Playwright vs Selenium
Playwright
playwright.dev
Selenium
selenium.devSide by side
| Figure | Playwright | Selenium |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Testing Automation Software | 8.0 (#11) | 8.5 (#7) |
| Spec score · Software Testing Tools | 8.0 (#14) | 8.4 (#10) |
| Spec score · Testing And Qa | 8.0 (#14) | 8.5 (#8) |
| Spec score · Browser Automation Tools | 7.9 (#33) | 8.5 (#14) |
| Spec score · Automated Testing | 8.0 (#19) | 8.4 (#14) |
| Spec score · GUI Testing Software | 7.9 (#19) | 8.4 (#10) |
| Spec score · Regression Testing Software | 8.0 (#17) | 8.5 (#11) |
| Spec score · Functional Testing Software | 7.9 (#24) | 8.5 (#11) |
| Spec score · End-to-End Testing Software | 7.9 (#19) | 8.4 (#12) |
| Spec score · Developer Tools | 7.9 (#25) | 8.4 (#12) |
| Browser support | One API drives Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. | Official documentation covers Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari browser capabilities. |
| Languages | Playwright is available for TypeScript, Python, .NET, and Java. | The main project supports client bindings for .NET/C#, Ruby, Java, Python, and JavaScript. |
| License | The Playwright core package metadata lists the Apache-2.0 license. | Selenium code and documentation are released under the Apache License 2.0 with Software Freedom Conservancy as copyright holder. |
| Purpose | Playwright enables web automation for testing, scripting, and AI agents. | Selenium is a suite of tools for automating web browsers, primarily for testing web applications. |
| Support and community | The site links to Stack Overflow, Discord, training, and learning resources. | The project directs contributors to its Developers Group and is a member of the Software Freedom Conservancy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. |
Plans
In their own words
Playwright
Playwright has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Selenium
Selenium is a free suite of tools for automating web browsers, primarily to test web applications. WebDriver provides language bindings for controlling browsers locally or remotely, and is a W3C Recommendation. The main project supports.NET/C#, Ruby, Java, Python, and JavaScript. Selenium IDE is a browser add-on for recording and replaying interactions in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. For distributed tests, Selenium Grid spreads work across machines and combinations of browsers and operating systems. Grid offers Standalone, Hub and Node, and Distributed configurations; Docker and Kubernetes deployment resources are also linked. Selenium Manager can discover, download, and cache browser releases and drivers. Documentation covers browser-specific functionality for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari, and names GitHub Actions and Jenkins as CI/CD examples. Selenium began in 2004 at ThoughtWorks in Chicago. Grid has no authentication by default, and the project advises restricting external access and placing it behind a secure network. The latest Opera driver functionality is not supported, and that driver is officially unsupported. Selenium costs nothing.