head to head · open source
Browser Use vs playwright
Browser Use has 119,977 GitHub stars, 13,371 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. playwright has 99,226 stars, 6,789 forks, 185 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Browser Use leads on adoption by 21% (119,977 vs 99,226 stars). Browser Use is written in Python under MIT; playwright is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Browser Use has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, playwright 7%. playwright was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (playwright), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Browser Use | playwright | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 120K | ★ 99K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 6.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Browser Use if
- You weight community size — 120K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick playwright if
- You want the playwright feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and playwright fits your workflow better
About Browser Use
Navigate the web like a human does. Find an available slot, pick a date and time, handle the CAPTCHA, and book a driving test. Explore more demos and prompts ↗ Which Browser Use do I need? Path 1: Fully Hosted Cloud: Scale up with a fully hosted agent and browser. Path 2: CLI: Automate your own browser tasks. Path 3: Python Library: Run the open source Browser Use agent locally from your own code. Quickstart Path 1: Fully Hosted Cloud Scale browser automation with our hosted agent, stealth browsers, and infrastructure for profiles, recordings, and data policies. Get started with the API ↗ New Google, GitHub, or…
read the full Browser Use overview →
About playwright
🎭 Playwright Documentation API reference Playwright is a framework for web automation and testing. It drives Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit with a single API — in your tests, in your scripts, and as a tool for AI agents. Get Started Choose the path that fits your workflow: Playwright Test Playwright Test is a full featured test runner built for end to end testing. It runs tests across Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit with full browser isolation, auto waiting, and web first assertions. Install Or add manually: Write a test Run tests Tests run in parallel across all configured browsers, in headless mode by default…
read the full playwright overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or playwright more popular?
Browser Use has 119,977 GitHub stars and playwright has 99,226. Browser Use has the larger community by that measure.
Are Browser Use and playwright free?
Both are open source. Browser Use is licensed under MIT and playwright under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Browser Use and playwright?
Browser Use is written in Python and playwright in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Browser Use or playwright?
Choose Browser Use if you want the larger community (119,977 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose playwright if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.