# BxPlaywright vs Playwright MCP (slim)

> Playwright MCP scores 63.7 (B) to BxPlaywright's 55 (C) for browser automation. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-playwright-mcp.md (~4,850 tokens) · this version ~2,630 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-playwright-mcp.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bx-playwright-vs-playwright-mcp
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-01
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Playwright MCP scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against BxPlaywright's 55 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do browser automation.

- BxPlaywright: C 55, rank #816 of 1260 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bx-playwright.min.md
- Playwright MCP: B 63.7, rank #433 of 1260 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/playwright-mcp.min.md
- BxPlaywright, good for Teams on BoxLang or modernising CFML who want browser tests, rendering and a browser for BoxLang AI agents in the same language. Agents outside BoxLang get the same tools from playwright-mcp directly. Also No incidents deducted, where Playwright MCP loses 4 points for them.
- Playwright MCP, good for The default choice for an agent that drives web pages by structure rather than pixels. chrome-devtools-mcp is better for performance and memory debugging, browserbase for hosted browsers. Ahead on Reliability, 57 against 41; Agent ergonomics, 84 against 63; Security & auth, 57 against 43; Maintenance & community, 84 against 53. Also Runs on your own machine.

| Category | BxPlaywright | Playwright MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 41 | 57 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 66 | 70 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 63 | 84 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 43 | 57 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 53 | 84 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 70 | 74 |

| Fact (where they differ) | BxPlaywright | Playwright MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | MCP server |
| Vendor | Ortus Solutions | Microsoft |
| Transports |  | stdio, Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy) |
| Tools exposed | none | 72 |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-31 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Popularity | none | 37k stars, 5.3M npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |

