head to head · open source
puppeteer vs webdriverio
puppeteer has 95,791 GitHub stars, 9,600 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webdriverio has 9,869 stars, 2,713 forks, 248 open issues and last shipped yesterday. puppeteer leads on adoption by 871% (95,791 vs 9,869 stars). puppeteer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; webdriverio is written in TypeScript under MIT. puppeteer has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, webdriverio 27%. webdriverio was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (automation), 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
| puppeteer | webdriverio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 9.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick puppeteer 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 webdriverio if
- You want the webdriverio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and webdriverio fits your workflow better
About puppeteer
Puppeteer Puppeteer is a JavaScript library which provides a high level API to control Chrome or Firefox over the DevTools Protocol or WebDriver BiDi. Puppeteer runs in the headless (no visible UI) by default Get started API FAQ Contributing Troubleshooting Installation :::note Modern package managers (including npm (see the RFC), pnpm, Yarn, Bun, and Deno) block dependency install scripts by default. If the install script is blocked, Puppeteer will not download the browser during installation, leading to runtime errors. You can manually download the required browsers after installation by running…
read the full puppeteer overview →
About webdriverio
Next gen browser and mobile automation test framework for Node.js. Homepage Developer Guide API Reference Contribute Changelog Roadmap WebdriverIO is a test automation framework, for e2e as well as unit and component testing in the browser, that allows you to run tests based on the WebDriver and WebDriver BiDi as well as Appium automation technology. It provides support for your favorite BDD/TDD test framework and will run your tests locally or in the cloud using Sauce Labs, BrowserStack, TestingBot or TestMu AI (Formerly LambdaTest). :woman technologist: :man technologist: Contributing Do you like WebdriverIO…
read the full webdriverio overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is puppeteer or webdriverio more popular?
puppeteer has 95,791 GitHub stars and webdriverio has 9,869. puppeteer has the larger community by that measure.
Are puppeteer and webdriverio free?
Both are open source. puppeteer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and webdriverio under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between puppeteer and webdriverio?
puppeteer is written in TypeScript and webdriverio 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, puppeteer or webdriverio?
Choose puppeteer if you want the larger community (95,791 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose webdriverio if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.