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Playwright vs Protractor: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will explore the key differences between Playwright and Protractor, two popular tools for browser automation. Playwright and Protractor have different features and capabilities that make them suitable for different scenarios and use cases.

  1. Programming Language Support: Playwright supports multiple programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, and C#. On the other hand, Protractor is primarily focused on JavaScript and is built on top of the Node.js platform. This makes Playwright more versatile as it allows developers to write tests in their preferred programming language.

  2. Browser Support: Playwright supports a wide range of browsers including Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. It provides a consistent API across different browsers, allowing developers to write browser-agnostic tests. Protractor, on the other hand, was initially designed for Angular applications and works primarily with Chrome and Firefox browsers.

  3. Headless and Non-Headless Execution: Playwright allows developers to run tests in both headful and headless modes, giving them the flexibility to choose between visible or invisible execution. Protractor also supports headless execution, but it was primarily designed for running tests in a headful mode.

  4. Concurrency: Playwright provides built-in support for parallel execution of tests, enabling faster test runs by running tests in multiple browsers or instances simultaneously. Protractor, on the other hand, does not have built-in support for parallel execution and requires additional tools or configurations to achieve parallelism.

  5. Page Objects and Element Locators: Playwright has a rich set of APIs and functionalities for interacting with web elements, offering more flexibility in defining and locating elements on a web page. Protractor, being built on top of WebDriverJS, uses a different set of element locators and has a simpler approach to page objects.

  6. Maintenance and Active Development: Playwright is actively maintained by Microsoft and has a strong community backing. It is regularly updated with new features and improvements. Protractor, on the other hand, has entered maintenance mode and is no longer actively developed by Google. While it is still a widely used tool, its future updates and support can be uncertain.

In summary, Playwright and Protractor differ in terms of programming language support, browser compatibility, headless execution options, concurrency capabilities, element interaction APIs, and maintenance status. Developers should consider their specific requirements and project needs to choose the tool that best fits their use cases.

Advice on Playwright and Protractor
Yildiz Dila
testmanager/automation tester at medicalservice · | 5 upvotes · 259.6K views
Needs advice
on
CypressCypress
and
ProtractorProtractor

In the company I will be building test automation framework and my new company develops apps mainly using AngularJS/TypeScript. I was planning to build Protractor-Jasmine framework but a friend of mine told me about Cypress and heard that its users are very satisfied with it. I am trying to understand the capabilities of Cypress and as the final goal to differentiate these two tools. Can anyone advice me on this in a nutshell pls...

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Replies (2)
Kevin Emery
QE Systems Engineer at Discovery, Inc. · | 4 upvotes · 158.7K views
Recommends
on
CypressCypressProtractorProtractor

I've used both Protractor and Cypress extensively. Cypress is the easier and more reliable tool, whereas Protractor is the more powerful tool. Your choice of tool should depend on your specific testing needs. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each tool:

Cypress advantages:

  • Faster

  • More reliable (tends to throw fewer intermittent false failures)

  • Easier to read code (handles promises gracefully)

Cypress disadvantages:

  • Cannot switch between browser tabs

  • Cannot switch to iFrames

  • Cannot specify clicks or keypresses explicitly as if a real user was interacting

  • Cannot move the mouse to specific co-ordinates

  • Sometimes has trouble switching between different top-level domains, so not good for testing external links

  • Cypress is a newer tool with less extensive documentation and less community support

Protractor advantages:

  • More powerful because it is Selenium-based - it can switch between tabs, it can handle external links to other domains, it can handle iFrames, simulate keypresses and clicks, and move the mouse to specific co-ordinates within the browser.

  • More extensive community support and documentation

Protractor disadvantages:

  • Slower and more brittle - in general there is a higher likelihood of cryptic and/or intermittent errors which may cause your tests to fail even though there is nothing wrong with your application

  • For highly experienced automation engineers, the fundamental "brittle" nature of Selenium can be worked around - it can be reliable but only if you really know what you are doing

  • Less graceful handling of promises - relies on async/await or .then to manage the order of execution. Therefore it is a bit harder to read the code.

