Puppeteer vs. Playwright — Which One is Better?

When it comes to automating tasks on modern browsers, Playwright and Puppeteer are two powerful tools to consider. I’ve explored their differences and similarities, especially in scenarios like web scraping.

Both Playwright and Puppeteer offer high-level API control for end-to-end testing. They can handle most tasks that users do manually. However, there are some distinctions between the two.

Playwright has gained attention for its cross-browser support and rich functionality, while Puppeteer is known for its simplicity and tight integration with Chrome. In terms of web scraping, both tools are capable, but Playwright’s multi-browser support might give it an edge in certain situations.

The choice between Playwright and Puppeteer depends on specific project requirements and preferences. Each has strengths and can be a valuable asset in automating browser tasks.

What Is Puppeteer?

Puppeteer, created by Google in 2018, is supported by Chromium developers. It offers an API specifically designed to manage Chromium-based environments. This versatile tool allows users to automate browser tasks such as taking screenshots, generating PDFs, navigating single-page applications, rendering content, simulating mouse and keyboard inputs, and web scraping through the page.evaluate method.

Additionally, Puppeteer simplifies form filling and other interactions on web pages. Puppeteer is a comprehensive solution for automating browser-related actions. Whether capturing website snapshots or navigating complex web applications, Puppeteer provides developers with the tools to streamline their workflows and improve efficiency.

What Is Playwright?

Playwright, a tool developed by Microsoft, is primarily used to test apps and websites. However, many web scrapers also find it useful for automating browser actions during scraping. The team behind Playwright, which also created Puppeteer, aims to expand Puppeteer’s success by providing similar features for all major rendering engines. With Playwright, you can automate actions on various browsers using different programming languages.

Like Puppeteer, Playwright uses its cookies to manage auto wait times or separate browser instances. This feature is handy when you need to simulate different sessions or users. Playwright simplifies automating browser tasks and offers flexibility for developers working with different browsers and languages.

Playwright vs Puppeteer in Web Scraping

Playwright and Puppeteer are both tools for controlling headless browsers in Node.js. They’re similar in many ways but have some critical differences.

Popularity

Puppeteer has consistently been more popular than Playwright, as shown by npmtrends data. In early 2023, Puppeteer had over 3 million monthly downloads, while Playwright had just over 900,000. Looking at GitHub data from January 9, 2024, Puppeteer maintains its lead with 85.7k stars and 9.2k forks, while Playwright trails with 58k stars and 3.2k forks.

This is understandable as the Playwright is two years younger than the Puppeteer, and it takes time to catch up in popularity. So, Puppeteer has had more time to build its user base.

Prerequisites and Installation

To use Puppeteer or Playwright, first install Node.js. Visit the official website to download the latest version. Then, open a terminal or command prompt and type:

For Puppeteer:

npm install puppeteer

For Playwright:

npm install playwright

Remember, Playwright supports various programming languages, but it’s commonly used with Node.js.

Performance

Puppeteer uses the V8 JavaScript engine, which translates JavaScript into machine code just before execution, making it fast. V8 employs structures like hidden classes and inline caching, enhancing performance when accessing object properties. Additionally, Puppeteer offers the DevTools Protocol with an event-driven architecture, simplifying event monitoring such as page loads and network requests.

On the other hand, Playwright uses a WebSocket connection that remains open during scraping. This allows sending requests in one batch, reducing latency and enhancing performance. Compared to Puppeteer, Playwright can handle more intricate and large-scale web scraping tasks efficiently.

Ecosystem

Puppeteer gives you complete browser control and usually runs without a visible interface, but you can set it to show the browser window if needed. It works well on Windows, Linux, and macOS, but it’s limited to Chrome or Chromium browsers and only supports JavaScript.

However, Puppeteer is testing compatibility with Edge and Firefox. To mask your online fingerprint, Puppeteer offers useful plugins like puppeteer-extra-plugin-stealth. These plugins let you change headers user agents, and hide the browser’s headless status. Recently, Puppeteer introduced new configurations for fingerprint spoofing.

Playwright is more versatile than Puppeteer. It supports multiple browsers (Chromium, Firefox, WebKit) and programming languages (JavaScript, Python, TypeScript, Java, .NET). It works on Windows, Linux, and macOS, with options for both headless and visible browser modes.

Playwright also has plugins, like playwright-extra, which help prevent bot detection and enable human-like behavior, including reCAPTCHAs. Developers are working to make puppeteer-extra plugins compatible with Playwright’s ecosystem.

Request Handling

Puppeteer and Playwright are both libraries used for web scraping. Puppeteer works asynchronously, meaning it can handle many requests at once, which is useful for scraping multiple pages simultaneously.

On the other hand, Playwright, like Puppeteer, is asynchronous but can also handle requests synchronously. It processes one request at a time, making writing and understanding the code easier. With Playwright, you can switch between synchronous and asynchronous operations as needed.

So, while Puppeteer is great for handling multiple tasks concurrently, Playwright offers the simplicity of handling tasks one by one, with the bonus of switching between synchronous and asynchronous operations.

Community Support and Documentation

Puppeteer has been around longer and has a big community on Q&A sites like Stack Overflow. This means it’s easy to find help when you’re stuck. Their documentation is detailed and beginner-friendly, with lots of examples and tips.

Playwright is newer but its community is growing fast. While there might be fewer discussions than Puppeteer, you can still find solutions to common problems. Playwright’s documentation covers everything you need to know, from getting started to advanced features, with clear examples to follow.

Playwright vs Puppeteer: A Comparison Table

Here’s a simplified version of the main differences between Playwright and Puppeteer:

Final Words

As an expert, I’d suggest carefully considering the specific needs of your project when choosing between Puppeteer and Playwright. Puppeteer and Playwright offer powerful automation capabilities, but their suitability depends on specific project requirements and team dynamics. Playwright is great because it works with different browsers, many programming languages and has many excellent features. It’s suitable for many different automation tasks, including web scraping.

However, if your project just uses Chrome, or if you need lots of help from the community and clear instructions, Puppeteer might be better. It’s been around longer and has many people who can help you. Plus, its instructions are easy to follow.