Choosing the right tool for web application testing is crucial for delivering an optimal user experience. With multiple options like Playwright, Cypress, and Selenium available, it can be challenging to determine the best fit. Both Playwright and Cypress are open-source and provide automated testing capabilities, however, Cypress specifically supports JavaScript while Playwright supports a variety of languages including JavaScript, Java, Python, and .NET C#.
This article will compare Playwright and Cypress and help you decide which framework is best suited for your automation needs.
In order to choose the best tool for your automation needs requires comparison and evaluation between the two.
Why do we need to compare Playwright and Cypress ?
The comparison of Playwright vs. Cypress is important as both bring innovative solutions to web test automation. Both frameworks are suited for modern web apps with dynamic content, which require automatic waiting. However, they have different architectures, supported languages, syntax, and other features. The difference in these aspects can make a tool more or less suitable for a particular project. The goal of these comparisons is to assist in making a decision and to add some enjoyment to the process.
What is Cypress?
Cypress is a cutting-edge front-end testing solution designed for the modern web. This tool effectively tackles the challenges faced by developers and quality assurance engineers when testing contemporary applications, such as synchronization difficulties and inconsistent test results due to missing elements.
Cypress is built using Node.js and is distributed as an npm package. Given its Node.js foundation, it utilizes JavaScript for writing tests. However, 90% of the coding can be done using Cypress’s in-built commands, which are user-friendly and easy to comprehend.
In addition, Cypress includes the jQuery JavaScript library, allowing it to inherit numerous jQuery methods for identifying UI components. This also makes navigating and manipulating the HTML DOM tree, as well as handling events, CSS animation, and Ajax, much simpler.
What sets Cypress apart as a tool?
There are several characteristics that make Cypress a highly desirable option for web automation, including:
- Speed: Cypress offers fast, consistent, and reliable testing due to its innovative architecture.
- Anti-flakiness: Cypress automatically waits for commands and assertions, eliminating asynchronous issues.
- Testing edge cases: Cypress enables testing of edge cases by allowing mocking of server responses.
- Debugging: Cypress provides snapshots during testing and a Command Log to track each step of the testing process.
- Results: Cypress provides the ability to view videos of the entire testing process from the Cypress Dashboard.
Limitations of Cypress
It is important to keep in mind certain limitations when considering Cypress for testing.
- It only works with JavaScript and does not support other programming languages.
- A certain level of expertise in advanced JavaScript concepts such as promises, jQuery, and asynchronous JavaScript is required to use Cypress effectively.
- Cypress cannot handle multiple tabs or multiple browsers simultaneously and can become complicated when communicating with the backend.
- Testing on mobile devices is not possible with Cypress, and it has limited support for file uploads, IFrames, and certain browsers.
- It is only compatible with MochaJS and has limited capabilities for parallel testing. Using page object models with Cypress is not recommended.
LambdaTest is a cloud-based platform for cross-browser testing that enables you to test your web apps on different browsers, operating systems, and devices. With Cypress, a JavaScript-based end-to-end testing framework, it offers the ability to carry out continuous testing and support, allowing for quick and efficient testing of your web applications at scale.
What is Playwright?
Playwright is a tool designed by the Microsoft team to provide efficient and effective automation across modern browsers. It is a Node library that uses a single API to automate Chromium, WebKit, and Firefox browsers, making it possible to perform cross-browser automation that is always up-to-date, capable, dependable, and fast.
Unique features of Playwright
Playwright stands out with its fast and reliable performance as well as its unique features such as:
- Auto-wait APIs: Interactions in Playwright automatically wait for elements to be ready, improving reliability and making test creation simpler.
- Timeout-free automation: Playwright listens to browser signals like network requests, page navigations, and page load events, eliminating the need for sleep timeouts that can cause instability.
- Robust automation capabilities: Playwright supports multiple domains, pages, and frames and has full API coverage for all modern browsers, including Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (Chromium), Apple Safari (WebKit), and Mozilla Firefox.
- Strong network control features: Playwright provides context-wide network interception to mock and stub network requests.
- Support for popular modern browsers: Test across Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit.
- Cross-platform WebKit testing: Test your app’s behavior in Apple Safari with WebKit builds on Windows, Linux, and macOS, both locally and on CI, headless or headed.
- Cross-language support: Use the Playwright API in TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, .NET, and Java.
