🚀 Will Playwright Be the Next Selenium?

Introduction

For many years, Selenium has been the de facto standard for browser automation and end-end testing. It has huge adoption, maturity, many language bindings, and massive community support. But in recent years, a new contender has emerged: Playwright, especially when used with TypeScript. In this article, I share what I’ve found in my research and experiments. I explore whether Playwright is “the next Selenium”, why more teams are choosing it, and why for me it feels like a great decision.

📈 Growth & Adoption

Here are a few trends and findings from my research:

• Playwright’s NPM package downloads are very high, showing it’s being used widely. Npm Trends.
• Many blog posts, guides, and case studies recently compare Playwright vs Selenium and often show Playwright winning in speed, reliability, ease of setup, etc. Read Here.
• Playwright is increasing its usage not just in small projects but in larger orgs for web apps, PWAs, cross-browser and mobile browser testing. Read this blog.
• Community feedback (Reddit, forums) often states that people migrated from Selenium + Java/Python to Playwright + TypeScript because of faster feedback loops, reduced flakiness, better native support for modern web app features (shadow DOM, single page apps, etc.). Reddit

🔍 What Makes Playwright + TypeScript Strong

From my experiments & what I found, here are reasons why I believe Playwright + TypeScript is a powerful combo:

🤔 Where Selenium Still Holds Strength

To be fair, Selenium isn’t going away, and there are places where it still shines:

• Very large legacy systems that already have many Selenium tests, Java / Python bindings, infrastructures built around them. Migrating is effort.
• Some edge browser/version compatibility in older browser versions might still be better supported via Selenium.
• If your team is deeply invested in non-JavaScript ecosystems, the learning curve for JS/TypeScript + Playwright might be something to consider.

🧠 My Take: Why I’m Choosing Playwright + TypeScript

After playing with it for a few weeks, here’s why I feel Playwright + TS is the way forward for me:

1. Less flakiness: fewer “element not found” or timeout issues.
2. Faster feedback / dev workflow: writing tests in TS, running locally, seeing accurate errors is smoother.
3. Better debugging tools: trace viewer, built-in screenshot/video, network request control.
4. Future-proofing: web development is moving towards SPAs, PWAs, mobile web; tools that support modern browser features, automation in multiple browsers, etc., are going to stay relevant.

🛠 How to Get Started (Tips)

If you’re considering making the switch (or starting new), here are practical tips from my experiments:

• Begin with setting up Playwright + TypeScript boilerplate (folder structure, config)
• Use model-classes/interfaces to compare UI vs database outputs
• Build cross-browser configurations early (Chrome + Edge + WebKit)
• Integrate with CI/CD pipelines + services like BrowserStack if you need cloud cross-browser coverage
• Add good error reporting, video/screenshot capture for failed tests

✔️ Conclusion

So, will Playwright replace Selenium entirely? Maybe not in every case, especially where legacy or non-JS ecosystems are entrenched. But for new projects, for teams moving fast, for those wanting strong cross-browser support + TypeScript safety + modern toolset — Playwright is definitely more than just an alternative. It feels like the future direction of browser automation. And I’m excited to keep building with it.