Correct a Common Misconception: “Setting up Selenium is Complex and Time-Consuming” with a benchmark test.

Selenium is much easier and quicker to set up, if done properly.

This article is one of the “IT Terminology Clarified” series.

In the article “Love-Hate Relationship with Selenium Automation”, the author wrote: “Setting up and maintaining test environments can be complex and time-consuming.” Over my 12 years of consulting/coaching in test automation, I heard this wrong statement a few times. When possible, I corrected this wrong statement by hands-on setting Selenium up, from scratch, in minutes. Some honest people would say, “It is far easier than anything I have seen”. This is true. Selenium WebDriver beats any other test automation framework, Cypress or Playwright, in every aspect (completely free, easier to learn, faster, more reliable, better syntax, with better support, …).

In this article, I will shock JS testers (the current favourite is Playwright, Cypress seemed being dumped, like previous failed JS ones, such as Phantom.js and Protractor.js) by comparing setting up test automation from scratch: Selenium vs Playwright.

Table of Contents:
· The Benchmark Setup
· Raw Selenium WebDriver
· Playwright
· Verdict: Selenium Wins
· FAQ

The Benchmark Setup

A Windows 10 system with just Chrome installed. It is a relatively slow machine (VM in 2015 iMac). The absolute timing might be different (slower) from yours.

The Goal:

• A tester can start to create a new test against his/her specified website and run it in Chrome.
• Write one simple test statement (to verify it is working)
  Click the “SIGN IN” link
• Run the test from the command line, i.e. total independent
• Timing excludes variable factors, such as downloading the installer and text-typing for installation commands.

The requirement:

• The whole setup shall be fully repeatable by others on any other Windows machine