head to head · open source
playwright vs chrome-devtools-mcp
playwright has 96,380 GitHub stars, 6,469 forks, 185 open issues and last shipped today. chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,335 stars, 4,281 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped today. playwright leads on adoption by 84% (96,380 vs 52,335 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 8%. 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 | ★ 96K | ★ 52K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.5K | ⑂ 4.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick playwright if
- You weight community size — 96K 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 is an open source, Apache 2.0 licensed TypeScript framework for web testing and browser automation that drives Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit through a single API, built for end to end testers, browser automation script writers, and AI coding agents.
read the full playwright overview →
About chrome-devtools-mcp
chrome devtools mcp is an Apache 2.0 TypeScript Model Context Protocol server, distributed on npm, that gives coding agents such as Claude, Cursor, Copilot and Antigravity control over and visibility into a live Chrome browser through the full Chrome DevTools toolset.
read the full chrome-devtools-mcp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is playwright or chrome-devtools-mcp more popular?
playwright has 96,380 GitHub stars and chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,335. 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 (96,380 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.