Infection vs Mutode
Infection
infection.github.ioMutode
thesoftwaredesignlab.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | Infection | Mutode |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 0 | 0 |
| Spec score · Mutation Testing Tools | 7.6 (#11) | 6.7 (#23) |
| How it works | It creates mutants using predefined mutation operators, runs tests covering changed lines, and records killed or escaped mutants, errors, and timeouts. | It makes small code changes called mutants and runs the test suite; failing tests kill a mutant, while passing tests mean it survived. |
| Installation | The maker documents PHAR, Phive, Composer, Git, and Homebrew installation methods. | The page documents installing Mutode globally with npm or locally as a development dependency. |
| License | The project is released under the BSD-3-Clause License. | The page identifies the license as MIT and names Diego Rodríguez Baquero in its copyright notice. |
| Parallel execution | Tests for mutated code can run in parallel with the --threads option, including automatic CPU-core detection with --threads=max. | Mutode creates project copies for concurrent mutant runners and supports configuring the number of runners. |
| Purpose | Infection mutates PHP source code and reports changes that a test suite fails to catch. | Mutode performs mutation testing for Node.js and JavaScript. |
In their own words
Infection
Infection is a PHP mutation-testing library that shows which changes a test suite fails to detect. It creates mutants using predefined operators, runs tests against changed code, and records killed and escaped mutants, errors, and timeouts. Its Mutation Score Indicator measures the share of generated mutations detected by tests; it also reports Mutation Code Coverage and Covered Code Mutation Score Indicator. Infection supports PHPUnit, PhpSpec, Codeception, and Testo, and runs from the command line at a project root. Teams can run mutated tests in parallel, focus analysis on touched lines or files, and set minimum mutation-score thresholds that fail a build. The homepage describes more than 100 mutators grouped into profiles and allows custom mutators. Optional PHPStan and Mago integrations can help catch escaped mutants involving type violations, dead code, and unreachable paths. Installation options include PHAR, Phive, Composer, Git, and Homebrew. A browser playground supports trying PHP code and tests without installing the tools. Infection is free under the BSD-3-Clause license and requires PHP 8.3 or newer plus Xdebug, phpdbg, or pcov.
Mutode
Mutode has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.