Vue.js DevTools vs Vitest Explorer
Side-by-side comparison to help you choose.
| Feature | Vue.js DevTools | Vitest Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Extension | Extension |
| UnfragileRank | 41/100 | 43/100 |
| Adoption | 1 | 1 |
| Quality | 0 | 0 |
| Ecosystem |
| 0 |
| 0 |
| Match Graph | 0 | 0 |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Capabilities | 11 decomposed | 11 decomposed |
| Times Matched | 0 | 0 |
Renders a hierarchical tree view of the active Vue application's component structure, allowing developers to click through nested components and inspect their props, data, computed properties, and methods in real-time. The extension hooks into Vue's internal component registry via a bridge script injected into the page, enabling live traversal without requiring source map access or code instrumentation beyond Vue's built-in reactivity system.
Unique: Uses Vue's internal component registry and reactivity system to provide live tree traversal without requiring source maps or AST parsing, enabling instant inspection of dynamically rendered components that don't exist in source code
vs alternatives: Faster and more accurate than DOM inspector alone because it shows logical Vue component structure rather than rendered HTML, and doesn't require manual prop tracing through code
Captures and displays the reactive state (data, computed properties, watchers) of selected components in real-time, with change history tracking that shows which properties mutated and when. The extension intercepts Vue's reactivity proxy layer to log state mutations as they occur, enabling developers to correlate UI changes with state changes without console.log debugging.
Unique: Integrates directly with Vue's reactivity proxy layer (Proxy in Vue 3, Object.defineProperty in Vue 2) to capture mutations at the source rather than polling or diffing, providing zero-latency change detection
vs alternatives: More accurate than Redux DevTools for Vue because it tracks Vue's native reactivity system rather than requiring explicit action dispatching, and works with both Vuex and Pinia without separate configuration
Displays component prop definitions (type, required, default value) and validates runtime prop values against their definitions, highlighting type mismatches or missing required props. The extension inspects component prop definitions from the component's props object and compares runtime values against expected types, displaying validation errors in the DevTools panel.
Unique: Validates runtime prop values against component prop definitions in real-time, providing instant feedback on type mismatches and missing required props without requiring additional validation libraries
vs alternatives: More integrated than PropTypes or TypeScript because it validates at runtime using Vue's native prop system, and provides visual feedback in DevTools without requiring console warnings
Provides a dedicated inspector for Vuex store state with mutation history replay, allowing developers to step backward and forward through state mutations and inspect the store at any point in time. The extension subscribes to Vuex's mutation stream and maintains an immutable history of state snapshots, enabling time-travel debugging by replaying mutations in sequence.
Unique: Maintains an immutable snapshot history of store state by subscribing to Vuex's mutation stream and replaying mutations sequentially, enabling true time-travel without requiring explicit action logging or middleware configuration
vs alternatives: More integrated than Redux DevTools for Vue because it's built specifically for Vuex's mutation model and doesn't require additional middleware setup, and provides instant access to store state without serialization overhead
Provides a dedicated inspector for Pinia store state with real-time mutation tracking and replay capability, designed for Vue 3's modern state management. The extension hooks into Pinia's subscription API to track state changes and actions, displaying store state with full mutation history and the ability to step through state changes chronologically.
Unique: Leverages Pinia's built-in subscription API and action tracking to provide native integration without requiring middleware or wrapper code, enabling automatic tracking of all store mutations and actions with zero configuration
vs alternatives: More lightweight than Vuex DevTools because Pinia's simpler architecture requires less overhead, and provides better action tracking than Vuex because Pinia explicitly separates actions from mutations
Displays the Vue Router route configuration as a tree or graph, showing all defined routes, their parameters, and navigation history. The extension subscribes to Vue Router's navigation guards and history stack, displaying the current route, route parameters, query strings, and a chronological log of all route transitions with their triggers and timing.
Unique: Subscribes to Vue Router's navigation hooks and history stack to provide real-time route tracking without requiring manual instrumentation, and displays both static route configuration and dynamic navigation history in a unified view
vs alternatives: More integrated than browser history inspection because it shows logical Vue routes rather than raw URLs, and provides route parameter and query string parsing without requiring manual URL parsing
Records component render times, lifecycle hook execution duration, and event handler performance during application runtime, displaying results in a timeline view with flame graphs and performance metrics. The extension uses Vue's performance hooks (or browser Performance API) to measure component initialization, update, and unmount phases, correlating performance data with component names and user interactions.
Unique: Integrates with Vue's lifecycle hooks to measure render performance at the component level rather than relying on generic browser profiling, enabling precise identification of slow components without requiring manual instrumentation
vs alternatives: More granular than Chrome DevTools Performance tab because it shows Vue component-level metrics rather than generic JavaScript execution time, and correlates performance data with component names and lifecycle phases
Captures all custom events emitted by components and displays them in a chronological log with event names, payloads, and source/target components. The extension subscribes to Vue's event system and records each emit with timestamp and context, allowing developers to replay events in sequence or jump to a specific point in the event timeline to inspect application state at that moment.
Unique: Maintains a temporal event log with application state snapshots at each event, enabling developers to jump to any point in the event timeline and inspect the complete application state at that moment without manual state reconstruction
vs alternatives: More useful than console.log event tracking because it provides a structured, searchable event history with automatic state snapshots, and enables temporal navigation without requiring manual breakpoint setup
+3 more capabilities
Enables one-click test execution directly from the editor gutter by clicking status icons next to individual test cases. Integrates with VS Code's TestController API to invoke Vitest's test runner for the specific test, displaying results inline within 1-2 seconds. The gutter icon reflects real-time test state (passed/failed/skipped/queued) and updates as the file is edited.
