Difference between @Mock and @InjectMocks

@Mock creates a mock. @InjectMocks creates an instance of the class and injects the mocks that are created with the @Mock (or @Spy) annotations into this instance.

Note you must use @RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class) or Mockito.initMocks(this) to initialize these mocks and inject them (JUnit 4).

With JUnit 5, you must use @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class).

@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class) // JUnit 4
// @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class) for JUnit 5
public class SomeManagerTest {

    @InjectMocks
    private SomeManager someManager;

    @Mock
    private SomeDependency someDependency; // this will be injected into someManager
 
     // tests...

}

This is a sample code on how @Mock and @InjectMocks works.

Say we have Game and Player class.

class Game {

    private Player player;

    public Game(Player player) {
        this.player = player;
    }

    public String attack() {
        return "Player attack with: " + player.getWeapon();
    }

}

class Player {

    private String weapon;

    public Player(String weapon) {
        this.weapon = weapon;
    }

    String getWeapon() {
        return weapon;
    }
}

As you see, Game class need Player to perform an attack.

@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
class GameTest {

    @Mock
    Player player;

    @InjectMocks
    Game game;

    @Test
    public void attackWithSwordTest() throws Exception {
        Mockito.when(player.getWeapon()).thenReturn("Sword");

        assertEquals("Player attack with: Sword", game.attack());
    }

}

Mockito will mock a Player class and it's behaviour using when and thenReturn method. Lastly, using @InjectMocks Mockito will put that Player into Game.

Notice that you don't even have to create a new Game object. Mockito will inject it for you.

// you don't have to do this
Game game = new Game(player);

We will also get same behaviour using @Spy annotation. Even if the attribute name is different.

@RunWith(MockitoJUnitRunner.class)
public class GameTest {

  @Mock Player player;

  @Spy List<String> enemies = new ArrayList<>();

  @InjectMocks Game game;

  @Test public void attackWithSwordTest() throws Exception {
    Mockito.when(player.getWeapon()).thenReturn("Sword");

    enemies.add("Dragon");
    enemies.add("Orc");

    assertEquals(2, game.numberOfEnemies());

    assertEquals("Player attack with: Sword", game.attack());
  }
}

class Game {

  private Player player;

  private List<String> opponents;

  public Game(Player player, List<String> opponents) {
    this.player = player;
    this.opponents = opponents;
  }

  public int numberOfEnemies() {
    return opponents.size();
  }

  // ...

That's because Mockito will check the Type Signature of Game class, which is Player and List<String>.

In your test class, the tested class should be annotated with @InjectMocks. This tells Mockito which class to inject mocks into:

@InjectMocks
private SomeManager someManager;

From then on, we can specify which specific methods or objects inside the class, in this case, SomeManager, will be substituted with mocks:

@Mock
private SomeDependency someDependency;

In this example, SomeDependency inside the SomeManager class will be mocked.

@Mock annotation mocks the concerned object.

@InjectMocks annotation allows to inject into the underlying object the different (and relevant) mocks created by @Mock.

Both are complementary.