head to head · open source
playwright vs cypress
playwright has 99,121 GitHub stars, 6,787 forks, 185 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cypress has 51,020 stars, 3,593 forks, 1,084 open issues and last shipped yesterday. playwright leads on adoption by 94% (99,121 vs 51,020 stars). playwright is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; cypress is written in TypeScript under MIT. playwright has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, cypress 7%. cypress was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (end-to-end-testing), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| playwright | cypress | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 99K | ★ 51K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.8K | ⑂ 3.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick playwright if
- You weight community size — 99K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cypress if
- You want the cypress feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and cypress fits your workflow better
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 →
About cypress
Documentation Changelog Roadmap The web has evolved. Finally, testing has too. Fast, easy and reliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Join us, we're hiring . What is Cypress? Installing Install Cypress for Mac, Linux, or Windows, then get started. or or Contributing develop branch Please see our Contributing Guideline which explains repo organization, linting, testing, and other steps. License This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license. Badges Configure a badge for your project's README to show your test status or test count in the Cypress Cloud. Or let the world know your project…
read the full cypress overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Testing & Quality Assurance projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Testing & Quality Assurance field.
Frequently asked questions
Is playwright or cypress more popular?
playwright has 99,121 GitHub stars and cypress has 51,020. playwright has the larger community by that measure.
Are playwright and cypress free?
Both are open source. playwright is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cypress under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between playwright and cypress?
playwright is written in TypeScript and cypress 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, playwright or cypress?
Choose playwright if you want the larger community (99,121 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cypress if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.