Playwriter vs Playwright MCP

Playwright MCP is the official MCP server from the Playwright team. It spawns a new Chromium instance every time it starts. This means a clean browser with no login state, no extensions, and no cookies.

Playwriter connects to your running Chrome instead. Same browser you're already using, with everything already set up.

Comparison

	Playwright MCP	Playwriter
Browser	Spawns new Chrome	Uses your Chrome
Extensions	None	Your existing ones
Login state	Fresh (logged out)	Already logged in
Bot detection	Always detected	Can bypass
Collaboration	Separate window	Same browser as user
Memory usage	Double (two browsers)	No extra browser
CDP access	No	Yes

The fresh browser problem

When Playwright MCP spawns a new browser, you start from zero:

No logins. Gmail, GitHub, Slack, your internal tools; all logged out. The agent can't access anything that requires authentication unless you script a full login flow.
No extensions. Ad blockers, password managers, cookie consent auto-accepters; all gone. The agent sees the raw, unfiltered web.
Bot detection. A fresh Chromium instance with no history, no extensions, and default fingerprints is trivially detected as a bot. CAPTCHAs appear immediately.
Extra memory. Running two Chrome instances eats 500MB-1GB of additional RAM.

How Playwriter is different

Playwriter runs in your existing Chrome session. Your cookies, extensions, and browsing history are all there. Sites that require login just work. CAPTCHAs are rare because your browser looks like a real user's browser; it is a real user's browser.

When the agent hits something it can't handle (a CAPTCHA, a consent wall, a two-factor prompt), you see it in your own browser and can step in to help. The agent picks up where you left off.

123456# Playwright MCP: agent is alone in a fresh browser
# Playwriter: agent works in your browser, you collaborate in real time

playwriter session new
playwriter -s 1 -e "page.goto('https://gmail.com')"
# Already logged in, no credentials needed