Unique: Uses VS Code's native TestController API (official testing framework) to register individual test cases as discoverable items in the Testing sidebar and gutter, avoiding custom test parsing and enabling deep IDE integration with native status icons and context menus.
vs alternatives: Faster than terminal-based test execution (no context switch) and more discoverable than Jest/Mocha extensions that require manual test file navigation, because test cases are automatically indexed and displayed inline.
Runs all tests in a workspace or filtered subset via toolbar commands and filter UI in the Testing view. Supports filtering by test name, exclusion patterns, or tags; execution is orchestrated through Vitest's CLI with arguments passed via the TestController API. Results are aggregated and displayed hierarchically in the Testing sidebar with pass/fail counts and execution duration per file.
Unique: Leverages Vitest's native filtering and CLI argument passing through TestController to avoid re-implementing filter logic; the extension acts as a UI layer over Vitest's existing capabilities rather than adding custom filtering.
vs alternatives: More flexible than Jest extensions because Vitest's filter syntax is more powerful (supports glob patterns and tag-based filtering), and the extension respects the full Vitest config rather than imposing its own filter model.
Vitest Explorer scores higher at 43/100 vs Vue.js DevTools at 41/100.
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Maintains real-time synchronization of test status indicators (passed/failed/skipped/queued/not-executed) across the gutter icons, Testing sidebar, and status bar. When a test is executed or a file is modified, the extension updates all status indicators within milliseconds. Status is derived from Vitest's test result events and persisted in memory for the session.
Unique: Synchronizes status across multiple UI surfaces (gutter, sidebar, status bar) using a single state model, ensuring consistency and reducing redundant updates compared to independent status tracking per UI element.
vs alternatives: More responsive than Jest extensions because Vitest's event-driven architecture provides immediate status updates, and the extension leverages TestController's native status model rather than custom status tracking.
Enables continuous test execution that automatically re-runs affected tests when source or test files change. The extension monitors the workspace file system via VS Code's FileSystemWatcher API and invokes Vitest's watch mode, which intelligently determines which tests to re-run based on dependency analysis. Results update in real-time in the gutter and Testing sidebar without user intervention.
Unique: Delegates watch mode orchestration to Vitest's native watch implementation rather than implementing custom file monitoring and test selection; the extension only manages the UI state and result display, reducing complexity and ensuring consistency with Vitest's behavior.
vs alternatives: More efficient than Jest watch mode because Vitest uses Vite's dependency graph for smarter test selection, and the extension integrates directly with VS Code's file system watcher for lower latency than polling-based alternatives.
Enables debugging of individual tests directly from the editor using VS Code's built-in Node.js debugger. Developers can set standard breakpoints, conditional breakpoints, logpoints, and triggered breakpoints in test code; clicking the debug icon in the gutter launches the test under the debugger. The extension configures the debug session to attach to Vitest's Node.js process and maps source maps for TypeScript/JSX support.
Unique: Integrates with VS Code's native Node.js debugger and TestController API to automatically configure debug sessions for Vitest, avoiding the need for manual launch.json configuration or custom debug adapters.
vs alternatives: Simpler than Jest debugging because Vitest's Vite-based architecture provides better source map support out-of-the-box, and the extension eliminates manual debugger setup compared to CLI-based debugging workflows.
Collects code coverage metrics during test execution and displays coverage data in the editor via VS Code's built-in coverage UI (available in VS Code 1.88.0+). The extension invokes Vitest with coverage flags and parses the coverage report; uncovered lines are highlighted in the editor gutter, and coverage percentages are shown in the Testing sidebar. Supports multiple coverage providers (c8, istanbul, v8) configured in vitest.config.ts.
Unique: Leverages VS Code 1.88.0+'s native coverage UI (CoverageProvider API) to display coverage without custom UI components; the extension parses Vitest's coverage output and maps it to VS Code's coverage model.
vs alternatives: More integrated than Jest coverage tools because VS Code's native coverage UI is built-in and doesn't require third-party extensions, and Vitest's coverage collection is faster due to Vite's optimized instrumentation.
Displays all discovered tests in a hierarchical tree structure in the Testing sidebar, organized by file and test suite (describe blocks). Each test case shows its current status (passed/failed/skipped/queued/not-executed) with a colored icon; clicking a test navigates to its definition in the editor. The tree is updated in real-time as tests are executed or files are modified, and supports expanding/collapsing suites for navigation.
Unique: Uses VS Code's TestController API to register test items hierarchically, enabling native sidebar rendering and context menu integration without custom UI components; the tree structure is automatically derived from Vitest's test discovery.
vs alternatives: More discoverable than CLI-based test listing because the sidebar provides persistent, interactive navigation, and the tree structure mirrors the actual test organization rather than flat output.
Captures console.log, console.error, and other console output from test execution and displays it inline in the editor next to the relevant code lines. Logpoints (breakpoints that log without pausing) are also supported; when a logpoint is hit, the logged value is displayed inline. Output is aggregated per test and accessible via the Testing sidebar's 'Show Output' command for full test logs.
Unique: Integrates console output capture directly into the TestController's result reporting, displaying output inline via VS Code's CodeLens API rather than requiring separate output panel navigation.
vs alternatives: More convenient than Jest output because inline display eliminates context switching to the Output panel, and logpoints are native to VS Code's debugger rather than requiring custom logging setup.
+3 more capabilities