Kotest vs PHPUnit
Kotest
kotest.io
PHPUnit
phpunit.deSide by side
| Figure | Kotest | PHPUnit |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Unit Testing | 7.9 (#12) | 8.4 (#2) |
| Spec score · Unit Testing Frameworks | 7.9 (#15) | 8.3 (#5) |
| Assertions | Kotest provides over 350 matchers, plus collection inspectors, soft assertions and utilities for non-deterministic code. | The manual documents assertions for values, exceptions, side effects, output, files, JSON, and XML. |
| Audience | Kotest is intended for Kotlin projects that need testing on JVM and Kotlin Multiplatform targets. | The getting-started guide teaches writing simple unit tests and running them for PHP code. |
| Test execution | Its DSL supports parameterized and data driven tests, conditional evaluation, lifecycle callbacks and parallelism. | PHPUnit provides a command-line test runner for running tests and selecting test suites. |
Plans
In their own words
Kotest
Kotest is a Kotlin testing framework for JVM and Kotlin Multiplatform projects, with test styles, assertions and property testing. Its styles allow natural-language test names and unlimited nesting. The DSL supports parameterized and data-driven tests, conditional evaluation, lifecycle callbacks and parallel execution. The assertion library includes over 350 matchers, collection inspectors, soft assertions and utilities for non-deterministic code. Property tests can generate hundreds or thousands of inputs, and property testing is supported across all targets. Listed targets include JVM, JavaScript, Native, Wasm and Android unit and instrumented tests; Native includes Linux, Windows, iOS and macOS. Setup instructions cover Gradle, Maven and Kotlin Multiplatform projects. Integrations include Spring, Koin, Ktor, Allure, Testcontainers, WireMock and Micronaut. An IntelliJ plugin provides test run icons, editor results, a test explorer, structure highlighting and breadcrumbs. Kotest is free, with a free plan and no free trial. Its assertions library can also be used with JUnit, Spock or another test framework.
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.