Playwright vs Chrome DevTools

Both run a local browser. Playwright MCP drives pages through accessibility snapshots; Chrome DevTools MCP adds performance traces, network inspection and console access to a live Chrome.

	Playwright	Chrome DevTools
Category	Dev Tools	Dev Tools
Status	Official · Microsoft	Official · Google Chrome
Transport	Local (stdio)	Local (stdio)
Auth method	None (local browser)	None (local browser)
Scopes / permissions	—	—
Tools listed	8	4
In Config Builder	Yes	Yes
Last verified	Oct 15, 2026	Oct 22, 2026
Summary	Browser automation for agents using Playwright accessibility snapshots.	Let coding agents control and inspect a live Chrome browser with DevTools.
Key tools	browser_navigate browser_snapshot browser_click browser_fill_form browser_evaluate browser_file_upload browser_console_messages browser_close	Navigation and input automation Performance traces Network request inspection Console messages and screenshots

Playwright setup

Run with npx

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@playwright/mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Full spec sheet →+ Add to config

Chrome DevTools setup

Run with npx

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chrome-devtools": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Full spec sheet →+ Add to config

Built from the verified data on each spec sheet. Check the official pages before relying on details.