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Playwright vs Playwright for Python: open-source browser automation tools compared

Metrics as of , from the GitHub or GitLab API of each repository. Refreshed monthly.

Summary

Playwright: Web automation and testing framework for Chromium, Firefox and WebKit, with a test runner, library, CLI and MCP server.

Playwright for Python: Python library for automating Chromium, Firefox and WebKit, with sync and async APIs and a Pytest plugin.

Both are listed under Browser automation. The table gives repository metrics from the GitHub API with their fetch date, then the documented facts used for every comparison in this category, each linked to the README or docs page it comes from. A cell reads "not documented" when the fact was not found in the project's documentation (1 of 14 fact cells here); that does not mean the feature is absent.

Side by side

Playwright and Playwright for Python: metrics and documented facts, in the fixed row order used for browser automation comparisons.
FactPlaywrightPlaywright for Python
Stars96,507115,0151
Forks6,48211,2291
Contributors8131561
Last release2026-09-0412026-09-151
Last commit2026-09-2212026-09-151
Commits in 90 days6301351
LicenseApache-2.01Apache-2.01
Primary languageTypeScript1Python1
Statusactive1active1
Languages for writing testsTypeScript; Python, .NET and Java versions source: READMEPython (sync and async APIs); Playwright also available for Node.js, .NET and Java source: README
BrowsersChromium, Firefox, WebKit; branded Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge source: Docs: BrowsersChromium, Firefox, WebKit on Linux, macOS and Windows source: README
Test authoring formatCode (TypeScript test files with the Playwright Test API) source: READMECode (Python tests with the Playwright Pytest plugin) source: Docs: Pytest Plugin Reference
Parallel or distributed executionParallel by default across configured browsers source: READMEpytest-xdist (pytest --numprocesses auto) source: Docs: Pytest Plugin Reference
CI integrationSample configs for GitHub Actions, Azure Pipelines, CircleCI, Jenkins, Bitbucket Pipelines, GitLab CI and others source: Docs: Continuous IntegrationSample configs for GitHub Actions, Azure Pipelines, CircleCI, Jenkins, Bitbucket Pipelines, GitLab CI; Docker image source: Docs: Continuous Integration
Report formatsList, line, dot, HTML, blob, JSON, JUnit XML; custom reporters source: Docs: Reportersnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of
Install methodnpm (npm init playwright@latest, or npm i -D @playwright/test) source: READMEpip (pip install pytest-playwright), Poetry or uv; then playwright install source: Docs: Installation

1 Fetched from the GitHub or GitLab API on . Hover a value for its own date.

When each fits

Written from each project's documented scope, not from preference. Neither tool is ranked.

Playwright

Fits projects that test web applications end to end in Chromium, Firefox and WebKit from one API; its README describes a test runner with browser isolation, auto-waiting and web-first assertions. source: README

Playwright for Python

Fits projects that automate Chromium, Firefox and WebKit from Python; its docs describe a Pytest plugin that provides context isolation across multiple browser configurations. source: Docs: Installation

More on these tools

Sources

  1. GitHub REST API: repository, read
  2. GitHub REST API: repository, read
  3. GitHub REST API: contributors, read
  4. GitHub REST API: contributors, read
  5. GitHub REST API: latest release, read
  6. GitHub REST API: latest release, read
  7. GitHub REST API: commits, read
  8. GitHub REST API: commits, read
  9. README, read
  10. README, read
  11. Docs: Browsers, read
  12. Docs: Pytest Plugin Reference, read
  13. Docs: Continuous Integration, read
  14. Docs: Continuous Integration, read
  15. Docs: Reporters, read
  16. Docs: Installation, read

Documented facts collected 2026-09-22. See the methodology for how metrics and facts are gathered.