head to head · open source
playwright vs chrome-devtools-mcp
playwright has 99,299 GitHub stars, 6,796 forks, 185 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chrome-devtools-mcp has 54,791 stars, 5,234 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped yesterday. playwright leads on adoption by 81% (99,299 vs 54,791 stars). playwright is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. playwright has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, chrome-devtools-mcp 10%. playwright was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (chrome), 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
| playwright | chrome-devtools-mcp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 99K | ★ 55K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.8K | ⑂ 5.2K |
| 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 chrome-devtools-mcp if
- You want the chrome-devtools-mcp 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 chrome-devtools-mcp 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 chrome-devtools-mcp
Chrome DevTools for agents Chrome DevTools for agents ( chrome devtools mcp ) lets your coding agent (such as Antigravity, Claude, Cursor or Copilot) control and inspect a live Chrome browser. It acts as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, giving your AI coding assistant access to the full power of Chrome DevTools for reliable automation, in depth debugging, and performance analysis. A [CLI][cli] is also provided for use without MCP. [Tool reference][tool reference] [Changelog][changelog] [Contributing][contributing] [Troubleshooting][troubleshooting] [Design Principles][design principles] Key features Get…
read the full chrome-devtools-mcp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is playwright or chrome-devtools-mcp more popular?
playwright has 99,299 GitHub stars and chrome-devtools-mcp has 54,791. playwright has the larger community by that measure.
Are playwright and chrome-devtools-mcp free?
Both are open source. playwright is licensed under Apache-2.0 and chrome-devtools-mcp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between playwright and chrome-devtools-mcp?
playwright is written in TypeScript and chrome-devtools-mcp 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 chrome-devtools-mcp?
Choose playwright if you want the larger community (99,299 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose chrome-devtools-mcp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.