Laravel Testing Best Practices: PHPUnit to Pest in 2026

Why Pest in 2026?

Pest offers cleaner syntax over PHPUnit:

it('can create a user', function () {
                    $user = User::factory()->create();
                    
                    expect($user->exists)->toBeTrue();
                });

                it('validates email')->throws(ValidationException::class)->with(['invalid']);

Testing Pyramid

1. Unit Tests (70%) — Fast, isolated
2. Feature Tests (25%) — HTTP layer
3. Browser Tests (5%) — Critical paths