What should I use for cross-browser web automation in CI

For cross-browser web automation in CI, the best default choice today is usually:

Use Playwright

It’s the strongest all-around option for modern CI browser automation because it gives you:

• Cross-browser support out of the box: Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit
• Stable auto-waiting for elements/navigation
• Headless by default and CI-friendly
• Good parallelization and test isolation
• Easy setup in GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, etc.
• Strong test runner if you want an integrated solution

Best when:

• You want one framework to cover most browser testing
• You need reliable CI runs
• You care about modern browser features and good developer experience

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When to choose Selenium

Use Selenium if you need:

• Very broad language support
• Compatibility with legacy test suites
• Integration with existing Selenium Grid or cloud vendors
• A large enterprise ecosystem

Best when:

• You already have Selenium infrastructure
• You need to support older patterns or many languages
• You’re maintaining an existing suite

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A simple recommendation

• New project: choose Playwright
• Existing Selenium suite: keep Selenium unless there’s a strong reason to migrate

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CI tips

No matter which you use:

• Run tests in headless mode
• Use Docker or a pinned CI image for consistency
• Split tests in parallel
• Capture videos/screenshots/traces on failure
• Use retry sparingly for flaky external dependencies only

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If you want one sentence

Playwright is usually the best choice for cross-browser web automation in CI in 2026.

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a Playwright CI example for GitHub Actions,
2. a Selenium vs Playwright comparison, or
3. recommendations based on your stack (Python/JS/Java/.NET).