Which is Better: Selenium or Playwright?

Test automation has come a long way, and if you’re deciding between Selenium and Playwright, you’re not alone! Selenium has been the industry’s go-to for years, while Playwright is shaking things up with modern, developer-friendly features.

But which tool is the best fit for your testing needs?

In this comparison, we’ll break down their strengths, differences, and real-world impact—helping you make the right choice for faster, more reliable automation.

Let’s dive in!

Supported Browsers

When choosing between Selenium and Playwright, one of the key factors is browser compatibility. Let's break it down:

Selenium

Selenium has been the go-to automation tool for over a decade, offering compatibility with most modern browsers:

Chrome – Supports WebDriver-based automation, including headless mode

Firefox – Fully supported with a dedicated GeckoDriver

Edge – Microsoft’s WebDriver integration allows smooth automation

Safari – Official support through Apple's SafariDriver (macOS only)

Opera – Supported via Chromium-based WebDriver

Internet Explorer (IE 11) – Legacy support, but deprecated in recent Selenium versions

Mobile Browsers – Works with Appium for automating mobile browsers (Safari on iOS, Chrome on Android)

💡 If your team needs cross-browser compatibility across older and newer browsers, Selenium provides a well-established ecosystem with broad coverage.

Playwright

Playwright, developed by Microsoft, is designed for next-gen automation with robust browser support:

Chromium (Chrome, Edge, Opera) – Built-in support with fast execution

Firefox – Native automation, but some features are experimental

WebKit (Safari Engine) – Direct WebKit support enables Safari-like automation (without requiring a macOS machine)

Headless Mode – All browsers can run headless by default, enhancing CI/CD efficiency

Mobile Emulation – Supports iPhone, iPad, and Android device emulation without needing real mobile browsers

🚀 Playwright is optimized for modern web apps, providing seamless automation for Chromium, WebKit, and Firefox—making it a great choice for teams focused on headless testing and speed.

Programming Languages

Selenium

When it comes to programming language support, Selenium has a clear advantage in flexibility. It supports a wide range of languages, including Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, Ruby, and Kotlin, making it a versatile choice for teams with diverse tech stacks.

If your team is already working with one of these languages, integrating Selenium into your test automation pipeline feels natural.

Many enterprise teams, especially those with established Java or C# ecosystems, prefer Selenium because of its deep integration with existing frameworks and tools.

Playwright

On the other hand, Playwright is designed with modern web automation in mind and officially supports JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, C#, and Java.

While its language support is slightly more limited than Selenium, Playwright shines in environments where JavaScript or TypeScript is the primary language—especially for frontend-heavy teams working with modern web frameworks like React or Angular.

The built-in API consistency across languages also makes Playwright easier to learn and use, ensuring a smoother transition for developers exploring automation for the first time.

If your team is heavily invested in JavaScript or looking for a streamlined experience, Playwright might be the better fit.

Automatic Wait

Handling waits in test automation can be the difference between flaky tests and reliable execution. Let’s compare how Selenium and Playwright handle this challenge:

Selenium

Explicit and Implicit Waits – Selenium requires testers to manually define waits using WebDriverWait (explicit) or implicitly_wait() (implicit).

Risk of Flaky Tests – If waits are not well-tuned, tests might fail due to elements not loading in time.

No Built-in Auto-Wait – Selenium does not inherently wait for elements to be ready; you must script this behavior.

Workarounds Needed – Many teams implement retry logic or custom utilities to handle dynamic elements better.

Example Scenario: If a button appears after an AJAX call, you need an explicit wait (WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(...)) to prevent failures.

💡 Selenium gives you full control over waits, but it requires careful handling to avoid unnecessary delays or test failures.

Playwright

Automatic Waiting for Elements – Playwright waits for elements to be visible, clickable, or attached to the DOM before interacting.

Eliminates Sleep-Based Waits – No need for hardcoded time.sleep() delays, making tests faster and more reliable.

Smart Handling of Network & UI Events – Automatically waits for network requests, animations, and transitions to complete before proceeding.

Reduces Flakiness – Since waits are handled under the hood, tests fail less due to timing issues.

Example Scenario: Instead of adding an explicit wait, Playwright’s page.click(“#button”) will wait until the button is interactable before clicking.

🚀 Playwright simplifies wait management, making it a great choice for teams looking to reduce flakiness and speed up test execution.

Screenshot & Video Recording

Selenium

Capturing screenshots is straightforward in both Selenium and Playwright, but their capabilities differ when it comes to video recording. Selenium allows you to take screenshots using the get_screenshot_as_file() method, making it useful for debugging failures.

However, video recording is not a built-in feature—you need third-party tools like Selenium Grid with FFmpeg or external libraries to record test sessions.

While this works, setting up video capture requires extra effort, which can be a challenge when troubleshooting intermittent test failures.

Playwright

Playwright, on the other hand, takes screenshot and video recording to the next level. It provides built-in support for full-page, element-level, and even trace-based screenshots with a single command.

