Table of Content
- What is Playwright?
- What is Selenium?
- Playwright vs Selenium: Features and Limitations
- When should you use Playwright?
- When should you use Selenium?
- Playwright vs Selenium: Pros & Cons
- Playwright vs Selenium: Comparison
- Why Should You Use Playwright Instead of Selenium?
- Conclusion
What is Playwright?
Playwright is an open-source automation testing framework developed by Microsoft for end-to-end testing of web applications. It enables fast, reliable, and modern browser automation by interacting directly with browser engines.
It is built for browser testing from a browser's point of view, with features such as auto-wait, network interception, and mobile browser emulation support.
Playwright includes support for WebSocket technology that is critical in real-time web communication between clients and servers.
Features of Playwright:
- Playwright is developer-friendly and offers a lot of debugging capabilities, including tracing, logging, and IDE integration
- Playwright has support for mocking/stubbing, which is a huge advantage if you'd like to maintain a single framework for API and end-to-end testing.
- Playwright can be utilized for Visual comparison testing, where UI can be tested separately without combining data. The visual comparison is testing styles, UI designs, layout, etc. Playwright does automatic waiting; no explicit waiting needs to be added.
Limitations of Playwright:
1. Expanding Community: Playwright is new compared to Selenium, and its support ecosystem and community are still growing.
2. No Official Safari Support: Playwright does not offer direct support for the Safari browser.
3. Limited Mobile App Support: Native mobile app automation is not supported officially yet.
4. No Internet Explorer 11 Support: Playwright does not support legacy browsers such as IE 11.
5. Built-in Browser Engine: Playwright employs its own browser engines, which do not always mimic real-world browser behavior.
6. Limited Cloud Testing Support: Support for cloud testing platforms is still limited in comparison to Selenium.
What is Selenium?
Selenium is an open-source framework for automating web applications. It provides a suite of tools and APIs to automate browser actions, enabling functional testing, regression testing, and cross-browser testing.
It's not simply about functional testing; Selenium also accommodates various testing requirements, from basic unit tests to complicated functional testing use cases.
The framework is also easily integrated with other tools for continuous integration and testing processes.
Features of Selenium:
- Selenium is open source and supported by large donors and community.
- Selenium supports native Firefox, Chrome, Edge, and Safari browsers. Tests are executed on native browsers, not generic browsers.
- Selenium test scripts are simple to understand.
- Selenium supports Mobile devices through third-party libraries.
- Because the Selenium tool has been in existence for over 18 years, long-term support is certain.
Limitations of Selenium:
1. Slow & Flaky Tests: Selenium is dependent on a middle layer with browser-specific drivers, thus making test execution time-consuming and occasionally unstable.
2. No Built-in Reporting: Selenium doesn't have an in-built reporting system; external tools must be used.
3. Library, not a Framework: Selenium is merely an API, and creating a full automation framework using it needs extra effort and time.
4. No Built-in Assertions: Selenium doesn't contain assertion libraries and needs third-party solutions such as TestNG or JUnit.
5 .No Support for Visual Testing: Selenium does not provide support for image processing or visual testing features.
6. No Support for API or Component Testing:Selenium Automation Testing Services only supports browser-based UI testing and has no support for API or component-level testing.
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When should you use Playwright?
- Playwright is a great choice for testing modern web apps as it supports all modern rendering engines, including WebKit, Chromium, and Firefox.
- Supports built-in headless browser testing
- Provides advanced features like network interception, automatic waiting to test complex scenarios
- Provides a Trace Viewer, a GUI tool for faster and easy debugging Supports parallel testing
When should you use Selenium?
- Selenium is compatible with various browsers, such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, IE, and Edge. It also works well with older versions.
- Has a large, active community of users
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- Supports different programming languages like Perl, PHP, Ruby, C#, .NET, Java, JavaScript, and Python.
- Supports parallel testing via Selenium Grid, but setting up this infrastructure can be quite time-consuming.
Pros & Cons of Playwright:
Pros:
- Cross-browser support with a single API
- Supports headless mode for faster execution
- Automatic waiting eliminates timing issues
- Offers mobile emulation and geo-location testing capabilities.
Cons:
- Requires familiarity with asynchronous programming
- Less developed community than Selenium
Pros & Cons of Selenium:
Pros:
- Wide language support
- Extensive browser compatibility
- Large and active community
Cons:
- Can be verbose for simple tasks
- Requires managing browser drivers
Comparision Between Playwright vs Selenium:
 |  | |
| Browser Support | Chromium, Firefox, WebKit (automates browser engines) | Chromium, Firefox, WebKit (automates browser engines) |
| Language Support | Java, Python, .NET C#, TypeScript and JavaScript. | Java, Python, C#, Ruby, Perl, PHP, and JavaScript |
| Test Runner Frameworks Support | Playwright Test Runner, Jest, Mocha, Jasmine, AVA, Vitest | JUnit, TestNG, WebDriverIO, |
| Operating System Support | Windows, Mac OS and Linux | Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Solaris |
| Architecture | Headless-first, event-driven | 4-layer architecture (Client, JSON Wire Protocol, Browser`` Driver, Browser) |
| Integration with CI/CD | Yes, built-in | Yes, widely used |
| Prerequisites | Node.js (for JavaScript/TypeScript) | Selenium Bindings (language-specific), Browser Drivers, Selenium Standalone Server |
| Real Device Support | Native mobile emulation, and experimental real Android support | Supports real devices via cloud services (e.g., BrowserStack) |
| Community Support | Smaller but growing (backed by Microsoft) | Large, established support with extensive documentation |
| Open Source | Free and open source, backed by Microsoft | Free and open source, backed by large community |
| Parallel Test Execution | Built-in native support | Available via Selenium Grid |
| Available Types of Testing | Browser-based testing + Visual testing + API testing | Browser-based testing only |
| Overall Test Execution Time | Faster (headless mode, direct browser communication) | Slower (WebDriver overhead) |
Why Should You Use Playwright Instead of Selenium?
Playwright communicates with browser engines directly, bypassing the WebDriver middle layer that Selenium depends on.
Automatic waiting eliminates unnecessary delays, allowingefficientrunningof tests.
Provides built-in network interception, geolocation, and mobile emulation.
Conclusion
Playwright is a next-generation automation platform built specifically for today's web applications with better speed, reliability, and developer-centric capabilities than Selenium, whereas Selenium is still a great option because of its popularity and legacy factor. Playwright is the better choice for teams who want faster execution, simpler test maintenance, and more powerful debugging features. If you're working in modern web tech and want a future-proof automation platform, Playwright is the answer.
About Author
Divya Panchal is an ISTQB-certified QA Tester at PixelQA with expertise in both manual and automation testing. She has evolved from a trainee to a key contributor across multiple projects, consistently ensuring software quality and reliability. With a strong focus on continuous professional development, Divya is dedicated to expanding her knowledge in automation and API testing, underscoring her commitment to delivering high-quality software solutions.