head to head · open source
playwright vs Hercules
playwright has 96,307 GitHub stars, 6,460 forks, 185 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hercules has 1,160 stars, 189 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. playwright leads on adoption by 8,202% (96,307 vs 1,160 stars). playwright is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Hercules is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. playwright has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Hercules 16%. playwright was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (automation, end-to-end-testing, 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
| playwright | Hercules | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.5K | ⑂ 189 |
| 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 Hercules if
- You want the Hercules feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Hercules 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 Hercules
Hercules is an open source, AGPL 3.0 testing agent that turns plain Gherkin feature files into automated end to end UI, API, security, accessibility and visual tests for QA engineers, developers and platform teams who need browser level coverage without writing or maintaining test code.
read the full Hercules overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is playwright or Hercules more popular?
playwright has 96,307 GitHub stars and Hercules has 1,160. playwright has the larger community by that measure.
Are playwright and Hercules free?
Both are open source. playwright is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Hercules under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between playwright and Hercules?
playwright is written in TypeScript and Hercules in Python. 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 Hercules?
Choose playwright if you want the larger community (96,307 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Hercules if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.