Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Expo Screen Capture VS Playwright

Compare Expo Screen Capture VS Playwright and see what are their differences

Expo Screen Capture logo Expo Screen Capture

Expo Screen Capture is a highly efficient tool that empowers users to prevent screens in their applications from being captured or taped.

Playwright logo Playwright

Playwright is automation software for Chromium, Firefox, Webkit using the Node.js library having a single API in place.
  • Expo Screen Capture Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-18
  • Playwright Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-22

Expo Screen Capture features and specs

  • Cross-platform
    Expo Screen Capture provides a unified API that works across both iOS and Android, simplifying the development process for cross-platform applications.
  • Easy Integration
    Integrating screen capture prevention is straightforward with Expo, requiring minimal code changes for developers already using the Expo ecosystem.
  • Automatic Updates
    With Expo, the library benefits from automatic updates, ensuring compatibility with the latest operating system features and security standards.
  • No Native Code Required
    Expo allows developers to use screen capture functionality without writing or managing native code, reducing the complexity and potential for errors in app development.

Possible disadvantages of Expo Screen Capture

  • Limited Native Features
    Expo may not support all device-specific features or configurations, which might be available with fully native implementations.
  • Restricted Customization
    Developers might face limitations when they require bespoke configurations or advanced use cases, as Expo abstracts many of the native functionalities.
  • Dependency on Expo Ecosystem
    Apps using Expo Screen Capture are dependent on the Expo framework; transitioning to pure React Native would require additional effort and potential refactoring.
  • Performance Overhead
    While minimal, using any abstraction layer over native code could introduce slight performance overhead compared to direct native implementations.

Playwright features and specs

  • Cross-Browser Testing
    Playwright supports testing on Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit, providing comprehensive coverage across different browsers, thus ensuring greater compatibility and a wider test reach.
  • Auto-Wait Mechanism
    Playwright automatically waits for elements to be actionable before performing interactions, reducing the need for explicit wait commands and helping to make tests more reliable and less flaky.
  • Headless Testing
    Playwright supports headless mode for all browsers, which allows for faster test execution and reduced resource consumption, making it ideal for continuous integration systems.
  • Context Isolation
    Playwright introduces the concept of browser contexts, which allows for isolated execution environments within a single browser instance. This enables parallel testing with reduced overhead.
  • Extensive API
    Playwright offers a wide range of APIs that cover user interactions, network interception, and browser automation, providing developers with powerful tools to create robust tests.
  • Network Interception
    Playwright can intercept and modify network requests and responses, allowing for advanced testing scenarios such as mocking APIs and simulating different network conditions.
  • Strong Documentation
    Playwright provides thorough and detailed documentation, making it easier for developers to learn and effectively utilize the framework.
  • Rich Debugging Features
    The framework includes features like verbose logging and debugging capabilities, which facilitate easier troubleshooting and quicker resolution of issues.
  • Support for Multiple Languages
    Playwright supports multiple programming languages, including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, C#, and Java, offering flexibility to developers based on their preference.
  • Community and Support
    The Playwright project has an active community and regular updates, ensuring continuous improvement and access to support from both the community and the development team.

Possible disadvantages of Playwright

  • Steeper Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive capabilities and API, Playwright might have a steeper learning curve for beginners compared to some simpler testing tools.
  • Performance Overhead
    While Playwright aims to be efficient, its feature-rich nature can sometimes introduce performance overhead, particularly for complex test suites.
  • Evolving Ecosystem
    The relatively rapid development and updates can occasionally lead to breaking changes, requiring teams to frequently update their test scripts.
  • Less Mature Ecosystem
    Compared to more established tools like Selenium, Playwright's ecosystem is still maturing, which may result in fewer third-party plugins and integrations.
  • Limited Browser Versions
    Playwright's focus on modern browsers and web standards might make it difficult to test older browser versions or niche browsers, potentially limiting test coverage for legacy systems.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running multiple browser contexts and handling extensive network interception can be resource-intensive, requiring more powerful hardware or cloud resources for large test suites.

Analysis of Playwright

Overall verdict

  • Playwright is a strong choice for browser automation and end-to-end testing due to its reliability, cross-browser support, and extensive features designed to improve test effectiveness and developer productivity.

Why this product is good

  • Playwright is considered good because it provides end-to-end testing capabilities across multiple browsers (Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit) with a single API. It supports multiple languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, C#, and Java, making it versatile for different developer preferences. It offers headless and headed execution, robust automation capabilities, and improved speed and reliability over other testing frameworks. Additionally, Playwright's features like auto-wait, tracing, and capturing screenshots/videos of test runs make debugging easier.

