compare
AVA vs Mocha
The same facts for both, read from GitHub every night, and the relation a person reviewed.
| Fact | AVA | Mocha |
|---|---|---|
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Stars | 21k | 23k |
| Latest | v8.0.1 | v12.0.3 |
| Last push | 2026-06-17 | 2026-10-05 |
| Release cadence | about 47 days between releases | about 11 days between releases |
| Active contributors | 0 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days | 13 commit authors on the default branch in the last 90 days |
| Flags | none | none |
How they relate
AVA replaces Mocha. Alternatives to Mocha →
Full replacementRuns each test file in its own process, concurrently, with assertions built in.
AVA
- v8.0.12026-05-17This release officially adds Node.js 26 support, with thanks to @novemberborn in
- v8.0.02026-04-27AVA now expects Node.js 22.20, 24.12 or newer.
- v7.0.02026-02-27Replace strip-ansi with node:util.stripVTControlCharacters
- v6.4.12025-07-12Keep test worker alive until explicitly freed
- v6.4.02025-06-07AVA is now tested with Node.js 24 (but no longer v23)
Mocha
- v12.0.32026-10-01keep watching when the last test file is removed (#6355) (921c161)
- v12.0.22026-09-17fail nested tests on beforeEach failure (#6292) (a75b43b)
- v12.0.12026-09-11bump serialize-javascript to ^7.1.1 (#6278) (02558a3)
- v12.0.02026-08-31fixup parsing negative numbers and quoted strings (#6250) (2962875)
- v12.0.0-rc.62026-08-09deps: update dependency starlight-blog to ^0.28.0 (#6153) (6b79044)pre-release
AVA
✓ signed The latest release, v8.0.1, carries a signature GitHub verified.
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Mocha
✓ signed The latest release, v12.0.3, carries a signature GitHub verified.
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