head to head · open source
puppeteer vs webdriverio
puppeteer has 95,593 GitHub stars, 9,578 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webdriverio has 9,836 stars, 2,684 forks, 248 open issues and last shipped today. puppeteer leads on adoption by 872% (95,593 vs 9,836 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 | ★ 9.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-19 |
| 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 is an Apache 2.0 JavaScript and TypeScript library that provides a high level API for driving Chrome and Firefox over the DevTools Protocol or WebDriver BiDi, written for developers who automate browsers from Node.js.
read the full puppeteer overview →
About webdriverio
WebdriverIO is an MIT licensed, TypeScript written test automation framework for Node.js that drives browsers and mobile applications through WebDriver, WebDriver BiDi, and Appium, aimed at engineering teams that write end to end, unit, and component tests in JavaScript or TypeScript.
read the full webdriverio overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is puppeteer or webdriverio more popular?
puppeteer has 95,593 GitHub stars and webdriverio has 9,836. 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 (95,593 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose webdriverio if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.