Web Automation Libraries Comparison
playwright vs puppeteer vs selenium-webdriver vs nightmare
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What's Web Automation Libraries?

Web automation libraries are tools designed to facilitate the automation of web browser interactions, enabling developers to simulate user actions, scrape data, test web applications, and more. These libraries provide APIs that allow for programmatic control over web browsers, making it easier to perform repetitive tasks, conduct automated testing, and gather data from web pages. Each library has its own strengths, weaknesses, and use cases, making it essential for developers to choose the right tool based on their specific requirements and project goals.

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playwright10,741,28267,8743.15 MB7188 days agoApache-2.0
puppeteer4,168,91189,114359 kB260an hour agoApache-2.0
selenium-webdriver1,640,84030,99418.4 MB23623 days agoApache-2.0
nightmare9,97919,556-2096 years agoMIT
Feature Comparison: playwright vs puppeteer vs selenium-webdriver vs nightmare

Browser Support

  • playwright:

    Playwright supports multiple browsers including Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. This allows for comprehensive testing across different environments and ensures compatibility with various web standards.

  • puppeteer:

    Puppeteer is designed specifically for Chrome and Chromium. While it can be used for headless browsing, its focus on a single browser may limit its applicability in cross-browser scenarios.

  • selenium-webdriver:

    Selenium WebDriver supports a wide range of browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. This makes it an excellent choice for projects that require extensive cross-browser testing.

  • nightmare:

    Nightmare primarily supports Electron, which is based on Chromium. This makes it suitable for applications built with web technologies but limits its use for testing across different browsers.

Ease of Use

  • playwright:

    Playwright offers a rich API with advanced features, but it may have a steeper learning curve compared to simpler libraries. However, its powerful capabilities justify the investment in learning.

  • puppeteer:

    Puppeteer has a user-friendly API that is easy to learn, especially for those familiar with JavaScript. Its documentation is comprehensive, making it accessible for developers of all skill levels.

  • selenium-webdriver:

    Selenium WebDriver has a more complex API and requires a deeper understanding of browser interactions. While it is powerful, the learning curve can be steep, especially for beginners.

  • nightmare:

    Nightmare is known for its straightforward API, making it easy to set up and use for simple tasks. Its syntax is intuitive, which is beneficial for quick automation scripts and smaller projects.

Performance

  • playwright:

    Playwright is optimized for performance and can handle multiple browser contexts efficiently. Its architecture allows for fast execution of tests and operations, making it suitable for large applications.

  • puppeteer:

    Puppeteer is highly performant for tasks involving Chrome, especially when running in headless mode. It is designed for speed and efficiency, making it ideal for scraping and generating content.

  • selenium-webdriver:

    Selenium WebDriver can be slower compared to other libraries due to its architecture, which involves more overhead for cross-browser compatibility. However, it is still reliable for comprehensive testing.

  • nightmare:

    Nightmare is lightweight and performs well for simple tasks, but it may struggle with more complex interactions or large-scale automation due to its reliance on Electron.

Community and Ecosystem

  • playwright:

    Playwright is rapidly gaining popularity and has a growing community. Its ecosystem is expanding, with increasing resources and plugins available for various use cases.

  • puppeteer:

    Puppeteer has a strong community and is widely used, especially for projects focused on Chrome. There are numerous resources, plugins, and integrations available.

  • selenium-webdriver:

    Selenium WebDriver has one of the largest communities and ecosystems in the automation space. It is well-supported with a plethora of resources, plugins, and integrations for various testing frameworks.

  • nightmare:

    Nightmare has a smaller community and ecosystem compared to others, which may limit the availability of plugins and community support.

Feature Set

  • playwright:

    Playwright provides a comprehensive feature set, including auto-waiting, intercepting network requests, and handling multiple browser contexts. It is designed for modern web applications with complex interactions.

  • puppeteer:

    Puppeteer excels in generating screenshots, PDFs, and scraping content. It offers a rich set of features for working with Chrome, making it ideal for content-heavy applications.

  • selenium-webdriver:

    Selenium WebDriver offers a broad range of features for browser automation, including support for various programming languages and extensive capabilities for testing web applications across multiple browsers.

  • nightmare:

    Nightmare offers basic automation features such as navigation, form submission, and screenshot capabilities. It is suitable for simple tasks but lacks advanced features found in other libraries.

