Compare Catch2 vs. Playwright

Catch2 serves primarily as a unit testing framework tailored for C++, yet it also incorporates fundamental micro-benchmarking capabilities and straightforward BDD macros. Its primary strength lies in its user-friendly and intuitive design. Test identifiers do not require adherence to valid naming conventions, assertions resemble standard C++ boolean expressions, and the use of sections allows for a localized approach to managing setup and teardown code within tests. Currently, you are working on the devel branch where version 3 is under development. This upcoming version introduces several major updates, the most notable being that Catch2 transitions from a single-header library to a conventional library structure featuring multiple headers and a separately compiled implementation. Getting started is quick and straightforward; you only need to download two files, integrate them into your project, and you're ready to go, all without any external dependencies. As long as your environment supports C++14 and includes the C++ standard library, you can write test cases as self-registering functions or methods if that suits your style. This flexibility in coding approaches enhances the framework's usability for various programming preferences.

Playwright is compatible with all contemporary rendering engines, such as Chromium, WebKit, and Firefox. It enables testing across various operating systems like Windows, Linux, and macOS, whether locally or in continuous integration environments, and can operate in both headless and headed modes. The framework ensures that actions are only performed once elements are ready for interaction, and it includes a comprehensive set of introspection events. This synergy effectively removes the reliance on artificial timeouts, which are a common source of unreliable tests. Additionally, Playwright's assertions are tailored for the dynamic nature of the web, automatically reattempting checks until the specified criteria are fulfilled. Users can customize their test retry strategies and capture execution traces, videos, and screenshots to further mitigate instability. In terms of architecture, browsers execute web content from different origins in separate processes, allowing Playwright to align with modern browser frameworks and conduct tests out-of-process. This design choice helps to avoid the usual constraints associated with in-process test runners, ultimately enhancing testing efficiency and reliability. As a result, Playwright emerges as a robust solution for developers seeking to streamline their testing processes.