Testing Library fireEvent vs userEvent

TLDR: Use userEvent for representing user input. Use fireEvent for special circumstances involving events.

fireEvent came first, and uses the regular generic dispatchEvent() API to fire an event on an element in the DOM. And only that event.

So to click a button in Testing Library:

jsx

const submitButton = screen.getByRole("button", { name: "Submit" });

// Click that thang!
fireEvent.click(submitButton);

When a real user does something in their browser (say, clicking a button), they're not just firing a single click.

They're doing all kinds of stuff, a mouseOver, a focus, a blur on a parent element, etc.

userEvent attempts to mimic this behaviour, instead of just firing a single event.

Testing Library fireEvent vs userEvent ​