  • Harder to set up, and the method of setup impacts its reliability. For example, a hub/node configuration where the selenium jar is on a different physical machine than the browser under test will cause unreliability in your tests. Not everyone knows about this type of thing, so it's common to find Selenium frameworks that are set up poorly.

It's probably better to use Cypress if

  • you're at a smaller company and have a close relationship with developers who can help write hooks or stubs in their code to assist your testing

  • you don't need to do things like switch between tabs or test links to external top-level domains

It's probably better to use Protractor if

  • You might need to switch between tabs or test external links to other domains within the scope of your framework

  • You want to use a more accurate simulation of how a real user interacts with a browser (i.e. click at this location, type these keys)

  • You're at a company where you won't have any support from developers in writing hooks or stubs to make their code more testable in a less powerful framework like Cypress

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Jian Wang
Web Engineer at sentaca · | 1 upvotes · 187.5K views
Recommends

Please try Handow, the e2e tool basing on Puppeteer.

Gherkin syntax compatible

Chrome/Chromium orentied, driven by Puppeteer engine

Complete JavaScript programming

Create test suites rapidly without coding (or a little bit), basing on built-in steps library

Schedule test with plans and arrange stories with sequential stages

Fast running, execute story groups in parallel by multi-workers

Built-in single page report render

Cover page view, REST API and cookies test

https://github.com/newlifewj/handow

http://demo.shm.handow.org/reports

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Pros of Playwright
Pros of Protractor
  • 13
    Cross browser
  • 10
    Open source
  • 9
    Test Runner with Playwright/test
  • 7
    Promise based
  • 7
    Well documented
  • 5
    Integrate your POMs as extensible fixtures
  • 5
    Execute tests in parallel
  • 5
    API Testing
  • 4
    Python Support
  • 4
    Capture videos, screenshots and other artifacts on fail
  • 3
    Inbuild reporters html,line,dot,json
  • 3
    Context isolation
  • 1
    Fastest
  • 9
    Easy setup
  • 8
    Quick tests implementation
  • 6
    Flexible
  • 5
    Open source
  • 5
    Promise support

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of Playwright
Cons of Protractor
  • 12
    Less help
  • 3
    Node based
  • 2
    Does not execute outside of browser
  • 4
    Limited

Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

What is Playwright?

It is a Node library to automate the Chromium, WebKit and Firefox browsers with a single API. It enables cross-browser web automation that is ever-green, capable, reliable and fast.

What is Protractor?

Protractor is an end-to-end test framework for Angular and AngularJS applications. Protractor runs tests against your application running in a real browser, interacting with it as a user would.

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What companies use Playwright?
What companies use Protractor?
See which teams inside your own company are using Playwright or Protractor.
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What tools integrate with Playwright?
What tools integrate with Protractor?

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What are some alternatives to Playwright and Protractor?
Puppeteer
Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome over the DevTools Protocol. It can also be configured to use full (non-headless) Chrome.
Selenium
Selenium automates browsers. That's it! What you do with that power is entirely up to you. Primarily, it is for automating web applications for testing purposes, but is certainly not limited to just that. Boring web-based administration tasks can (and should!) also be automated as well.
Cypress
Cypress is a front end automated testing application created for the modern web. Cypress is built on a new architecture and runs in the same run-loop as the application being tested. As a result Cypress provides better, faster, and more reliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Cypress works on any front-end framework or website.
TestCafe
It is a pure node.js end-to-end solution for testing web apps. It takes care of all the stages: starting browsers, running tests, gathering test results and generating reports.
WebdriverIO
WebdriverIO lets you control a browser or a mobile application with just a few lines of code. Your test code will look simple, concise and easy to read.
See all alternatives