Compare software

ChromeDriver vs Playwright: catalog facts
ChromeDriver	Playwright
Free Free and open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence.	Free Free and open source.
Windows, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Implements W3C WebDriver and WebDriver BiDi Chrome-specific capabilities through ChromeOptions	One API across Chromium, Firefox and WebKit Auto-waiting and retrying assertions reduce flaky tests
Needs a WebDriver client or test framework to be useful Must match the installed Chrome version	Requires writing test code Downloads its own browser builds, which take disk space
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: BSD-3-Clause	License: Apache-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.