Member-only story
Playwright vs. Selenium: The Cage Match for Web Bots
So, you are here because you want to build a web bot. Maybe it is to automate your online shopping addiction-no judgments-or scrape the latest concert tickets before they sell out or totally not cheat at an online game. You’ve mostly heard of two contenders in this arena: Playwright and Selenium. Both promise the world in automation to you, but only one of them comes without the tears of frustration. So let me save you a couple of dollars on therapy bills: Playwright is the one you want. So, let’s break it down.
Selenium: The Boomer Browser Automation Tool
I’m not saying Selenium is old, but let’s just say, if browser automation tools were people, Selenium would still be trying to figure out TikTok. Born in 2004, Selenium was that cool kid in the early days of web testing-like when everyone thought MySpace was here to stay. It was bleeding edge back then, but like your dad trying to use slang, it’s starting to feel a bit. well, outdated.
Here is a common scene with Selenium: You write your code, hit run, and then you wait. And wait. The browser window pops up, moves around like a grandpa on his first Segway ride, and eventually it clicks that button you wanted. If you’re lucky. Sometimes it doesn’t, and you just sit there thinking, Why do I even bother? Oh, right — because…
