Supported Scripting Language 

Selenium:  Java , Python, JavaScript (Node.js), C#, Ruby, Kotlin

Cypress: JavaScript& TypeScript 

Playwright: JavaScript& TypeScript , Python, java, C#(.NET)

Browser supports: 

Selenium:

• ✅ Chrome  ✅ Firefox  ✅ Safari  ✅ Edge  ✅ Internet Explorer (legacy support)  ✅ Opera (via WebDriver) ✅ Mobile browsers via Appium (Android & iOS)

Headless Mode: Supported via browser capabilities (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.)

Cypress:

• ✅ Chrome & Chromium-based (Edge, Brave) ✅ Firefox ✅ Electron  ✅ Web Kit 

❌ No native support for Safari or Internet Explorer ❌ No mobile browser testing

Headless Mode: Supported with Chrome, Firefox, Electron

Playwright:

• ✅ Chromium (Chrome, Edge, etc.) ✅ Firefox ✅ Web Kit (Safari engine)  ✅ Mobile Emulation: Supports emulation of devices like iPhone, Pixel, etc.

Headless Mode: Fully supported for all

❌ No real device testing (for that you'd need integration with something like Browser Stack or Appium)

🌟 Unique strength: Playwright supports true automation of Web Kit, making it one of the only tools that can test Safari on macOS or iOS simulators without using a Mac.

Parallel Execution:

 Selenium:  Support: ✅ Yes — but handled manually or via your test runner/tooling, such as: JUnit/TestNG (Java)

 Cypress: CI Parallelization: ✅ Supported via Cypress Dashboard (paid)

 Playwright: Built-in parallel execution support via: Test runner: Playwright Test (built-in) supports using parallel workers

Cross browser testing support:

 Selenium:  Support: ✅ Yes using selenium grid

 Cypress: ✅ Built in Support

 Playwright: ✅ Built in Support

Waiting Mechanisms:

 Selenium:  Implicit , Explicit & Fluent wait mechanism 

 Cypress: ✅ Built in Wait mechanism

 Playwright: ✅ Built in Await mechanism 

Execution speed:

 Selenium:  Comparatively slow 

 Cypress: Faster than selenium

 Playwright: Faster than cypress

Headless execution :

 Selenium:  Requires headless mode configuration

 Cypress: ✅ Built in support

 Playwright: ✅ Built in support

CI/CD native integration:

Selenium:  This required manual intervention

 Cypress: Easily can be done from dashboard using GitLab

 Playwright: ✅ Built in support

💡 Final Recommendation:

• New projects? ➝ Go with Playwright — modern, powerful, and flexible.

• JavaScript frontend-focused teams? ➝ Cypress for ease and speed.

• Legacy systems or wide browser/device testing? ➝ Selenium is still king.