Selenium vs Cypress vs Playwright comparison in Selenium Python - Practice Questions

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Key difference in browser support among Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright

Which testing tool supports testing across multiple browsers including Firefox, Chrome, and Safari natively?

A Cypress supports only Chrome-family browsers natively.

B None of these tools support Safari browser testing.

C Selenium supports only Chrome and Firefox but not Safari.

D Playwright supports multiple browsers including Firefox, Chrome, and WebKit (Safari).

💡 Hint

Think about which tool uses browser engines directly for cross-browser testing.

Playwright supports Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit engines, enabling testing on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari browsers natively. Selenium supports many browsers but requires drivers. Cypress mainly supports Chromium-based browsers.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of Selenium Python code snippet for page title

What will be the output of this Selenium Python code snippet if the page title is 'Welcome Page'?

Selenium Python

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options

options = Options()
options.add_argument('--headless')
service = Service('/path/to/chromedriver')
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service, options=options)
driver.get('https://example.com')
print(driver.title)
driver.quit()

A Welcome Page

B https://example.com

C None

D SyntaxError

💡 Hint

The print statement outputs the page title property.

The driver.title returns the title of the current page, which is 'Welcome Page' in this case.

❓ assertion

advanced

Correct assertion to verify element visibility in Cypress

Which assertion correctly verifies that an element with id 'submit-btn' is visible in Cypress?

Selenium Python

cy.get('#submit-btn')

A cy.get('#submit-btn').should('be.visible')

B cy.get('#submit-btn').assertVisible()

C cy.get('#submit-btn').expect('visible')

D cy.get('#submit-btn').checkVisible()

💡 Hint

Cypress uses 'should' for assertions.

The correct Cypress syntax to assert visibility is should('be.visible'). Other options are invalid methods.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Identify the error in Playwright Python code snippet

What error will this Playwright Python code raise?

Selenium Python

from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch()
    page = browser.new_page()
    page.goto('https://example.com')
    print(page.title)
    browser.close()

A SyntaxError due to missing colon

B No error, prints method object

C TimeoutError on page.goto

D AttributeError: 'Page' object has no attribute 'title'

💡 Hint

Check how to get page title in Playwright Python.

In Playwright Python, page.title() is a method and must be called with parentheses to get the title string. print(page.title) prints the bound method object representation (e.g., <bound method Page.title...>), but raises no error.

❓ framework

expert

Choosing the best tool for fast, reliable end-to-end tests with automatic waiting

Which testing framework among Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright provides automatic waiting for elements and network calls, reducing flaky tests without explicit waits?

A None of these frameworks provide automatic waiting features.

B Selenium requires explicit waits and does not have automatic waiting.

C Cypress automatically waits for elements and network calls before actions.

D Playwright requires manual waits for network calls but auto-waits for elements.

💡 Hint

Think about which tool is designed to reduce flaky tests with built-in waits.

Cypress automatically waits for elements to appear and network calls to complete before running commands, which helps reduce flaky tests. Selenium requires explicit waits. Playwright auto-waits for elements but requires manual handling for some network waits.

Practice

1. Which testing tool is known for supporting multiple programming languages including Python and JavaScript, and offers broad browser support?

easy

A. Cypress

B. Playwright

C. Selenium

D. JUnit

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify language support

   Selenium supports many languages like Python, Java, C#, etc., unlike Cypress which mainly supports JavaScript.

2. Step 2: Check browser support

   Selenium supports many browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and more, making it broad in browser support.

3. Final Answer:

   Selenium -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Multi-language + broad browsers = Selenium [OK]

Hint: Multi-language and broad browser support points to Selenium [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing Cypress as multi-language
• Thinking Playwright supports more languages than Selenium
• Choosing JUnit which is a Java testing framework

2. Which of the following is the correct way to start a Playwright browser session in Python?

easy

A. browser = playwright.chromium.launch()

B. browser = Playwright.start()

C. browser = playwright.startBrowser()

D. browser = Playwright.launchChromium()

Solution

1. Step 1: Recall Playwright Python syntax

   Playwright uses the syntax playwright.chromium.launch() to start a Chromium browser session.

2. Step 2: Check other options for correctness

   Options B, C, and D do not match the official Playwright Python API method names.

3. Final Answer:

   browser = playwright.chromium.launch() -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Correct Playwright launch syntax = browser = playwright.chromium.launch() [OK]

Hint: Playwright uses playwright.chromium.launch() in Python [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using incorrect method names like startBrowser()
• Confusing Playwright with Selenium syntax
• Capitalizing Playwright incorrectly in code

3. Given the following code snippet using Cypress, what will be the output if the element with id #submit is not found?

cy.get('#submit').click()

medium

A. Test fails with an error that element was not found

B. Test passes silently without clicking

C. Test retries indefinitely until element appears

D. Test skips the click and logs a warning

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand Cypress default behavior

   Cypress automatically retries commands for a default timeout but if the element is not found within that time, it throws an error.

2. Step 2: Analyze the code effect

   Since cy.get('#submit').click() requires the element, failure to find it causes the test to fail with an error.

3. Final Answer:

   Test fails with an error that element was not found -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Cypress fails test if element missing [OK]

Hint: Cypress fails test if element not found after retries [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking Cypress passes silently
• Assuming infinite retries
• Believing it logs warning but continues

4. You wrote this Selenium Python code but it throws an error:

driver = webdriver.Chrome()
driver.get('https://example.com')
element = driver.find_element_by_id('login')
element.click()

What is the likely cause and fix?

medium

A. click() method does not exist; use submit() instead

B. Method find_element_by_id is deprecated; use find_element(By.ID, 'login') instead

C. URL is incorrect; fix the URL string

D. Chrome driver is not installed; install it first

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify deprecated method usage

   In recent Selenium versions, find_element_by_id is deprecated and replaced by find_element with By.ID locator.

2. Step 2: Apply correct method usage

   Use from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By and then driver.find_element(By.ID, 'login') to fix the error.

3. Final Answer:

   Method find_element_by_id is deprecated; use find_element(By.ID, 'login') instead -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Use By.ID locator, not deprecated method [OK]

Hint: Use find_element(By.ID, ...) instead of deprecated find_element_by_id [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Ignoring deprecation warnings
• Assuming click() method is missing
• Blaming URL or driver installation incorrectly

5. You want to write a test that runs on Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit browsers using Playwright in Python. Which approach correctly achieves this multi-browser testing?

hard

A. Run tests only on Chromium; Playwright does not support Firefox or WebKit

B. Use Cypress since it supports all three browsers natively

C. Use Selenium only because Playwright supports one browser at a time

D. Loop over playwright.chromium, playwright.firefox, and playwright.webkit to launch each browser and run tests

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand Playwright multi-browser support

   Playwright supports Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit browsers and allows launching each separately.

2. Step 2: Implement multi-browser testing

   Looping over playwright.chromium, playwright.firefox, and playwright.webkit to launch browsers and run tests is the correct approach.

3. Final Answer:

   Loop over playwright.chromium, playwright.firefox, and playwright.webkit to launch each browser and run tests -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Playwright multi-browser testing = loop launch [OK]

Hint: Loop over Playwright browsers to test all three [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Thinking Playwright supports only one browser
• Choosing Cypress for multi-browser Python tests
• Assuming Selenium is the only multi-browser tool