How to Choose: playwright vs puppeteer vs selenium-webdriver vs nightmare
  • playwright:

    Choose Playwright if you require support for multiple browser contexts and want to run tests in parallel across different browsers. It offers advanced features like auto-waiting and is ideal for modern web applications that require comprehensive testing across various environments.

  • puppeteer:

    Choose Puppeteer if you are focused on Google Chrome or Chromium and need a powerful tool for headless browser automation. Puppeteer excels in generating screenshots, PDFs, and scraping content, making it a great choice for projects heavily reliant on these features.

  • selenium-webdriver:

    Choose Selenium WebDriver if you need a robust and widely adopted solution for cross-browser testing. It supports multiple programming languages and browsers, making it suitable for large-scale testing frameworks and enterprise applications.

  • nightmare:

    Choose Nightmare if you need a simple and lightweight solution for web scraping or testing that requires minimal setup and is easy to use. It's particularly suited for smaller projects or quick automation tasks.

Similar Npm Packages to playwright

playwright is a powerful automation library for browser testing and web scraping. Developed by Microsoft, it allows developers to write scripts for automating web applications across different browsers, including Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. Playwright provides a high-level API that simplifies the process of browser automation, making it easier to perform tasks such as end-to-end testing, UI testing, and web scraping. Its ability to handle multiple browser contexts and its support for modern web features make it a popular choice among developers looking for a robust testing solution.

However, there are several alternatives to Playwright that also offer browser automation capabilities. Here are a few notable ones:

  • puppeteer is a well-known library developed by Google that provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium. Puppeteer is widely used for web scraping, automated testing, and generating screenshots or PDFs of web pages. While Puppeteer is primarily focused on Chrome, it has a rich set of features and a strong community, making it a solid choice for developers who need a reliable tool for browser automation. However, its limitation to Chrome can be a drawback for those looking for cross-browser testing capabilities.

  • selenium-webdriver is a long-established framework for browser automation that supports multiple browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. Selenium WebDriver is widely used for automated testing of web applications and is compatible with various programming languages, including Java, Python, and JavaScript. Its extensive ecosystem and support for different browsers make it a versatile choice for developers who require cross-browser testing. However, Selenium can be more complex to set up and use compared to newer libraries like Playwright and Puppeteer.

To see how Playwright compares with Puppeteer and Selenium WebDriver, check out the comparison: Comparing playwright vs puppeteer vs selenium-webdriver.

Similar Npm Packages to puppeteer

puppeteer is a popular Node.js library that provides a high-level API for controlling headless Chrome or Chromium browsers. It is widely used for web scraping, automated testing, and generating screenshots or PDFs of web pages. Puppeteer allows developers to interact with web pages programmatically, making it an essential tool for tasks that require browser automation. While Puppeteer is a powerful solution, there are several alternatives that also offer browser automation capabilities. Here are a few notable options:

  • nightmare is a high-level browser automation library for Node.js that is designed for simplicity and ease of use. It provides a straightforward API for performing tasks such as clicking buttons, filling out forms, and navigating web pages. Nightmare is particularly well-suited for developers who need a quick and easy way to automate browser interactions without the complexity of more extensive frameworks. However, it may not be as feature-rich or performant as Puppeteer for more demanding tasks.
  • playwright is a newer library developed by Microsoft that offers a powerful and flexible API for browser automation. It supports multiple browsers, including Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit, allowing developers to write cross-browser tests and automation scripts. Playwright provides advanced features such as auto-waiting, intercepting network requests, and handling multiple pages or contexts, making it a robust choice for complex automation scenarios. If you require cross-browser support and advanced capabilities, Playwright is an excellent alternative to Puppeteer.
  • selenium-webdriver is part of the Selenium project, which has been a long-standing solution for browser automation. It provides a comprehensive API for controlling various browsers and is widely used for automated testing of web applications. Selenium supports multiple programming languages and browser drivers, making it a versatile choice for teams working in diverse environments. However, it may have a steeper learning curve compared to Puppeteer and other modern libraries, and its setup can be more complex.

To see how Puppeteer compares with Nightmare, Playwright, and Selenium WebDriver, check out the comparison: Comparing nightmare vs playwright vs puppeteer vs selenium-webdriver.

