Migrating from Selenium to Playwright: A Step-by-Step Guide

Selenium not cutting it for you anymore? 

Tired of the constant workarounds needed to make Selenium work with modern web apps? 

Thinking about all the hours the team could save if only Selenium did X, Y, or Z better? 

Congratulations – you’ve reached the point where many engineering teams start to consider migrating from Selenium to Playwright. Here’s what you need to do, the challenges you should anticipate, and some alternative software suggestions. 

Why Migrate from Selenium to Playwright?

Any new software implementation is a risk – so why take it? 

In the case of Playwright and Selenium, it’s pretty clear that the efficiency gains you’ll get from Playwright far outweigh that risk. Here’s why:

Playwright Executes Tests Faster

Playwright runs tests faster thanks to its direct browser communication over WebSockets (no WebDriver layer).

Playwright Offers Built-In Auto-Waiting

Playwright automatically waits for elements to be actionable before testing. This means fewer flaky tests and less time spent coding complex workarounds – especially if you’re testing SPAs. 

Playwright Handles Modern Apps Better

Selenium was released in 2004, Playwright in 2020. This means that Playwright is, naturally, better designed for modern testing needs – as well as SPAs, Playwright deals with shadow DOMs, network interception, and multiple browser contexts better than Selenium. 

Playwright Offers Native Parallel Support

Playwright supports parallel testing out of the box. This offers a significantly easier and more efficient way of running parallel tests than Selenium, which relies on external tools. 

Playwright Requires Fewer Third-Party Integrations

Playwright has a built-in test runner and reporting features, so you don’t need to rely on third-party tools for test retries, tracing, screenshots, or HTML reports. 

How to Migrate from Selenium to Playwright In 11 Steps

Migrating your tests from Selenium to Playwright requires technical know-how that we don’t really have space to go into in depth, mostly because the exact steps will vary between teams based on Selenium setup.

If you don’t have this expertise in-house, find a consultant who can advise you on your specific circumstances. A good one is worth the investment. 

Still, it can be pretty useful to get an overview of what you need to do in a Selenium to Playwright migration, and when you need to do it. Here’s an at-a-glance guide for reference:  

1. Audit your Selenium framework

• Boring but necessary
• Review test coverage and other key metrics – where could Playwright improve things?
• Note key requirements for migration – what resources will you need, and when will you need them? 
• Discuss process retention – which workflows will you keep? Which will no longer work? 

2. Choose your Playwright language

• Playwright supports JavaScript/Typescript, Python, .NET, and Java
• If you’ve chosen it for language continuity, carry on
• However, you could use this opportunity to migrate from Java to TypeScript for better test maintainability – lots of teams do this

3. Install Playwright in your project 

• This one’s self explanatory

4. Convert basic tests

• Start simple, then work your way through your test suite
• What to be aware of: no WebDriver setup, built-in assertions, no explicit waits
• If you’ve done it right, tests will become shorter and more readable

5. Replace wait strategies

• Playwright automatically waits for element visibility, stability, enabled state, and network idle
• This significantly reduces flakiness
• Make sure you update migrated tests to benefit from this 

6. Rebuild Page Objects

• When you migrate Selenium to Playwright, your POM becomes cleaner, more asynchronous, and less dependent on driver injection
• Ensure test scripts are set up to enable this 

7. Simplify parallel execution

• Bid farewell to Selenium Grid and complex Docker setups
• Playwright offers native parallelization
• To maximize the benefits, simplify your execution strategy and remove unnecessary infrastructure 

8. Update CI/CD

• Remove WebDriver setup, driver binaries, and Grid services
• Ensure that your CI is updated to store the  test artifacts Playwright generates (HTML reports, trace viewer, screenshots on failure)

9. Migrate gradually

• Do not try to do everything at once
• Create a priority list for rewriting and migration
• High-priority, high-value tests go first 

10. Train your team

• Make time for proper training – this reduces the likelihood of bad habits forming, and ensures you maximize efficiency gains
• Focus training on key Selenium/Playwright differences, including: 
  
  • Asynch waits
  • Locators
  • Fixtures
  • Debugging with Trace Viewer

11. Start using Playwright’s advanced features

• After migration and training, the efficiency gains really start
• Take a look at: 
  
  • Network interception
  • Multiple browser contexts
  • Built-in tracing
  • API testing

What Are The Challenges of Migrating from Selenium to Playwright? 

There will always be challenges in migrating from one piece of software to another. Migrating from Selenium might feel particularly intimidating, because for many teams, it’s the only test automation tool they have ever used! 

The key is anticipating these challenges and planning how to address them in advance. Consider the following: 

1. User Buy-In

Migrating from Selenium to Playwright will only work if your users buy into the change, and embrace it. However, people are naturally change-resistant. This creates a dilemma. 

(This doesn’t mean that your team are luddites – just that they’re following a natural ‘if it’s safe, why move’ evolutionary instinct). To alleviate: 

• Communicating the benefits early. Chances are, there’s plenty that your team doesn’t love about Selenium – show them how Playwright fixes that
• Staggering training – a huge info-dump will make things seem insurmountable. Delivering training in bite-sized pieces is more manageable
• Encouragement – there may be setbacks, and things may operate less efficiently as your team gets the hang of a new tool. Reward your team’s commitment and perseverance, show recognition for their efforts, whatever works in your organization

2. Temporary Dual Maintenance

You won’t be able to migrate all your tests at once – which means you’ll need to maintain both Selenium and Playwright as you complete the switch. If you don’t organize this properly, things could get pretty chaotic. Make sure to: 

• Be super clear about which tests are migrated, and when they will be migrated
• Check in regularly with stakeholders to avoid misunderstandings
• Run a tight ship, administratively speaking – update key documentation as you go, and maintain a single source of truth throughout the project

Is Migrating from Selenium to Playwright Worth It? 

Yes and no. Software testing is faster, simpler, and easier to scale with Playwright. If you plan your migration properly, you’re likely to start realizing those efficiency gains relatively soon after implementing. 

On the other hand, Playwright is no longer the creme de la creme of software testing tools. You’re still anchored to writing tests in code, and auto-waits don’t solve your ongoing test maintenance burden. If you’re looking to shift left and up your release cadence (and in this environment, you need to), Playwright will only get you halfway there. 

AI tools like Momentic can 8x your release cadence and save 40 engineering hours per month (seriously), thanks to functionality that Playwright does not offer, including: 

• Natural language test creation: create tests in plain English – it takes seconds, and makes it much easier for your engineers to test as they go and avoid huge find-and-fix bottlenecks just before code is shipped
• Intent-based locators: these update your test when the UI changes – tests self-heal, minimizing your test maintenance burden and freeing up engineering hours for other, more valuable tasks
• AI agents: let your autonomous AI coworker explore your app, evaluate critical user flows, generate new tests, and conduct routine maintenance in the background

If you migrate from Selenium to Playwright now, chances are you’ll need to migrate again in a couple of years when you realize that AI offers steeper efficiency gains. 

Why waste effort migrating to a system that’s on its way out? Migrate straight from Selenium to an AI-native testing tool to really see the difference. 

Migrate to Momentic

"We went from 1-2 months for 80% user flow coverage to 1-2 days."
Aditya Advani, Best Parents

Momentic is an AI testing solution that’s designed to be intelligent, intuitive, and fast. Implement on Day 1, test on Day 1. 

Here’s how Best Parents reached 80% user flow coverage in just one day after implementing Momentic – without writing a single line of code. 

Want to join them? Talk to our engineering team today.