Codeception Behaviour Driven (BDD)

Behat was the go-to BDD framework for PHP. Then PHP 7 came out and Behat only supported 5.4. That left a gap.

Codeception filled it.

What it does

Codeception is a testing framework for PHP that handles unit tests, functional tests, and acceptance tests in one tool. It's PHPUnit with batteries included — Selenium support, data cleanup, fixtures, and readable test syntax all built in.

Why use it

Two questions from their own FAQ stuck with me:

"Do I really need this?" If you build web apps with forms, links, multiple pages, or APIs, and you want to verify all of it in minutes instead of hours — yes.

"Why not just PHPUnit?" PHPUnit is great for unit tests. But functional testing with Selenium, managing test data, writing XPath selectors — PHPUnit makes all of that painful. Codeception handles it out of the box.

The trade-off

Codeception gives you a single framework for all test levels. BDD-style tests read almost like English. Setup is fast.

The cost: it's opinionated. If your testing needs don't fit Codeception's patterns, you'll fight the framework. And it's PHP-only — if your stack is mixed, you'll need separate tools for non-PHP services.

It works well with frameworks like Laravel and Yii. For raw PHP projects, it's equally straightforward.