Similar Npm Packages to selenium-webdriver

selenium-webdriver is a popular library for automating web browsers. It provides a robust framework for writing tests and automating user interactions with web applications. Selenium WebDriver supports multiple programming languages and allows developers to control browsers programmatically, making it an essential tool for end-to-end testing. While Selenium WebDriver is widely used, there are several alternatives that offer different features and capabilities. Here are a few notable options:

  • nightwatch is an end-to-end testing framework that uses the Selenium WebDriver API. It is designed for easy setup and execution of tests, providing a simple syntax for writing tests in JavaScript. Nightwatch comes with built-in support for running tests in various browsers and can be easily integrated with CI/CD pipelines. If you are looking for a straightforward testing framework that leverages Selenium while providing additional features like automatic waiting and easy configuration, Nightwatch is a great choice.

  • puppeteer is a Node.js library that provides a high-level API for controlling headless Chrome or Chromium browsers. Unlike Selenium, which supports multiple browsers, Puppeteer is specifically designed for Chrome and offers powerful features such as taking screenshots, generating PDFs, and scraping web pages. If your primary focus is on testing or automating tasks in Chrome, Puppeteer is an excellent option due to its speed and ease of use.

  • webdriverio is a custom implementation of Selenium's WebDriver API that is designed to be simple and easy to use. It supports both WebDriver and DevTools protocols, allowing for flexible testing across different browsers. WebdriverIO offers a rich set of features, including built-in support for various testing frameworks, plugins, and a powerful assertion library. If you want a versatile testing framework that can work with both Selenium and modern browser automation protocols, WebdriverIO is a strong candidate.

To see how selenium-webdriver compares with nightwatch, puppeteer, and webdriverio, check out the comparison: Comparing nightwatch vs puppeteer vs selenium-webdriver vs webdriverio.

Similar Npm Packages to nightmare

nightmare is a high-level browser automation library for Node.js that allows developers to perform end-to-end testing and web scraping with ease. It provides a simple API for controlling headless browsers, making it easy to automate tasks like filling out forms, clicking buttons, and navigating web pages. While nightmare is a popular choice for browser automation, there are several alternatives available that offer different features and capabilities. Here are a few notable options:

  • playwright is a powerful browser automation library developed by Microsoft. It supports multiple browsers, including Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit, allowing for cross-browser testing. Playwright provides a rich set of features, including support for modern web app testing, auto-waiting for elements, and the ability to handle multiple pages and contexts. If you need a robust solution for testing web applications across different browsers, Playwright is an excellent choice.
  • puppeteer is another popular browser automation library developed by Google. It provides a high-level API for controlling headless Chrome or Chromium browsers. Puppeteer is widely used for web scraping, generating screenshots, and automating form submissions. Its seamless integration with Chrome makes it a go-to option for developers looking to automate tasks in a Chrome environment. If you are specifically targeting Chrome and need a straightforward API, Puppeteer is a solid option.
  • selenium-webdriver is a well-established browser automation framework that supports multiple programming languages, including JavaScript, Python, and Java. Selenium is widely used for end-to-end testing of web applications and supports a variety of browsers. While it offers extensive capabilities and flexibility, it can be more complex to set up and use compared to newer libraries like Playwright and Puppeteer. If you require a comprehensive solution for cross-browser testing and are comfortable with a steeper learning curve, Selenium is a reliable choice.

For a detailed comparison of these libraries, check out the following link: Comparing nightmare vs playwright vs puppeteer vs selenium-webdriver.

README for playwright

🎭 Playwright

npm version Chromium version Firefox version WebKit version Join Discord

Documentation | API reference

Playwright is a framework for Web Testing and Automation. It allows testing Chromium, Firefox and WebKit with a single API. Playwright is built to enable cross-browser web automation that is ever-green, capable, reliable and fast.

| | Linux | macOS | Windows | | :--- | :---: | :---: | :---: | | Chromium 131.0.6778.33 | :white_check_mark: | :white_check_mark: | :white_check_mark: | | WebKit 18.2 | :white_check_mark: | :white_check_mark: | :white_check_mark: | | Firefox 132.0 | :white_check_mark: | :white_check_mark: | :white_check_mark: |

Headless execution is supported for all browsers on all platforms. Check out system requirements for details.

