Stubs And Drivers vs Service Virtualization

Developers should use stubs and drivers during integration testing in large or complex software projects where modules are developed independently or asynchronously meets developers should use service virtualization when building or testing applications that depend on external services that are not yet available, costly to access, or difficult to set up in test environments. Here's our take.

Stubs And Drivers

Nice Pick

Developers should use stubs and drivers during integration testing in large or complex software projects where modules are developed independently or asynchronously

Pros

• They are particularly useful in top-down or bottom-up integration approaches to verify module interactions without waiting for all components to be complete, reducing dependencies and allowing early detection of interface errors
• Related to: integration-testing, unit-testing

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Service Virtualization

Developers should use service virtualization when building or testing applications that depend on external services that are not yet available, costly to access, or difficult to set up in test environments

Pros

• It is particularly valuable in microservices architectures, where services are developed independently, and in scenarios requiring performance testing or simulating error conditions without impacting real systems
• Related to: api-testing, continuous-integration

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Stubs And Drivers is a methodology while Service Virtualization is a tool. We picked Stubs And Drivers based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Stubs And Drivers wins

Based on overall popularity. Stubs And Drivers is more widely used, but Service Virtualization excels in its own space.