Playwright vs Airbrowser
A comprehensive comparison for developers building AI agents, web scrapers, and browser automation tools in 2025.
Both Playwright and Airbrowser are powerful browser automation tools, but they're designed for different use cases. This comparison will help you choose the right tool for your needs.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Playwright | Airbrowser |
|---|---|---|
| Anti-Detection | Limited (easily detected) | Built-in (SeleniumBase UC) |
| MCP Integration | No native support | Native MCP server |
| AI Agent Ready | Requires wrapper code | Built for AI agents |
| REST API | No (library only) | Full REST API |
| Concurrent Browsers | Manual management | 100+ with pool management |
| VNC Debugging | No | Built-in noVNC |
| Proxy Per Browser | Yes | Yes |
| Docker Deployment | Community images | Official Docker image |
| Multi-Language | Python, JS, .NET, Java | REST API (any language) |
| Cloudflare Bypass | Blocked by default | Works out of the box |
When to Use Playwright
Playwright is an excellent choice for:
- E2E Testing - Testing your own applications where anti-detection doesn't matter
- Cross-Browser Testing - Need to test Firefox, WebKit, and Chromium
- CI/CD Pipelines - Automated testing in controlled environments
- Simple Scraping - Scraping sites without bot detection
When to Use Airbrowser
Airbrowser is the better choice for:
- AI Agents - Native MCP integration for Claude, GPT, and other AI assistants
- Web Scraping at Scale - 100+ concurrent browsers with anti-detection
- Protected Sites - Bypass Cloudflare, PerimeterX, and other anti-bot systems
- Microservices - REST API allows any language/framework to control browsers
- Visual Debugging - VNC access to watch browsers in real-time
Anti-Detection: The Key Difference
The biggest difference between Playwright and Airbrowser is anti-detection capability.
Playwright is easily detected by most anti-bot systems because it:
- Sets detectable
navigator.webdriverflag - Has recognizable automation fingerprints
- Doesn't handle Cloudflare challenges
Airbrowser, built on SeleniumBase Undetected Chromedriver, bypasses these detection systems by default. No additional configuration needed.
MCP Integration for AI Agents
If you're building AI agents with Claude, GPT, or other LLMs, Airbrowser provides native Model Context Protocol (MCP) support:
- 39 MCP tools for complete browser control
- AI vision tools (
what_is_visible,detect_coordinates) - Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, and other MCP clients
With Playwright, you'd need to build your own wrapper to expose browser actions to AI agents.
The Verdict
Choose Playwright if you're doing E2E testing of your own apps or need cross-browser testing.
Choose Airbrowser if you're building AI agents, scraping protected sites, or need a REST API for browser automation.