Apify vs Playwright: Pricing and Ratings Compared (2026)
Entry prices and free plans as read on each vendor's pricing page, and user ratings as published on review sites, for Apify and Playwright side by side. This page compares data; it is not a hands-on review.
On the data: On the data below the two are close or not directly comparable, so we do not name a winner for this pair.
Short on time? Here's the quick answer
Based on published vendor pricing and features and on public review data, here's who should pick what:
Apify
Build, run, and scale web scraping and automation workflows
Best for you if:
- • You want good web scraping platform
Playwright
Automate modern web testing across browsers with auto-waiting
Best for you if:
- • You want a fully free tool (Apify requires payment)
| At a Glance | Apify | Playwright |
|---|---|---|
Starts at | Free plan | Free 100% free |
Category | Developer Tools Automation | Testing & QA Automation |
Rating | 4.7/5 G2 4.7 · Capterra 4.8 1,201 reviews | 4.7/5 G2 4.7 14 reviews |
Free plan | Yes | Yes |
Watch out for | Platform credits are consumed by compute (Actor runs), storage (datasets, key-value stores), and proxy bandwidth, all three meters run simultaneously | n/a |
Choose Apify or Playwright?
Choose Apify if
- You want good web scraping platform
- You want actor marketplace
- You work in developer tools, not testing & QA
Choose Playwright if
- You want a fully free tool (Apify requires payment)
- You want true cross-browser coverage including WebKit (Safari) which Cypress and Selenium lack natively
- You want auto-waiting eliminates most flaky test failures without manual sleep or wait calls
- You work in testing & QA, not developer tools
In-Depth Analysis
Apify
Build, run, and scale web scraping and automation workflows
Apify Free tier gives you $5/month in platform credits, enough to run small scraping jobs and test Actors.
Watch out
Platform credits are consumed by compute (Actor runs), storage (datasets, key-value stores), and proxy bandwidth, all three meters run simultaneously
Strengths
- Pro: Good web scraping platform
- Pro: Actor marketplace
- Pro: Proxy management
- Pro: Scheduled runs
- Pro: Good documentation
Weaknesses
- Con: Expensive at scale
- Con: Compute pricing complex
- Con: Learning curve
- Con: Rate limits
- Con: Some actors low quality
Key features
Playwright
Automate modern web testing across browsers with auto-waiting
Playwright's pricing is exceptionally generous, as it is entirely free and open-source.
Strengths
- Pro: True cross-browser coverage including WebKit (Safari) which Cypress and Selenium lack natively
- Pro: Auto-waiting eliminates most flaky test failures without manual sleep or wait calls
- Pro: Parallel execution and browser contexts make test suites significantly faster than Selenium
- Pro: Trace viewer with DOM snapshots and screencasts makes debugging failures straightforward
- Pro: Multi-language support lets teams use Python, .NET, or Java instead of only JavaScript
Weaknesses
- Con: Steeper learning curve than Cypress for teams new to end-to-end testing
- Con: No native component testing support, focused exclusively on end-to-end and integration tests
- Con: Community ecosystem and plugin library smaller than Selenium or Cypress
- Con: Requires Node.js 20+ even when writing tests in Python or .NET
- Con: No built-in cloud execution grid, requires third-party services for parallel CI at scale
Key features
Plans and prices: Apify vs Playwright
| Tool | Plans and prices | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Apify |
| apify.com/pricing read Nov 1, 2026 |
| Playwright |
| playwright.dev read Oct 8, 2026 |
Prices as read on each vendor's own pricing page on the date shown. Plans are listed per tool and are not matched against the other tool's plans: a plan name or price in one column says nothing about the same row in the other. Details on Apify pricing and Playwright pricing.
Key Takeaways
Apify
- Choose if you want build, run, and scale web scraping and automation workflows
Playwright
- Choose if you want automate modern web testing across browsers with auto-waiting
What the data shows
On the data below the two are close or not directly comparable, so we do not name a winner for this pair.
- User ratings rest on too few reviews to rank (4.7/5 from 1,201 reviews for Apify, 4.7/5 from 14 reviews for Playwright; we compare ratings only above 20 reviews on both sides).
- Both have a free plan.
Criteria: user rating (only above 20 reviews on both sides, gap of 0.2 or more), entry price (only on the same billing basis), free plan. How we rate
Frequently Asked Questions
How do Apify and Playwright compare in 2026?
On the data below the two are close or not directly comparable, so we do not name a winner for this pair. User ratings rest on too few reviews to rank (4.7/5 from 1,201 reviews for Apify, 4.7/5 from 14 reviews for Playwright; we compare ratings only above 20 reviews on both sides). Both have a free plan.
What are Apify and Playwright used for?
Apify: Build, run, and scale web scraping and automation workflows. Playwright: Automate modern web testing across browsers with auto-waiting.
What does Apify cost vs Playwright?
Apify has no public paid-plan price on file. Playwright is free. Prices read on the vendors' pricing pages, latest check Nov 1, 2026.
What's the main difference between Apify and Playwright?
Apify's main strength: good web scraping platform. Playwright's main strength: true cross-browser coverage including WebKit (Safari) which Cypress and Selenium lack natively.