Recommended for

  • Developers seeking cross-browser automated testing solutions
  • Teams working with multiple programming languages who require versatile testing tools
  • Projects requiring reliable, end-to-end testing capabilities
  • Organizations looking to integrate testing with CI/CD pipelines
  • Developers needing advanced debugging and tracing tools for tests

Expo Screen Capture videos

Expo Screen Capture | Prevent Screen Recordings and Screenshots | React Native

Playwright videos

Generate tests in VS Code

More videos:

  • Review - Playwright Brittany K. Allen wins 2021 Georgia Engel Comedy Playwriting Prize

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Expo Screen Capture and Playwright)
Browser Testing
14 14%
86% 86
Development
7 7%
93% 93
Automated Testing
8 8%
92% 92
Tool
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Expo Screen Capture and Playwright. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Expo Screen Capture and Playwright

Expo Screen Capture Reviews

We have no reviews of Expo Screen Capture yet.
Be the first one to post

Playwright Reviews

Top Selenium Alternatives
Playwright offers a modern approach with auto-wait APIs and more native support for modern web features compared to Selenium's more manual and broad approach. While Selenium requires explicit waits and has a broader language support, Playwright focuses on simplifying cross-browser testing with its unified API and auto-wait features, which might reduce setup and test...
Source: bugbug.io
Top 5 Selenium Alternatives for Less Maintenance
Appium and Playwright closely resemble Selenium in terms of functionality but offer unique features and advantages. Both of these solutions require coding experience. Leapwork, a commercial vendor, uses Selenium under the hood to power their visual automation approach.
20 Best JavaScript Frameworks For 2023
Playwright, a Node.js library created by Microsoft, is considered one of the best JavaScript frameworks for testing. It automates Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit with a single API. Developers building JavaScript code can use these APIs to build new browser pages, go to URLs, and interact with page elements. Additionally, Playwright can automate Microsoft Edge since it is based...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Playwright seems to be a lot more popular than Expo Screen Capture. While we know about 281 links to Playwright, we've tracked only 3 mentions of Expo Screen Capture. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Expo Screen Capture mentions (3)

  • Understanding security in React Native applications
    Also, for devs building with Expo, the Expo ScreenCapture plugin is available. Not only does the library prevent screenshots, but it also notifies if a screenshot has been taken while in the foreground. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • React Native: Prevent Screen Capture on Selected Screens
    You can read more on the documentation here. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Advice on screenshot protection
    Expo SDK has provisions for the screen capture API. You can check it out here. Source: almost 4 years ago

Playwright mentions (281)

  • Data Broken - Opt out of the data broker nightmare with Privotron and Amazon Q Developer
    Privotron is built on a modern Python stack that leverages several powerful libraries for browser automation and configuration management. At its core, the application uses Playwright, a robust browser automation framework that provides cross-browser support and reliable DOM interaction capabilities. The command-line interface is implemented using Click, which enables sophisticated argument parsing and validation... - Source: dev.to / 18 days ago
  • CI/CD guide: store Playwright test results in AWS S3
    In my job, I've encountered a tool called Playwright for this purpose and was greatly impressed by its capabilities. You can program it to do all the things you do manually -- and run them automatically without needing to open a browser. It's no wonder someone took the time to transform such bloatware as a modern browser into something more automation-friendly. Amazing! - Source: dev.to / 25 days ago
  • Design Pattern for Playwright End-to-End Testing
    This article introduces a design pattern for end-to-end testing using Playwright. This pattern is an extension of the Page Object Model, aimed at improving test code readability and reducing the increase in code volume when adding more test scenarios or test data variations. This pattern is adopted by SVQK. A working implementation example and its test results are available in the following repositories:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Why the Python Standard Library Needs a run_sync()
    I recently updated a small script I wrote to automate file uploads to a website with no API. It uses the excellent Playwright project to drive a browser - making the tedious task of filling out forms painless. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • No Dockerfile? No problem! Running Node and Python MCPs with ToolHive
    E.g. If you’re interested in running the Playwright MCP, simply do:. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Expo Screen Capture and Playwright, you can also consider the following products

html2canvas - JavaScript library to take "screenshots" of webpages or parts of it, directly on the...

puppeteer - Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium...

Html Screen Capture JS - Html Screen Capture JS is an open-source, lightweight, and fully customizable javascript/typescript library that captures a complete layout or a few areas of a layout and saves it in a mini HTML file for the user.

Selenium - Selenium automates browsers. That's it! What you do with that power is entirely up to you. Primarily, it is for automating web applications for testing purposes, but is certainly not limited to just that.

BackstopJS - BackstopJS is an open-source tool that allows the user to capture screenshots of a complete webpage or only specific areas of the webpage.

BrowserCat - Easy, fast, and reliable browser automation and headless browser APIs. The web is messy, but your code shouldn't be.