Comparison Guide

Choosing a testing framework is a long-term commitment. Prova is built for the future of .NET, focusing heavily on Native AOT, Zero Dependencies, and Modern C# Features.

Feature Matrix

Feature	Prova	xUnit	NUnit	MSTest	TUnit
Native AOT	✅ First-Class	❌	❌	⚠️ Partial	✅
Zero Dependencies	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Executable Tests	✅	❌	❌	⚠️ Runner	✅
Parallel by Default	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
Dependency Injection	✅ Native	⚠️ Add-on	❌	❌	✅
Global Hooks	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅

vs xUnit

xUnit is the gold standard for .NET testing, known for its strict immutability and isolation.

• Prova adopts xUnit's "Constructor per Test" and [Fact] syntax, making migration easy.
• Difference: Prova is an executable, not a DLL. This means no reflection-based discovery at runtime, enabling Native AOT.

vs NUnit / MSTest

Traditional frameworks heavily rely on mutable state ([SetUp], [TearDown]) and static globals.

• Prova avoids mutable shared state by default but offers IAsyncLifetime and [Before(Test)] hooks when granular control is needed.

vs TUnit

TUnit is a modern, AOT-focused framework that Prova draws significant inspiration from.

• Similarities: Both are AOT-first, executable-based, and heavily opinionated.
• Difference: Prova aims for a slightly more "Batteries Included" approach, bundling strict Assertion libraries (Prova.Assertions) and specialized Analyzers (Prova.Analyzers) by default, rather than relying on external packages.

Why Choose Prova?

1. You need Native AOT: If you are building AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, or CLI tools in Native AOT, Prova is the only viable choice alongside TUnit.
2. Performance: Prova tests start instantly. Benchmarks show AOT test runners can be up to 20x faster than reflection-based runners (MSTest/xUnit/NUnit) in complex scenarios like Combinatorial Matrix tests.
3. Simplicity: One package. No xunit.runner.visualstudio, Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk, coverlet, etc. It just works.