diff --git a/spacy/tests/util.py b/spacy/tests/util.py
index a1d6b4c17..c92129166 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/util.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/util.py
@@ -43,3 +43,23 @@ def apply_transition_sequence(parser, doc, sequence):
 def get_cosine(vec1, vec2):
     """Get cosine for two given vectors"""
     return numpy.dot(vec1, vec2) / (numpy.linalg.norm(vec1) * numpy.linalg.norm(vec2))
+
+
+def assert_docs_equal(doc1, doc2):
+    # tokens
+    assert [ t.orth for t in doc1 ] == [ t.orth for t in doc2 ]
+
+    # tags
+    assert [ t.pos for t in doc1 ] == [ t.pos for t in doc2 ]
+    assert [ t.tag for t in doc1 ] == [ t.tag for t in doc2 ]
+
+    # parse
+    assert [ t.head.i for t in doc1 ] == [ t.head.i for t in doc2 ]
+    assert [ t.dep for t in doc1 ] == [ t.dep for t in doc2 ]
+    if doc1.is_parsed and doc2.is_parsed:
+        assert [ s for s in doc1.sents ] == [ s for s in doc2.sents ]
+
+    # entities
+    assert [ t.ent_type for t in doc1 ] == [ t.ent_type for t in doc2 ]
+    assert [ t.ent_iob for t in doc1 ] == [ t.ent_iob for t in doc2 ]
+    assert [ ent for ent in doc1.ents ] == [ ent for ent in doc2.ents ]