instances. The library supports parameterized cases and parallel execution, and its packages and NUnit and xUnit.NET plugins are available from NuGet. FsCheck is free: its listed plan is free, with a BSD license permitting commercial and non-commercial modification and redistribution. It runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. The project maintains version 3.x, but its documentation covers 2.x and is described as out of date and incomplete. Its model-based testing API is experimental and exempt from semantic-versioning guarantees.
PHPUnit
PHPUnit is a free testing framework for PHP, with a command-line runner for running tests and selecting test suites. It covers assertions for return values, exceptions, side effects, output, files, JSON, XML, and error-log output. Tests can be organized through filesystem structure or XML configuration and can use data providers, dependencies, stubs, and mock objects. The framework documents code coverage reports in HTML and JSONL formats, plus JUnit and TeamCity logging configuration. For tests that fail intermittently, PHPUnit supports repeating and retrying runs through attributes and command-line options. Installation is available as a PHAR or as a Composer development dependency. PHPUnit 13 is the current stable major version and requires PHP 8.4 or later. Bug-fix support for that version runs through February 4, 2028; its end-of-life date is undetermined. Documentation is available for versions 8.5 through 13.4. PHPUnit supports Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted use.