What are the advantages and disadvantages of using standalone Playwright versus Playwright Test for browser automation?

Answer

Pros and Cons of Standalone Playwright vs Playwright Test

Standalone Playwright

Pros:

• Greater flexibility in writing and executing tests.
• Complete control over test scripts, allowing customization for specific needs.

Cons:

• Lacks built-in support for parallelization, reporting, and retries.
• Requires manual implementation of web-first assertions.

Playwright Test

Pros:

• Built-in support for parallelization, reducing test execution time. Check out Maximizing Test Efficiency with Parallelism in Playwright for more details.
• Web-first assertions make tests easier to write and maintain.
• Includes built-in reporting capabilities for tracking test results.
• Easy configuration for retries, ensuring flaky tests pass consistently. Learn more about retries in Exploring the Various Retry APIs of Playwright for Robust Testing.

Cons:

• Improper parallelization configuration may lead to slower performance.
• Requires learning a new framework if you're already familiar with custom scripts.

In conclusion, the choice between standalone Playwright and Playwright Test depends on your project's specific needs. Both options have their own advantages and disadvantages, so carefully consider which one is best for your use case.