Playwright vs Selenium Speed Comparison

Selenium WebDriver is slightly faster than Playwright.

Update 2023–01–09: Annotated version by my father.

In the previous article, I compared the test syntax of Playwright and Selenium WebDriver. One feedback I have heard is that “Selenium is slower”. Both are fast in terms of test execution from my experience.

Today, I did a benchmark to verify the timing difference.

Test Setup

1. Test Machine: iMac (2015, macOS 12.6.2)
   I chose a relatively slow machine purposefully.
2. Target website: https://travel.agileway.net
   This a simple test site created by my father for training purposes.
3. Execution method
   I developed both versions in TestWise. To remove any factors, I timed and ran them both from the command line.
4. Framework versions
   - Selenium WebDriver: 4.7.1 (Ruby 3.0.2)
   - Playwright 1.18.1 (Node v18.10)
5. Browser versions
   - Chrome: 108.0.5359.124 (Official Build)
   - Playwright’s Chromium: 99.0.4812.0 (Developer Build)
6. Test Scenarios
   24 test steps covers:
   - Launching and Closing the Chrome/Chromium browser
   - Various control types, such as Link, Text Field, Checkbox, Radio, Select List, and Button
   - Different locators…