Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

puppeteer VS WebAutomation.io

Compare puppeteer VS WebAutomation.io and see what are their differences

puppeteer logo puppeteer

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

WebAutomation.io logo WebAutomation.io

Quickly extract data from websites and turn into APIs or CSV without writing code
  • puppeteer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-02
  • WebAutomation.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-05

puppeteer features and specs

  • Headless Browsing
    Puppeteer allows headless browsing, which means you can automate and test web applications without opening a browser user interface, resulting in faster execution and lower resource usage.
  • Full Browser Control
    Enables full control over Chrome or Chromium browsers, allowing for comprehensive browser testing and automation, including taking screenshots, generating PDFs, and capturing web pages.
  • Rich API
    Offers a rich set of APIs that can control browsers, manage cookies, intercept network requests, and handle various browser events, making it versatile for different use cases.
  • Active Community
    Highly active open-source community with regular updates and a plethora of plugins and extensions, providing robust support and continuous improvements.
  • Compatibility
    Supports the latest JavaScript features and works seamlessly with popular libraries and frameworks, providing a modern development experience.

Possible disadvantages of puppeteer

  • Restricted to Chrome/Chromium
    Puppeteer is primarily designed to work with Chrome and Chromium browsers, limiting cross-browser testing capabilities compared to other tools that support multiple browsers.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running multiple instances of headless browsers can be resource-intensive in terms of CPU and memory usage, potentially affecting performance on limited hardware.
  • Learning Curve
    Requires some learning curve for developers unfamiliar with browser automation or the Puppeteer API, making initial setup and usage potentially time-consuming.
  • Lacks JavaScript Redaction
    Unlike some other tools, Puppeteer does not natively support JavaScript error redaction, which means developers must manage error handling and debugging themselves.
  • Not Ideal for GUI Tests
    Since Puppeteer is headless by default, it might not be ideal for GUI end-to-end tests that require visual validation, requiring additional tools or configurations to enable full browser displays.

WebAutomation.io features and specs

  • User-friendly Interface
    WebAutomation.io offers a clean and intuitive interface that makes it easy for users to navigate and set up web scraping tasks without requiring extensive programming knowledge.
  • Pre-built Templates
    The platform provides a variety of pre-built templates for popular websites, which can save users significant time and effort in setting up their web scraping projects.
  • Scalability
    WebAutomation.io supports scalable data extraction processes, enabling users to scrape data from multiple sources concurrently and handle large volumes of data efficiently.
  • Cloud-based Service
    Being cloud-based means users do not need to worry about hardware limitations, and they can access their data and tasks from any location.
  • Automation and Scheduling
    The platform allows users to automate their data retrieval tasks and schedule them at regular intervals, reducing the need for manual intervention and ensuring data is always up-to-date.

Possible disadvantages of WebAutomation.io

  • Cost
    While offering a free tier, most advanced features and higher usage levels require a subscription, which may be costly for some users or small businesses.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite having a user-friendly interface, users unfamiliar with web scraping concepts may still experience a learning curve in fully utilizing the platform's capabilities.
  • Limited Customization
    Users requiring highly customized scraping solutions might find the platform's customization features somewhat limited compared to more advanced, code-based tools.
  • Dependence on Website Structure
    Changes in the structure or layout of target websites may require users to frequently update or modify their scraping configurations to ensure continued functionality.
  • Data Compliance Concerns
    Users must ensure that their data extraction activities comply with the terms of service of the sites they scrape and any relevant data protection regulations, which can add legal complexity.

Analysis of puppeteer

Overall verdict

  • Puppeteer is considered a strong choice for developers seeking a robust and efficient way to automate browser tasks. It is particularly favored in situations where headless browser actions are required due to its rich feature set and its solid support from both the community and its active development team. However, it may not be the best choice for those looking for cross-browser testing since it focuses specifically on Chrome or Chromium.

Why this product is good

  • Puppeteer is a Node.js library that provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium browsers. It is widely appreciated for its speed, reliability, and comprehensive feature set that makes it easy to automate tasks like web scraping, automated testing, and taking screenshots. Users benefit from the ability to programmatically control browser actions, which can be useful for testing user interactions and rendering dynamic content.

