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supertest vs Karate: open-source API testing tools compared

Metrics as of , from the GitHub or GitLab API of each repository. Refreshed monthly.

Summary

supertest: JavaScript library for asserting HTTP responses in tests, built on superagent and usable with any test framework.

Karate: Test automation framework for API, UI and performance tests and mocks, written as feature files.

Both are listed under API testing. The table gives repository metrics from the GitHub API with their fetch date, then the documented facts used for every comparison in this category, each linked to the README or docs page it comes from. A cell reads "not documented" when the fact was not found in the project's documentation (3 of 14 fact cells here); that does not mean the feature is absent.

Side by side

supertest and Karate: metrics and documented facts, in the fixed row order used for API testing comparisons.
FactsupertestKarate
Stars14,40418,9651
Forks78312,0421
Contributors10711741
Last release2026-09-2212026-08-141
Last commit2026-09-2212026-09-191
Commits in 90 days1614601
LicenseMIT1MIT1
Primary languageJavaScript1Java1
Statusactive1active1
ProtocolsHTTP; HTTP/2 through an http2 option source: READMEREST over HTTP, GraphQL, SOAP, WebSocket source: Docs: Why Karate?
Test authoring formatCode (chained request(app).get().expect() calls, with or without a test framework such as Mocha) source: READMEPlain-text feature files with Karate keywords source: Docs: Why Karate?
Languages for writing testsJavaScript (Node.js module loaded with require('supertest')) source: READMEKarate DSL with Gherkin-based syntax source: Docs: Why Karate?
Parallel or distributed executionnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of Parallel runner using Java 21+ virtual threads; features and scenarios run in parallel source: Docs: Parallel Execution
CI integrationnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of CI/CD guide with a GitHub Actions reference workflow source: Docs: CI/CD
Report formatsnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of HTML (default), JUnit XML, Cucumber JSON source: Docs: Parallel Execution
Install methodnpm (npm install supertest --save-dev) source: READMEVS Code extension, Karate CLI, Maven, Gradle or standalone JAR source: Docs: Quick Start

1 Fetched from the GitHub or GitLab API on . Hover a value for its own date.

When each fits

Written from each project's documented scope, not from preference. Neither tool is ranked.

supertest

Fits projects that test HTTP servers from JavaScript test code; its README describes a high-level abstraction for testing HTTP built on superagent. source: README

Karate

Fits projects that test APIs, mocks, performance and web UIs with one tool; its README describes one framework that combines API testing, mocks, performance testing and UI automation. source: README

More on these tools

Sources

  1. GitHub REST API: repository, read
  2. GitHub REST API: repository, read
  3. GitHub REST API: contributors, read
  4. GitHub REST API: contributors, read
  5. GitHub REST API: latest release, read
  6. GitHub REST API: latest release, read
  7. GitHub REST API: commits, read
  8. GitHub REST API: commits, read
  9. README, read
  10. Docs: Why Karate?, read
  11. Docs: Parallel Execution, read
  12. Docs: CI/CD, read
  13. Docs: Quick Start, read
  14. README, read

Documented facts collected 2026-09-22. See the methodology for how metrics and facts are gathered.