head to head · open source
playwright vs Lightpanda
playwright has 96,380 GitHub stars, 6,469 forks, 185 open issues and last shipped today. Lightpanda has 35,452 stars, 1,684 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped today. playwright leads on adoption by 172% (96,380 vs 35,452 stars). playwright is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0. playwright has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Lightpanda 5%. playwright was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | Lightpanda | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 35K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Zig |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.5K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 Lightpanda if
- You want the Lightpanda feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Zig
- You evaluated both and Lightpanda 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 Lightpanda
Lightpanda is a headless browser built from scratch in Zig, designed specifically for AI agents and automation tasks. It is not a fork of Chromium or WebKit but a new implementation targeting performance and efficiency in automated web interactions. It lives in the browser automation ecosystem, competing with tools like Puppeteer and Playwright that typically rely on Chromium based headless modes.
read the full Lightpanda overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is playwright or Lightpanda more popular?
playwright has 96,380 GitHub stars and Lightpanda has 35,452. playwright has the larger community by that measure.
Are playwright and Lightpanda free?
Both are open source. playwright is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Lightpanda under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between playwright and Lightpanda?
playwright is written in TypeScript and Lightpanda in Zig. 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 Lightpanda?
Choose playwright if you want the larger community (96,380 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Lightpanda if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.