Playwright vs Selenium: Which Test Automation Tool Should You Use?

Key Features of Playwright

Here are its key features:

Playwright Architecture and Working Mechanism

Playwright maintains an always-open persistent connection between your test script and the browser. The commands pass through this connection as fast two-way communications. The browser may also emit certain events, such as page load or response from the network, without being requested by your script.

The flow looks like this:

Test script → Playwright client → Persistent connection → Browser driver → Browser

Each test happens within a browser context. It's like a fresh incognito browser tab that opens right away. One browser process can host dozens of contexts, so tests don’t share cookies or storage.  

This is how Playwright becomes super fast. There are no HTTP requests per each click and the tool already knows what's going on with the page. 

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What Is Selenium and How Does It Work?

Selenium has existed since 2004 and still conducts a large part of the browser testing performed on the planet. This is a lot of history for any software tool. This is also why so many companies have huge amounts of Selenium tests that they cannot simply discard.

Selenium is an open-source automation tool for browser testing. The main component of Selenium, Selenium WebDriver, controls a web browser and captures its responses to commands sent to it by Selenium.

Key Features of Selenium

Here are the key features of Selenium:

Note: Selenium WebDriver is a browser automation tool, not a complete test framework. You'll need a separate testing framework and reporting tools for a complete testing setup.

Must read: Selenium IDE: The Complete Guide to Record-and-Playback Test Automation

Selenium Architecture and Working Mechanism

The execution of selenium happens in layers, each adding a slight delay.

Test script → Language binding → HTTP request (WebDriver protocol) → Browser driver → Browser

When you send a call to any function, such as click(), it will be translated into HTTP requests that will be sent to the browser driver, for example, ChromeDriver or GeckoDriver. The driver sends a request and receives a response from the browser. This process occurs for each request.

It ensures that the operation can be carried out simply and normally. Moreover, it means that Selenium will have no idea about the processes happening at the page level unless you make it pause explicitly. As a result, explicit waits became a must-have for Selenium testers. In Selenium 4, a new protocol named WebDriver BiDi has been added with two-way communication.

Also read: Selenium Framework: Tools, Features, Challenges, and Practical Insights

Playwright vs Selenium: Key Differences

Here are the differences between Playwright vs Selenium:

Also read: Most Common Selenium Interview Questions & Answers You Need to Know

Playwright vs Selenium: Similarities

Despite having some major differences, there are some similarities: 

• Both are open source and free to use, with no vendor lock-in or license fee
• Both automate real browsers and simulate user actions like clicking, typing, uploading files and handling dropdowns
• Both support end-to-end and regression testing of web apps
• Both locate elements with CSS selectors and XPath
• Both handle alerts, frames, multiple tabs and file downloads
• Both run headless for faster CI builds
• Both take screenshots on failure
• Both work with cloud platforms like BrowserStack, LambdaTest and Sauce Labs
• Both follow the Page Object Model, so locators and page actions stay in a separate class and tests read like plain steps
• Both support Python, Java and .NET, so testers can switch tools without changing languages
• Both depend on good test design, since unclear assertions, shared test data and dependent tests cause flaky suites in either tool
• Both are chosen less by features and more by team skills, existing code and browser needs

Must read: Kotlin vs Java: Full Comparison Guide

What Are the Advantages and Limitations of Playwright and Selenium?

Neither of the tool can do it all. Each has its positives and negatives.

Here are the advantages:

And here are the Limitations:

Conclusion

What should you choose between Playwright vs Selenium depends on the particular project, not the fame of the technology.

If you begin from scratch and are working on a modern web application, Playwright is a better choice. It will require less code for the configuration, fewer flaky tests, and fast debugging.

Use Selenium if you have some legacy browsers, real mobile devices, rare languages, or well-working suite of tests. It takes time to change, and it worth something.

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