Looking for Playwright for Python, .NET, or Java?

Installation

Playwright has its own test runner for end-to-end tests, we call it Playwright Test.

Using init command

The easiest way to get started with Playwright Test is to run the init command.

# Run from your project's root directory
npm init playwright@latest
# Or create a new project
npm init playwright@latest new-project

This will create a configuration file, optionally add examples, a GitHub Action workflow and a first test example.spec.ts. You can now jump directly to writing assertions section.

Manually

Add dependency and install browsers.

npm i -D @playwright/test
# install supported browsers
npx playwright install

You can optionally install only selected browsers, see install browsers for more details. Or you can install no browsers at all and use existing browser channels.

Capabilities

Resilient • No flaky tests

Auto-wait. Playwright waits for elements to be actionable prior to performing actions. It also has a rich set of introspection events. The combination of the two eliminates the need for artificial timeouts - a primary cause of flaky tests.

Web-first assertions. Playwright assertions are created specifically for the dynamic web. Checks are automatically retried until the necessary conditions are met.

Tracing. Configure test retry strategy, capture execution trace, videos and screenshots to eliminate flakes.

No trade-offs • No limits

Browsers run web content belonging to different origins in different processes. Playwright is aligned with the architecture of the modern browsers and runs tests out-of-process. This makes Playwright free of the typical in-process test runner limitations.

Multiple everything. Test scenarios that span multiple tabs, multiple origins and multiple users. Create scenarios with different contexts for different users and run them against your server, all in one test.

Trusted events. Hover elements, interact with dynamic controls and produce trusted events. Playwright uses real browser input pipeline indistinguishable from the real user.

Test frames, pierce Shadow DOM. Playwright selectors pierce shadow DOM and allow entering frames seamlessly.

Full isolation • Fast execution

Browser contexts. Playwright creates a browser context for each test. Browser context is equivalent to a brand new browser profile. This delivers full test isolation with zero overhead. Creating a new browser context only takes a handful of milliseconds.

Log in once. Save the authentication state of the context and reuse it in all the tests. This bypasses repetitive log-in operations in each test, yet delivers full isolation of independent tests.

Powerful Tooling

Codegen. Generate tests by recording your actions. Save them into any language.

Playwright inspector. Inspect page, generate selectors, step through the test execution, see click points and explore execution logs.

Trace Viewer. Capture all the information to investigate the test failure. Playwright trace contains test execution screencast, live DOM snapshots, action explorer, test source and many more.

Looking for Playwright for TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, .NET, or Java?

Examples

To learn how to run these Playwright Test examples, check out our getting started docs.

Page screenshot

This code snippet navigates to Playwright homepage and saves a screenshot.

import { test } from '@playwright/test';

test('Page Screenshot', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://playwright.dev/');
  await page.screenshot({ path: `example.png` });
});

Mobile and geolocation

This snippet emulates Mobile Safari on a device at given geolocation, navigates to maps.google.com, performs the action and takes a screenshot.

import { test, devices } from '@playwright/test';

test.use({
  ...devices['iPhone 13 Pro'],
  locale: 'en-US',
  geolocation: { longitude: 12.492507, latitude: 41.889938 },
  permissions: ['geolocation'],
})

test('Mobile and geolocation', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://maps.google.com');
  await page.getByText('Your location').click();
  await page.waitForRequest(/.*preview\/pwa/);
  await page.screenshot({ path: 'colosseum-iphone.png' });
});

Evaluate in browser context

This code snippet navigates to example.com, and executes a script in the page context.

import { test } from '@playwright/test';

test('Evaluate in browser context', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://www.example.com/');
  const dimensions = await page.evaluate(() => {
    return {
      width: document.documentElement.clientWidth,
      height: document.documentElement.clientHeight,
      deviceScaleFactor: window.devicePixelRatio
    }
  });
  console.log(dimensions);
});

Intercept network requests

This code snippet sets up request routing for a page to log all network requests.

import { test } from '@playwright/test';

test('Intercept network requests', async ({ page }) => {
  // Log and continue all network requests
  await page.route('**', route => {
    console.log(route.request().url());
    route.continue();
  });
  await page.goto('http://todomvc.com');
});

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