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Selecting the right framework for e2e testing has become a routine debate among teams, especially as applications grow more interactive and distributed. Cypress, Playwright, and Selenium each solve the same core problem—validating the full user journey—but their approaches differ enough to influence workflow, performance, and long-term maintenance.
Cypress remains popular because of its streamlined setup and predictable execution model. It runs directly in the browser environment, which makes debugging straightforward. The built-in time-travel debugging and automatic waiting are useful for reducing flaky tests. However, Cypress has limitations around multi-tab support and certain browser features, which can matter in complex scenarios.
Playwright takes a more modern approach. It offers fast, reliable cross-browser automation with consistent APIs for Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. Parallel execution is efficient, and its handling of async operations is cleaner than older solutions. Teams building highly dynamic frontends often prefer Playwright because it provides better control over network behavior and page events with minimal configuration.
Selenium remains the legacy standard. Its broad language support and long history make it familiar to many teams, and it works across almost any environment. The trade-off is slower execution, higher flakiness potential, and a heavier setup compared to newer tools. Selenium still fits large enterprises with diverse technology stacks, but it demands more maintenance effort.
Regardless of the chosen framework, reliability and test data consistency remain common issues in e2e pipelines. Tools like Keploy can help generate and manage deterministic test data, reducing noise from unstable external services.
The best framework depends on the team’s priorities: speed and simplicity (Cypress), modern automation with strong cross-browser coverage (Playwright), or broad compatibility (Selenium). Evaluating runtime performance, ecosystem maturity, and integration needs will guide a more practical decision.
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