Web scraping is one of the most important ways of navigating the vast amount of data on the vastness of the internet. But only the right choice of tools that you will use for this purpose can guarantee the desired effectiveness of web scraping.
Among the most powerful options today are Puppeteer and Playwright. Despite the fact that the original purpose of their development was quite different, headless-browsers do a great job with automation and are definitely worthy of your attention. We suggest taking a closer look at them to see which of these tools is suitable for realizing your goals.
What is Playwright?
Playwright can be called a relatively new tool, as it became available to users only in 2020. Playwright is a project of the same developers who once created Puppeteer. They came up with the idea to improve their previous developments and fix the shortcomings of the headless-browser. Now Microsoft is at the core of their work. In fact, the functionality of Playwright is not particularly different from the previous version, but the number of browsers has increased – the tool can be used for Firefox and Safari. Additionally, some of its functions have been improved, so now users can independently wait for the completion of element processing and even simulate the work of different devices.
Key features of Playwright
The features of Playwright can be highlighted such as.
Cross-browsing. Interaction with Chromium, WebKit and Firefox.
Availability of multi-language support. APIs are available for users to interact with JavaScript, Python, C#, and Java.
Headless launch mode. Favorably affects speed efficiency by bypassing the user interface for launching.
Also worth noting is the automation that goes beyond the browser.
Usage scenarios
Five key usage scenarios can be distinguished.
Fully testing each user defined script with placing them in different browsers without changing the script.
Visual testing based on the regression principle. Screens and time are compared, which allows you to detect UI changes or various anomalies.
Cross-browser testing. Setting up smooth functioning and display of applications in different browsers.
Mobile Web Testing. The tool creates a copy of the mobile environment in the browser to test adaptive designs.
Automation of web interactions. Heavy action algorithms are automated for testing purposes.
All of these areas have been improved in the new version
Pros and cons of Playwright
If you compare Puppeteer vs Playwright, among the advantages of the latter are:
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- ability to use Chromium, Firefox or WebKit for testing purposes;
- support for Python, Golang, Java, JavaScript and C# languages;
- faster tool performance compared to alternatives.
Even more pros are revealed during operation. The downsides are the lack of Ruby support and the use of desktop browsers during phone emulation.
What is Puppeteer?
Puppeteer is an older tool created by the Google Chrome team. It is an effective assistant to manage your browser with code. Puppeteer opens up many new possibilities, for example, screenshots of web pages or automatic form filling.
Among the advantages of this tool is its ease of use. Users have access to an invisible mode of operation that allows them to quickly test web pages. This is a real boon for a huge number of developers and testers of mobile applications.
Key features of Puppeteer
Among the key features:
Faster testing without the need for a user interface.
Interacting directly with the browser to track. page rendering and network conditions.
Support for different programming languages to regulate Chrome or Chromium.
Since its introduction, this tool has been a real boon to programming.
Usage scenarios
In this case, there are also five application scenarios.
Testing single page applications.
Programmatic extraction of information from internet portals.
Automated form submissions and user interface testing.
Create PDF documents for reporting and further storage.
A test of the productivity level of websites.
The basic functionality allows you to perform a wide variety of tasks to explore data on the web.
Advantages and disadvantages of Puppeteer
Among the advantages is the simplification of getting started with setting up browser automation. The tool uses a non-standard DevTools protocol to control Chrome.
The disadvantages include support only for the JavaScript programming language. In addition, users can now interact only with Chromium.
Puppeteer vs. Playwright
Comparing Puppeteer and Playwright is an eternal topic among users. In fact, it is quite difficult to choose a leader among them, because both instruments are good and have their own features. Let’s consider their common and different qualities.
Similarities between the tools
Both tools support the JavaScript programming language, which is the most widely used at the moment. Also worth noting is the same ability to take screenshots and save them in PDF format. Users have access to additional functions with easy control.
Despite the differences in functionality they are both used for the same purpose – monitoring information on the web.
Differences between Puppeteer and Playwright
We mentioned earlier that both tools share a common programming language, but additionally Playwright provides support for Python, Golang, Java and C#. Although Puppeteer also offers an unofficial port for Python.
An equally noticeable difference is the support for a different number of browsers. The old version interacts exclusively with Chromium, while the new one supports Chromium, Firefox or WebKit.
Which headless-browser to choose for web scraping?
Actually, the difference between Puppeteer and Playwright is not that big, because both tools are effective, but are chosen depending on the user’s needs.
Puppeteer is more suitable if your activity is JavaScript related and doesn’t go beyond Chrome or Chromium browsers. Playwright gives you access to more browsers and is considered faster and more reliable. However, it is relatively new. Remember that it is important to protect yourself when using any of these tools. Use an anonymity proxy to prevent sensitive data from being leaked.
If you’re just starting to venture into this field and don’t know where to begin, we suggest exploring a beginner’s guide to web scraping.
