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Stop asking if you should use Playwright, Selenium, or Cypress. Ask what you need to prove. Strategy matters more than the tool.
Define your goals first. You want to:
- Catch broken flows before merging.
- Verify real browsers.
- Keep code readable.
- Reduce flaky failures.
Compare tools using these four buckets:
- Authoring: Is the user journey easy to write?
- Execution: Does it run in CI without issues?
- Debugging: Do you get traces and logs?
- Upkeep: Does it survive UI changes?
Flaky tests are usually stability problems. Check for layout shift and timing issues. Ensure the page is stable before the test runs.
Do not automate every path. Use boundary value analysis. Test the edges where things break. Example: Test navigation collapse at the breakpoint.
Follow this sequence:
- Define business-critical journeys.
- Pick high-risk flows.
- Run tests in real browsers.
- Fix flake sources.
- Measure maintenance costs.
Pick the smallest tool for your needs. The best setup makes failures obvious. It stays readable after the UI changes.