Selenium vs Playwright: Which One Should You Choose for Test Automation?

When it comes to automation web application, Selenium has been an old and trusted friend for a tester over a decade. But in recent years, Playwright has entered the scene, which is promising faster execution, modern browser support.

A Quick Introduction Selenium Vs Playwright

Selenium

• Veteran in the automation world – released in 2004.
• It supports multiple programming languages like Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, and more.
• It works with almost every browser you can think of.
• It has a huge online community and sufficient learning resources available online.

Playwright

• This was developed by Microsoft and was released in 2020.
• Initially JavaScript/TypeScript-focused, but now supports Python, Java, and .NET.
• It is designed for modern web apps, especially for single-page frameworks like React, Angular etc.
• It can not only automate the browsers, but also mobile web and even APIs.

Driver Management

• Selenium (Old Way): Traditionally, we had to update & download the browsers manually. If your browser, by any chance if the browser is updated and the driver didn’t match, all the tests could fail.
• Selenium (Now): With Selenium 4.6+ come up with Selenium Manager (or WebDriver Manager libraries), which automatically downloads and updates the correct driver for your browser, so you don’t have to worry about it.
• Playwright: In Playwright separate driver setup is not required, it comes bundled up with the browsers it needs and updates them automatically.

Speed & Performance

• Selenium:
  It is reliable but, it can be slower because it communicates with browsers through the http WebDriver protocol.
• Playwright:
  It is generally faster as compared to selenium because it talks directly to the browser using a modern API, reducing the “back-and-forth” time.

Features That Stand Out

Selenium

• Wide range of browsers, including older versions of browsers.
• Large ecosystem of tools like Selenium Grid for parallel testing.
• Ideal for teams who need stability and have existing Selenium frameworks.

Playwright

• Built-in support for multiple browser contexts which is great for running the tests in parallel.
• Feature of Auto-waiting for the elements, which makes test less flaky.
• It has native support for capturing screenshots, videos, and network requests.
• It handles modern web features gracefully like shadow DOMs and iframes.

It also comes up with additional features which is a big miss in Selenium which is a trace viewer for step-by-step debugging, video and screenshot capture. It also has code generator that records your browser actions and turns them into ready-to-use test scripts. These built-in tools have made setup and debugging significantly easier as compared to Selenium, which requires separate integrations for similar capabilities.

Cross-Browser Support

• Selenium: Supports Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Internet Explorer (yes, even that).
• Playwright: Supports Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge—but no Internet Explorer (which is fine for most modern apps).

Learning Curve

• Selenium has a massive community and tons of tutorials available along with the expertise in market. However, setting up a Selenium project often takes more steps and involves extra boilerplate code.
• Playwright: Setting Playwright is way much easier and faster as compared to Selenium. We can start running the tests almost immediately after the installation, without worrying about driver configuration or complex project setup. The trade-off is that it has a smaller community and fewer ready-made examples than Selenium.

Which One Should You Choose?

• Pick Selenium if:
  We have an existing Selenium framework, need older browser support, or want a massive community to fall back on.
• Pick Playwright if:
  We are starting fresh, working with modern web applications, or need faster, less flaky tests with minimal setup.

Final Thoughts

Selenium is like a dependable old car. It may not be the fast, but it gets you anywhere and has tons of mechanics who can fix the issues on other hand Playwright is like a sleek new electric vehicle which is fast, modern, and loaded with features, but it is still building its service network.

In the end, the “best” tool depends on your team’s needs, project requirements, skill and comfort level. The good news? Both are open source and excellent choices for web automation and knowing both makes you even more valuable as a tester.