Cypress vs Playwright: licensing, GitHub activity, and what each is actually for. Neutral comparison, no paid rankings.
Cypress: Open source. 51,048 GitHub stars. Fast, reliable browser testing with real-time reload and time-travel debugging. Best DX for JS teams.
Playwright: Open source. 97,617 GitHub stars. Microsoft's gold-standard E2E framework. Single API across Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit. Auto-waits, trace viewer, and the best codegen in the business. Most recommended framework in 2026.