JavaScript Web Test Automation Framework Rankings in JavaScript Rising Stars 2025
Cypress is on the verge of nearly disappearing, while Playwright appears to be losing momentum, ...
This article was featured in Software Testing Weekly #304.
Both of my father’s previous articles on JavaScript Web Test Automation Framework Rankings in JavaScript Rising Stars were very well received:
JavaScript Web Test Automation Framework Rankings in JavaScript Rising Stars (2023)
JavaScript Web Test Automation Framework Rankings in JavaScript Rising Stars 2024
By the way, when it comes to E2E test automation, my father doesn’t use JavaScript—even though he’s a top-tier Java and JavaScript programmer (I’ve learned, and still learning, a great deal from him).
I use both Java and JavaScript at work, as a software development engineer, and I authored a book on E2E test automation with Playwright (JavaScript). Today, my father suggested that I write an article analysing the Web Test Automation Framework Rankings in JavaScript Rising Stars for the most recent year (2025).
Please note that these web test automation framework rankings are specific to JavaScript and are based on the number of stars on GitHub. If you have the choice, I highly recommend using raw Selenium WebDriver + RSpec, together with TestWise testing IDE for developing, refactoring, and debugging, and BuildWise CT server for continuous execution. This is the tech stack my father has been using for 17 years, delivering remarkable productivity and efficiency. I love this tech stack as well. Even when I need to work with Playwright, I first develop the Selenium WebDriver version, refine and refactor it in TestWise, and only then convert it to Playwright (doing it also in TestWise). The result is higher quality and far more efficient (see this story about how colleagues were astonished by my productivity during my internship).
Oh well, I just shared a secret for developing high-quality Playwright tests highly efficiently. My father said, 'That's fine—most people, over 95%, won’t change. And when it comes to language or framework, probably 99+% won’t.”
Let’s start with the rankings from 2023 to 2025.
2023:
2024:
2025:
My Thoughts
1. AI Browser Automation Interest Is Rising Dramatically
Stagehand saw explosive growth, receiving around 510% more GitHub stars and climbing from #5 to #1 in the rankings.
I'll be blunt: AI-driven browser automation feels like more hype than reality right now. I have yet to encounter a single instance of this technology working effectively at scale. After all, as testers, our rule is simple: we verify first and only trust what’s been proven. Right?
Developing a basic functional script is just a tiny fraction of what comprehensive E2E testing actually requires—a point my father and I have underscored throughout the 700+ articles published in this newsletter.
2. Cypress Takes a Nosedive
From 2021 to 2025, a span of just four years, Cypress’s star count plummeted from 9.1K to 2.1K, a 77% collapse (not a surprise for readers here). Its ranking also fell significantly, sliding from #2 to #9.
Based on this trend, it’s almost certain that Cypress may fall out of the top 10 rankings entirely in 2026.
3. Playwright Shows Signs of Decline
The sharp decline of Cypress does not appear to have translated directly into growth for Playwright. In fact, Playwright has shown an overall downward trend since reaching the #1 position in 2020.
Playwright’s GitHub stars from 2020 to 2025 (in thousands) were: 19.7, 11.9, 14.3, 11.7, 10.4, and 12.6.
In 2025, Playwright also lost its #1 ranking, dropping to #2.
Back in 2023, my father published an article titled “Too Many Failed JavaScript Test Automation Frameworks!” in which he predicted a new JS automation framework would soon emerge to challenge/takeover Playwright. It looks like his foresight was spot on, again: the emerging contender appears to be Stagehand, which already took the #1 ranking position in JS rising stars.
Related reading:
