// comparison
AegisRunner vs Playwright
Playwright is the best open-source automation framework in 2026 — same engine AegisRunner runs on. The choice isn't either/or; it's whether you want to write the tests or have the AI write them. And AegisRunner goes beyond the web: it tests native iOS & Android apps on real physical devices, plus mobile-to-web sync journeys, which Playwright doesn't cover.
Side-by-side
| Feature | Playwright | AegisRunner |
|---|---|---|
| Test creation | You write every test by hand | AI generates tests from one URL |
| Time to first test | ~15 minutes (install + write a spec) | < 3 minutes after sign-up |
| Page discovery | You decide which pages to script | Automatic crawl — every route, SPA state, modal |
| Selector strategy | Manual — getByRole / getByText / getByTestId | AI prefers role/text; auto-heals when DOM shifts |
| Auto-heal locators | No — failed selectors fail the test | Yes — AI repairs broken selectors automatically |
| Visual regression | toHaveScreenshot — pixel diff, no review UI | Built-in (pixelmatch + 3-panel review) |
| A11y / SEO / security | Add axe-playwright + Lighthouse plugins yourself | Built-in on every scan |
| Native mobile apps | Playwright is mobile-web emulation only — no real-device native app testing | Yes — real iOS & Android devices, AI-generated tests |
| Scheduled runs | Wire up your own CI cron + notifier | Built-in scheduler + Slack/Discord/Jira alerts |
| Dashboards | BYO (Allure, Playwright HTML, custom) | Built-in: pages, runs, failures, trends |
| Test format | Playwright TypeScript natively | Plain Playwright TypeScript — exportable |
| Pricing | Free (MIT licence) | Free tier, $9/mo Starter, $29/mo Pro |
| Component testing | Yes — first-class | No (E2E only) |
Comparison reflects publicly available information and may change as products evolve. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
Frequently asked questions
Is AegisRunner a Playwright wrapper?
AegisRunner uses Playwright as its execution engine. The IP is the crawler, the goal-extraction pipeline, the verification + auto-heal layers. The Playwright export is a feature — if you ever want to leave, the underlying tests are yours.
When is it cheaper to just use Playwright directly?
When you have an engineer with bandwidth to write and maintain ~30–100 end-to-end specs, and you don't need automated discovery, scheduling, or audits. Playwright is free; AegisRunner pays for itself only if (a) you don't have that time or (b) you want AI-discovered coverage hand-authoring misses.
Can I see the Playwright code AegisRunner generates?
Yes — every plan including Free has Playwright export. The generated suite is plain TypeScript with the same patterns a human would write.
Where does Playwright direct win?
Maximum control over every assertion; engineers who enjoy writing tests; you only want critical-path coverage; offline / air-gapped environments; component testing.
What about native mobile apps?
Playwright covers mobile-web via device emulation but not native apps on real devices. AegisRunner tests native iOS and Android builds on physical hardware — the AI explores the app, generates the cases, and runs them, no Appium scripting.
Is AegisRunner suitable for complex applications?
Yes — complex, authenticated, multi-role applications are the primary use case. The crawler statefully explores large SPAs (React, Vue, Next.js, Angular) including states behind login; every AI-generated test must pass a live verification run before it enters the suite; and assertions cover real outcomes — data persistence, cross-page invariants, API responses, and negative paths. The genuine limits are narrow: canvas/WebGL-drawn interfaces and domain-specific business math, both covered by exporting the generated Playwright code and adding one custom assertion.
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