head to head · open source
playwright vs Hercules
playwright has 99,074 GitHub stars, 6,777 forks, 185 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hercules has 1,210 stars, 202 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. playwright leads on adoption by 8,088% (99,074 vs 1,210 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 17%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| playwright | Hercules | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 99K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.8K | ⑂ 202 |
| 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 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 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 Hercules
💪 Hercules Testing modern web applications can be difficult, with frequent changes and complex features making it hard to keep up. That's where Hercules comes in. Hercules is the world's first open source testing agent, built to handle the toughest testing tasks so you don't have to. It turns simple, easy to write Gherkin steps into fully automated end to end tests—no coding skills needed. Whether you're working with tricky enterprise platforms or running tests in your CI/CD pipeline, Hercules adapts to your needs and takes care of the details. With Hercules, testing becomes simple, reliable, and efficient…
read the full Hercules 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 Hercules more popular?
playwright has 99,074 GitHub stars and Hercules has 1,210. 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 (99,074 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.