🚨 Cypress vs Playwright - Real-world wake-up call

🚨 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐯𝐬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 - 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥-𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞-𝐮𝐩 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥

Some days ago, I completed a test task:

🧪 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 + 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐒𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭
Features included:

• CSV/Excel/JSON data reader
• Page Object Model support
• GitHub Actions CI integration + multirun
• Report with screenshots

I delivered the task.
But halfway through… I realized something:
👉 Cypress is comfortable - until it isn't.
The deeper the task, the more friction I hit.

So here's a 𝐧𝐨-𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧, based on actual experience 👇

✅ 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬:
Multi-tabs / windows → ❌ 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: not supported | ✅ 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: full control
Iframe handling → 😵‍💫 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: painful | ✅ 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: native
File uploads & native events → ❌ 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: simulated | ✅ 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: real
Parallel runs → 💰 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: paid only | ✅ 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: built-in
API testing → ❌ 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: external tools | ✅ 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: first-class support
Mobile emulation → ❌ 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: not really | ✅ 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: full emulation (WEB only)
Selectors & wait logic → ❌ 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: manual, flaky | ✅ 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: smart auto-wait
CI integration → 🛠 𝐂𝐲𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬: works | 🚀 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: Docker-ready, fast, flexible

𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘺𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘹.

🧠 Cypress looks clean.
But it’s like riding a scooter with training wheels.

🚀 Playwright feels like a full QA engineering toolkit - built for 2025.

💬 Are you still using Cypress? Why?
Have you switched to Playwright? What’s your take?
I’d love to hear real experiences — not just docs and docs marketing.

qaautomation #playwright #cypress #testautomation #devtools #qualityengineering #typescript #qa #softwaretesting