Selenium or Playwright: Which Skill Pays More in 2026?

import csv

# Record what listings ask for; note pay only if a listing states it.
rows = [
    ["title", "selenium", "playwright", "api", "ci", "language", "stated_pay"],
    ["QA Automation Engineer", "yes", "no", "yes", "yes", "Java", ""],
    ["SDET", "no", "yes", "yes", "yes", "TypeScript", ""],
    ["Test Engineer", "yes", "yes", "no", "no", "Python", ""],
]
with open("automation_listings.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
    csv.writer(f).writerows(rows)
print("Compare which skill sets appear in broader roles.")

import pandas as pd

df = pd.read_csv("automation_listings.csv")
for col in ["selenium", "playwright", "api", "ci"]:
    df[col] = df[col].eq("yes")
print("share of listings asking for each skill:")
print(df[["selenium", "playwright", "api", "ci"]].mean().round(2))
# Roles that combine API testing and CI with a UI tool often have wider scope.

# pip install selenium  (Selenium 4 manages drivers)
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
from selenium.webdriver.support import expected_conditions as EC

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
try:
    driver.get("https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/dynamic_loading/1")
    driver.find_element(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "#start button").click()
    text = WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(
        EC.visibility_of_element_located((By.CSS_SELECTOR, "#finish h4"))).text
    assert text == "Hello World!"
    print("passed")
finally:
    driver.quit()

import org.openqa.selenium.*;
import org.openqa.selenium.support.ui.*;
import java.time.Duration;

public class LoginPage {
    private final WebDriver driver;
    private final WebDriverWait wait;
    private final By user = By.id("username");
    private final By pass = By.id("password");
    private final By submit = By.cssSelector("button[type=submit]");

    public LoginPage(WebDriver driver) {
        this.driver = driver;
        this.wait = new WebDriverWait(driver, Duration.ofSeconds(10));
    }

    public void login(String u, String p) {
        wait.until(ExpectedConditions.visibilityOfElementLocated(user)).sendKeys(u);
        driver.findElement(pass).sendKeys(p);
        driver.findElement(submit).click();
    }
}

// npm i -D @playwright/test && npx playwright install
// playwright.config.js
const { defineConfig } = require('@playwright/test');
module.exports = defineConfig({
  retries: 1,
  use: { trace: 'on-first-retry', screenshot: 'only-on-failure' },
});

// tests/dynamic.spec.js
const { test, expect } = require('@playwright/test');

test('dynamic content loads', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('https://the-internet.herokuapp.com/dynamic_loading/1');
  await page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Start' }).click();
  await expect(page.locator('#finish h4')).toHaveText('Hello World!');
});

const { test, expect } = require('@playwright/test');

test('shows error when API fails', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.route('**/api/orders', (route) =>
    route.fulfill({ status: 500, body: JSON.stringify({ error: 'server' }) }));
  await page.setContent(`
    <div id="msg"></div>
    <script>
      fetch('https://shop.example.com/api/orders').then(r => {
        document.getElementById('msg').textContent = r.ok ? 'ok' : 'Could not load orders';
      });
    </script>`);
  await expect(page.locator('#msg')).toHaveText('Could not load orders');
});

Step 1  One language well (Java, Python or TypeScript)
Step 2  One UI tool deeply (Selenium or Playwright)
Step 3  Framework design: page objects, fixtures, config
Step 4  API testing in code (requests, REST Assured or Playwright API)
Step 5  CI: run suites on every pull request, publish reports
Step 6  Stability: track and fix flaky tests
Step 7  Read the other UI tool's docs; port one test

Project A: Selenium framework (page objects, waits, Grid or
           parallel runs, HTML report, CI)
Project B: Playwright suite (fixtures, tracing, network
           mocking, API tests, CI)

README: compare setup, stability and debugging in each.

Date | Change | Before | After (describe honestly)
-----|--------|--------|------------------------
     | Replaced fixed sleeps with waits | flaky login test | stable in CI
     | Added API checks | UI-only coverage | faster feedback
     | Parallel runs | long suite | shorter runs

Use in appraisals and interviews without inventing numbers.