head to head · open source
playwright vs selenium
playwright has 96,326 GitHub stars, 6,461 forks, 185 open issues and last shipped yesterday. selenium has 34,499 stars, 8,718 forks, 188 open issues and last shipped yesterday. playwright leads on adoption by 179% (96,326 vs 34,499 stars). playwright is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; selenium is written in Java under Apache-2.0. playwright has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, selenium 25%. playwright was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), 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 | selenium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 34K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.5K | ⑂ 8.7K |
| 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 selenium if
- You want the selenium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and selenium 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 selenium
Selenium is a browser automation framework and ecosystem — an umbrella project providing infrastructure for the W3C WebDriver specification, a platform and language neutral coding interface for driving all major web browsers — aimed at developers and quality engineers who automate browser behaviour from Java, .NET, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, or Rust.
read the full selenium overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is playwright or selenium more popular?
playwright has 96,326 GitHub stars and selenium has 34,499. playwright has the larger community by that measure.
Are playwright and selenium free?
Both are open source. playwright is licensed under Apache-2.0 and selenium under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between playwright and selenium?
playwright is written in TypeScript and selenium in Java. 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 selenium?
Choose playwright if you want the larger community (96,326 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose selenium if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.