More importantly, Playwright can automatically record videos of test sessions without additional setup—just enable the recordVideo option. This makes debugging effortless, especially when running tests in CI/CD pipelines where replicating failures locally is difficult.

If visual debugging is a priority for you, Playwright's native video recording can be a game-changer.

Script Recording

Selenium

Selenium offers Selenium IDE, a browser extension that allows users to record and playback test scripts, making it useful for beginners but limited in flexibility for complex automation scenarios.

Playwright

Playwright, on the other hand, provides a powerful CLI-based code generation tool (playwright codegen) that not only records user interactions but also generates structured, reusable test scripts in multiple languages, making script creation faster and more efficient.

UI Inspector

Selenium

Selenium relies on browser developer tools and third-party extensions like SelectorsHub or ChroPath for inspecting and generating locators, which can sometimes require extra effort to fine-tune element selection.

Playwright

Playwright, however, comes with a built-in UI Inspector (playwright codegen) that not only helps identify robust selectors but also allows real-time script recording and debugging, making locator handling more seamless and efficient.

Community Support

Selenium

Selenium, being an industry-standard for over a decade, has a vast and well-established community, with extensive documentation, active forums, and countless troubleshooting resources available on platforms like Stack Overflow and GitHub.

Playwright

Playwright, while newer, has rapidly growing support with strong backing from Microsoft, an active GitHub community, and detailed official documentation, making it easier for teams adopting modern test automation practices to find solutions and best practices.

Pop-up & Windows Handling

Handling pop-ups and multiple windows is a critical aspect of test automation. Here’s how Selenium and Playwright compare in managing alerts, modals, and new browser tabs:

Selenium

Alert Handling – Supports handling JavaScript alerts, prompts, and confirmations using switchTo().alert().

New Windows & Tabs – Requires switching between windows using driver.getWindowHandles() and driver.switchTo().window(handle).

Context Switching Needed – Testers must manually manage window focus, which can sometimes introduce flakiness.

Workarounds Required – Handling pop-ups with unpredictable behavior often needs additional wait mechanisms.

Example Scenario: If a test clicks a link that opens a new tab, you must retrieve all window handles and switch explicitly.

💡 Selenium provides flexibility but requires more effort in managing multiple browser contexts manually.

Playwright

Auto-Waiting for Pop-ups – Detects and waits for pop-ups or new windows automatically without extra code.

New Window & Tab Handling – Uses context.newPage() or page.waitForEvent("popup") to manage multiple pages effortlessly.

Simplified Context Management – No need for explicit window switching; Playwright keeps track of opened pages.

Consistent Cross-Browser Behavior – Works seamlessly across Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit without flakiness.

Example Scenario: When clicking a link that opens a new tab, Playwright automatically captures it as a new page object (popup = await page.waitForEvent("popup")).

🚀 Playwright’s modern approach eliminates unnecessary complexity, making pop-up and multi-window handling smoother and more reliable.

Web Accessibility Testing

Selenium

Selenium, while widely used for functional testing, does not have built-in accessibility testing capabilities, requiring integrations with third-party tools like axe-core to evaluate web accessibility.

Playwright

Playwright, on the other hand, provides native support for accessibility testing with its built-in page.accessibility API, allowing testers to easily inspect and audit elements, making it a more seamless option for ensuring inclusive web experiences.

REST API Testing

Automating REST API tests alongside UI testing can improve efficiency and reliability.

Here's how Selenium and Playwright compare in this area:

Selenium

No Built-in API Testing Support – Selenium is primarily designed for UI automation and does not include native API testing capabilities.

Relies on External Libraries – You need tools like RestAssured (Java), requests (Python), or Postman to perform API tests alongside Selenium scripts.

UI & API Testing Separation – Best suited for teams keeping API and UI testing as separate test suites rather than combining them in one framework.

Extra Setup Required – Since API requests aren’t natively supported, handling authentication, headers, and responses requires additional setup.

Playwright

Native API Testing with request API – Playwright includes an integrated API testing feature, allowing testers to send HTTP requests directly within test scripts.

UI + API Testing in One Framework – Enables seamless validation of backend responses before performing UI interactions, reducing test dependencies.

Supports Authentication & Intercepting API Calls – Can mock, modify, or intercept API responses for better end-to-end testing.

Faster Execution – Running API tests inside Playwright eliminates the need for a separate tool, making API calls faster and more efficient.

🚀 Playwright’s built-in API testing capabilities provide a powerful way to combine UI and API validation within a single test suite, reducing complexity and improving test efficiency.

Parallel Execution

Selenium

Selenium supports parallel execution through Selenium Grid, allowing tests to run across multiple browsers and machines, but it requires additional setup and infrastructure management.

Playwright

Playwright, on the other hand, has built-in parallel execution with its test runner, effortlessly running tests in multiple browsers and isolated worker processes, making it faster and more efficient without extra configuration.

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