- Mobile web testing: Playwright offers native mobile emulation of Google Chrome for Android and Mobile Safari with the same rendering engine on desktop and cloud.
Limitations of Playwright
Playwright’s limitations include
- Does not support legacy Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer 11 (IE11)
- No API bindings for Java or Ruby at present
- Relies on desktop browsers to emulate mobile devices for testing
- Does not offer native testing for mobile devices.
One solution to the limitations of Playwright is to utilize a cloud-based testing platform like LambdaTest. With LambdaTest, you have access to a range of testing tools and services to simplify and streamline your web application testing process.
LambdaTest offers a cloud-based Selenium grid and supports multiple testing frameworks, including Playwright. This allows you to perform parallel testing on various browsers and operating systems, providing efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Similarities between Cypress and Playwright
In essence, Playwright and Cypress are both open-source and JavaScript-based testing frameworks aimed at providing a single API for automating end-to-end tests in various browsers. They support similar browsers, including Firefox and Chromium, and offer similar functionalities, such as taking screenshots, stubbing requests, and customizing viewports. Both frameworks can be installed as an npm package and offer headless testing options, allowing you to run tests directly in the Terminal.
Additionally, they are both frequently updated, with active GitHub repositories. However, it’s important to note that neither supports testing in Internet Explorer 11.
Key differences between Cypress and Playwright:
| Feature | Cypress | Playwright |
| Error handling | No built-in try-catch error handler for failed commands | Built-in try-catch error handler |
| Parallel execution | Commands are executed serially | Supports parallel execution |
| Soft assertions | No support for soft assertions | Supports soft assertions |
| Multi-browser support | Does not support multi-browser testing | Supports multi-browser testing |
| iFrames support | Limited support for iFrames | Native support for iFrames |
| Chaining syntax | Unmanageable chaining syntax for complex tests | Manageable chaining syntax |
| No limits | Limited by typical in-process test runner limitations | Free from typical in-process test runner limitations as it runs tests out-of-process |
| Multiple testing elements support | Does not support scenarios that span multiple tabs, origins, and users | Supports scenarios that span multiple tabs, origins, and users |
| Trusted events support | Poor support for trusted events | Better support for trusted events as it uses a real browser input pipeline that is indistinguishable from a user |
| Test frames and Shadow DOM | Limited ability to enter frames and pierce shadow DOM with selectors | Can seamlessly enter frames and pierce shadow DOM with selectors |
The best framework for your project between Cypress and Playwright depends on your testing experience and the desired functionality.
For those new to testing who want a simple and all-inclusive solution, Cypress is a good choice with extensive documentation and a supportive community.
However, if you are experienced in testing and require testing on Webkit browsers or testing scenarios across multiple pages and domains, Playwright is the ideal choice.
Additionally, if you have a preference for a specific test runner or don’t need one at all, Playwright is a good fit. Keep in mind that as a relatively new framework, improvements in the community, documentation, and overall functionality can be expected in the future.
In choosing between Playwright and Cypress, it is important to consider the functionalities required for your testing needs.
If you value well-documented resources and a proactive community, then Cypress may be the better option for you. It offers snapshots during test execution, automatic waiting for commands and assertions, and supports multiple browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. However, it has limited support for iFrames and does not allow for multi-tab testing.
On the other hand, if you require multi-language support and the ability to run tests across multiple domains and pages, Playwright may be the better choice. It supports JavaScript, Java, Python, and .NET C# and offers easy setup and configuration. It also has options for debugging and supports parallel testing through the browser context. However, it does not support native mobile apps or Internet Explorer 11, and its community support is limited as it is a relatively new framework.
So the decision between Playwright and Cypress ultimately depends on your specific testing needs and preferences.
Conclusion
In comparison, Cypress and Playwright are both solutions for end-to-end testing of web applications, but they have distinct features and design objectives. Cypress prioritizes a developer-friendly experience with ease in writing, debugging, and executing tests, while Playwright emphasizes high performance and reliability, with support for multiple browser instances and optimized test performance.
Choosing between the two frameworks ultimately depends on the specific requirements of your project. Cypress boasts a well-established and active community, but Playwright offers broader browser support and improved performance. It is advisable to assess both frameworks and determine which one aligns better with your project’s needs.
When using LambdaTest in conjunction with these testing tools, it enhances the testing experience by providing increased test coverage, faster test executions through parallel testing, and stable and scalable test automation.