Recommended for

  • Web scraping projects that need to render dynamic web pages or deal with JavaScript-heavy sites.
  • Automated testing scenarios that involve simulating user interactions and verifying UI changes.
  • Performance analysis and monitoring of JavaScript execution in a controlled environment.
  • Developers who need to generate PDFs or capture screenshots from web pages programmatically.

puppeteer videos

Puppeteer - Video Review

More videos:

  • Review - GameSpot Reviews - Puppeteer
  • Review - CGR Undertow - PUPPETEER review for PlayStation 3

WebAutomation.io videos

webautomation.io overview

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to use Webautomation.io Pre-Defined Extractors (Wizard Mode)
  • Review - Watch how easy it is to web scrape a website using webautomation.io visual point and click tool

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to puppeteer and WebAutomation.io)
Automated Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Web Scraping
0 0%
100% 100
Browser Testing
100 100%
0% 0
Data Extraction
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare puppeteer and WebAutomation.io

puppeteer Reviews

Top Selenium Alternatives
Puppeteer offers more direct and tighter integration with Chrome or Chromium through the DevTools Protocol, unlike Selenium which abstracts the browser interaction through WebDriver, making it more versatile across different browsers but potentially less optimized for specific browser internals like those Puppeteer accesses in Chrome.
Source: bugbug.io
Best Data Scraping Tools
It is completely free. Puppeteer is well backed and supported by Google Chrome and hence replacing Selenium and PhantomJS. It automatically installs an efficient, compatible Chromium binary in its setup, therefore reducing the burden of keeping track on your browser.
Puppeteer vs Selenium
If you're looking for a better alternative, try Endtest. It has Puppeteer's speed, it supports Selenium's browsers AND it has all the features that they're missing.
Source: dev.to
Introduction to Headless Browser Testing
The Puppeteer API can be used to take screenshots, create PDFs, navigate pages, and fetch information from pages. We’ll write some example code to see Puppeteer in action.

WebAutomation.io Reviews

We have no reviews of WebAutomation.io yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, puppeteer seems to be a lot more popular than WebAutomation.io. While we know about 106 links to puppeteer, we've tracked only 2 mentions of WebAutomation.io. 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.

puppeteer mentions (106)

  • Top React Testing Libraries in 2025
    Puppeteer is a headless browser automation tool built on Chromium. It allows developers to simulate user interactions, capture screenshots, and perform UI tests with a high degree of accuracy. Puppeteer is particularly useful for testing cross-browser compatibility and visual elements in React applications. Its robust API enables precise control over browser actions, making it a valuable tool for UI testing and... - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • End-to-End SEO Testing with Playwright and Lighthouse
    Vitest is a next-generation JavaScript testing framework powered by Vite. It’s an excellent alternative to Jest, offering native TypeScript support, a fast setup, and solid performance. However, while it has an experimental headless browser, it’s not ideal for advanced scenarios like running SEO audits in CI/CD pipelines. Instead, we can pair Vitest with Pupetter, a more mature tool for headless browser automation. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • The Puppeteer Language Experiment
    This project tests how the browser language can be changed with Puppeteer. It implements multiple options to set the language of Chrome and checks each option against BrowserLeaks to see how it affected the JavaScript proeprties and HTTP headers available by the browser. For more information, see my article The Puppeteer Language Experiment on DEV.to. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Scrapy Vs. Crawlee
    In Crawlee, you can scrape JavaScript rendered websites using the built-in headless Puppeteer and Playwright browsers. It is important to note that, by default, Crawlee scrapes in headless mode. If you don't want headless, then just set headless: false. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Sometimes things simply don't work
    I am not in any way associated with the developers at puppeteer, but if you are looking for a way to contribute, they are open source. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
View more

WebAutomation.io mentions (2)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing puppeteer and WebAutomation.io, you can also consider the following products

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.

Apify - Apify is a web scraping and automation platform that can turn any website into an API.

Cypress.io - Slow, difficult and unreliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Install Cypress in seconds and take the pain out of front-end testing.

Browse AI - Automate any workflow on any website with no code. Used for monitoring, testing, automation, and data aggregation.Sign up now for free and receive 2x jobs per month – forever!

Playwright - Playwright is automation software for Chromium, Firefox, Webkit using the Node.js library having a single API in place.

ScrapeOwl - Simple and powerful web scraping API