Why the edge:
- Maintenance & community, Playwright MCP +31: BxPlaywright 53 (The snapshot build of 23 October 2026 is the latest published package, so 30 on time, though it isn't a release (30). No tagged releases or dated changelog entries in the 90 days, only one version rebuilt (0 of 20). 39 pull requests merged by Luis Majano between 30 September and 23 October. Issue replies couldn't be read and bugs go to Jira (10 of 25). Not in the official MCP registry, and the ForgeBox package has no stable version (5 of 15). Playwright for Java 1.63.0, Dependabot for Gradle monthly and Actions quarterly, a daily test run and a format check (8 of 10). 30+0+10+5+8 = 53.); Playwright MCP 84 (v0.0.84 on 2026-10-31 (30). Six releases since 3 August, v0.0.79 to v0.0.84 (20). Issues moved to microsoft/playwright on 29 June 2026 with a pinned notice. We couldn't read the MCP issues there, and Dependabot pull requests here merge within days (12). Published to the official MCP registry as io.github.microsoft/playwright-mcp by an OIDC workflow on each release, and the registry lists 0.0.84 as latest, published 31 October 2026 (15). Pinned actions and Dependabot, but the package tracks alpha Playwright builds, 1.65.0-alpha-2026-10-30 in v0.0.84 (7).)
- Agent ergonomics, Playwright MCP +21: BxPlaywright 63 (Library reading, scored on what a tool-calling agent gets. Ten compact in-process tools for BoxLang AI, with nothing to load until a tool is used (25 for ten or fewer), less 5 because every action tool returns the whole page's AI snapshot. Through MCP an agent gets Playwright's 24 default tools (20 of 25). The agent tools have no depth, selector or size limit, and `browser_text` returns the whole page. `snapshot( selector )` exists in the library but not in the tools (8 of 20). Errors come back to the agent as text in the form `Error [type]: message Fix: detail`, and the error types are documented (16 of 20). Assertions retry until they pass. The in-process tools carry no read-only or destructive hints, and bx-ai doesn't read them; over MCP the annotations are Microsoft's (8 of 20). Works with defaults (headless Chromium, 1280 by 720) and profiles, but in one language, BoxLang, with the MCP route for any other client (11 of 15). 20+8+16+8+11 = 63.); Playwright MCP 84 (72 tools in the README across ten groups. Only core and tabs load by default, 25 tools (15). `--caps` adds network, storage, devtools, vision, PDF, testing and config groups only when asked, and `--snapshot-mode none` and `--image-responses omit` trim each response (plus 10). `browser_find` searches the snapshot instead of returning it and takes `maxResults` since v0.0.84, snapshots take `depth`, and most read tools can write to a file instead of the response (17). Modal-state errors name the tool that clears them (14). Every tool carries `readOnlyHint`, `destructiveHint` and `openWorldHint`, 29 marked read-only. Every other tool is marked destructive, hover included, which blunts the signal (18). Few required parameters and defaults that work. npm and Docker only (10).)
- Reliability, Playwright MCP +16: BxPlaywright 41 (Read with the local-software lines and graded as a pre-release. Official package on ForgeBox with BoxLang 1.17.0 or later, Java 21 and the supported platforms stated, but the only version is 1.0.0-snapshot, rebuilt from the development branch on 23 October 2026, with no binary hash on the entry (14 of 20). tests.yml runs 24 test files on Ubuntu and Windows with JDK 21, real-browser tests on Linux and a test of the full distribution, on pull requests, pushes to development and daily. Whether runs pass wasn't read, since WebFetch refused GitHub (15 of 25). Issues weren't readable for the same reason, bugs go to Ortus's Jira, and the repository is a month old, so there's no record to read (5 of 25). Keep a Changelog with semantic versioning stated and a written public contract, but nothing has been released under it and the changelog reads only [Unreleased] (7 of 15). Ortus announced 1.0 as generally available on 13 October, but no 1.0.0 build or tag exists, so it isn't 1.0 for this line (0 of 15). 14+15+5+7+0 = 41.); Playwright MCP 57 (Scored as a local stdio package (it also serves HTTP with `--port`). Official npm package @playwright/mcp with Node 18 or later stated. It pins alpha builds of Playwright (1.65.0-alpha-2026-10-30 in v0.0.84) as dependencies (20). CI runs lint, tests on Ubuntu, macOS and Windows and a Docker test on every push and pull request. Most MCP tests live in the main Playwright repository. We didn't see the run status, so 20 of 25. Issues have been redirected to microsoft/playwright since 29 June 2026, and GitHub's robots rules blocked our search there, so we couldn't count open crash reports (12). Versions run 0.0.x with release notes on GitHub but no semver meaning (5). Not 1.0 and not declared stable (0).)
- Security & auth, Playwright MCP +14: BxPlaywright 43 (Library reading, as puppeteer and playwright-mcp were. No credential to leak and nothing to scope, so the middle band (20 of 30). Nothing is restricted by default. `browser_visit` takes any URL with no allow-list, `browser_screenshot` writes to any path the model passes, and the tools are added to bx-ai's global registry unless `registerAiTools` is false, so an agent given every registered tool gets a browser. Over MCP it starts Microsoft's server, which limits file access to workspace roots, and Ortus's plugin starts it with `--headless` but without `--isolated`, with `browser_run_code_unsafe` and `browser_evaluate` in the default set. HTTPS errors are not ignored by default (6 of 20). Page snapshots and text go to the model unfenced, and the docs give no prompt-injection guidance (0 of 15). Screenshot, trace and video policies, `show-trace`, and interception points such as onPageCreate and onPlaywrightArtifact give the operator a record, all off by default (10 of 15). CONTRIBUTING.md asks for reports to security@ortussolutions.com and the Slack #security channel; SECURITY.md points there. No security.txt (410, per the boxlang-ai check of the same day), no bounty, no advisories. Node.js downloads are checked against the release's SHA-256 list (7 of 20). 20+6+0+10+7 = 43.); Playwright MCP 57 (No credentials to leak and nothing to scope, so the middle band (20). The HTTP transport binds localhost by default, accepts only loopback hosts and the `--host` value unless `--allowed-hosts` widens it, and has no authentication. File access is limited to workspace roots unless `--allow-unrestricted-file-access`, with symlinks resolved since v0.0.81, and `--secrets` and `--redact-url-params` mask values in responses. `--isolated` is off by default, the allowed and blocked origin lists say they aren't a security boundary, `browser_run_code_unsafe`, described in its own text as RCE-equivalent in the server process, sits in the core set that can't be switched off, and on Linux the downloaded Chromium builds (`--browser chromium`, and since v0.0.81 a config naming `chromium` with no channel) launch without the Chromium sandbox unless `--sandbox` is set, while the default Chrome channel keeps it (10). Page content is untrusted and we found no prompt-injection guidance beyond a README line that the server isn't a security boundary and a release note to treat WebMCP tools as untrusted input (0). `--save-session`, traces, video and generated Playwright code for each action give the operator a record (12). Microsoft's MSRC reporting policy in SECURITY.md, and one advisory published, CVE-2025-9611 (High, fixed in v0.0.40) (15).)