Playwright vs Appium vs Maestro: Best Test Automation Tool for 2025

Playwright vs Appium vs Maestro: Which Test Tool Should You Pick in 2025?
Hi, I’m Nadeem — an ISTQB‑certified QA engineer with over 7 years of experience in mobile and web automation. In 2025, QA professionals are often faced with one big decision: Playwright vs Appium vs Maestro. All three are popular test automation tools, but which one should you use in your project?

What Are These Tools?

Before comparing them, let’s define each one:

Playwright – A modern end-to-end testing library for web apps by Microsoft.
Appium – A test automation tool for native, hybrid, and mobile web apps on Android and iOS.
Maestro – A YAML-based mobile testing framework known for its simplicity and speed.

These mobile testing frameworks are all open-source and developer-friendly, but their use cases differ.

Playwright vs Appium vs Maestro: Feature Comparison

Feature	Playwright	Appium	Maestro
Use Case	Web Automation	Mobile App Testing	Lightweight Mobile Flow Testing
Languages	JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java	Java, Python, Ruby, C#	YAML, Kotlin helpers
Setup Complexity	Moderate	Complex	Very Simple
Cross-Platform Support	Yes (Web)	Yes (Android & iOS)	Yes (Mobile Only)

Which Test Automation Tool Is Best in 2025?

If you’re focused on modern web apps, Playwright is hard to beat. Its performance, auto-waiting, and rich trace tools make it ideal for UI testing. If your app runs on the browser, use Playwright for web automation.

For complex mobile workflows, sensors, permissions, and real-device scenarios, Appium is still the go-to mobile automation tool. It works with both Android and iOS, integrates with Selenium Grid, and supports real-device cloud testing providers.

When speed and simplicity matter, Maestro is a fantastic choice. It allows you to define mobile tests using YAML in minutes. Perfect for fast CI pipelines, beta testing, and validating flows like onboarding, login, and checkout.

Maestro, Appium, or Playwright – Which One Should You Choose?

Choose Playwright if your project is browser-heavy and you want parallel web testing support.
Choose Appium if you’re building a full-featured mobile app and need deep native access.
Choose Maestro if you want quick feedback, readable YAML flows, and simplified mobile test automation.

Ultimately, it doesn’t have to be Playwright vs Appium vs Maestro. Many teams in 2025 use a combination of all three to cover every corner of their product.

Summary

In this blog, we compared Playwright vs Appium vs Maestro, the three most used test automation tools in 2025. Whether you need browser coverage, mobile flexibility, or fast feedback cycles, there’s a tool that fits.

Need help deciding or setting up your test strategy? I’ve worked on automation projects with all three frameworks and can help your team pick the best path forward.