# Playwright MCP v0.0.83: what's new, verdict & setup Canonical: https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/playwright-mcp · Released: 2026-09-28 · Last verified: 2026-10-25 · Evidence: Tested (smoke test, 2026-10-25, no language model involved) · Vendor: Microsoft · Official site: https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-mcp > Microsoft's MCP server that lets agents drive a browser with Playwright. ## Verdict **Microsoft's MCP server that lets agents drive a browser with Playwright.** Good for: - Agents that need to test or navigate web pages Skip if: - You need DevTools-level performance traces (see Chrome DevTools MCP) Tested. Tested 2026-10-25 (America/Chicago). Playwright MCP 0.0.83 exposed 25 tools and navigated a headless Chrome to a local page in 40.5 ms median (cold start 383 ms). Test environment: Linux x86_64 virtual machine (Debian 13), 8 vCPU, 15 GiB RAM, no GPU; no vendor account, login or API key. No language model was involved in this test, so it says nothing about any model, vendor-hosted or local. Not tested: Remote (HTTP) transport, authentication and concurrent clients: only local stdio with one client was measured; Large payloads: calls used tiny inputs, so these latencies are protocol and process overhead, not throughput; Anything about answer quality: no model was involved in the latency numbers; These are single smoke-test runs; it is not a benchmark. The machine was shared with other jobs; Clicking, typing, screenshots and snapshot-based element selection: only navigation was timed. These are smoke tests, not a benchmark. Full log: /tests/playwright-mcp. Test scope: - Kind and date: smoke test, 2026-10-25 (America/Chicago). Not a benchmark. - What we ran: Playwright MCP 0.0.83 exposed 25 tools and navigated a headless Chrome to a local page in 40.5 ms median (cold start 383 ms). - Model used: None; no language model was involved - Environment: Linux x86_64 virtual machine (Debian 13), 8 vCPU, 15 GiB RAM, no GPU; no vendor account, login or API key - Not tested: Remote (HTTP) transport, authentication and concurrent clients: only local stdio with one client was measured; Large payloads: calls used tiny inputs, so these latencies are protocol and process overhead, not throughput; Anything about answer quality: no model was involved in the latency numbers; These are single smoke-test runs; it is not a benchmark. The machine was shared with other jobs; Clicking, typing, screenshots and snapshot-based element selection: only navigation was timed. Full test log (commands, versions, raw output): [Playwright MCP Playwright 1.64.0-alpha-1790635538000: our test log](https://theagenticweekly.com/tests/playwright-mcp) Pricing: Official page, dated. Open-source server; the service it connects to may have its own costs. (checked 2026-10-25) ## Best for - [Best AI tool for MCP servers](https://theagenticweekly.com/best/mcp-servers) (#-): Microsoft's MCP server that lets agents drive a browser with Playwright. ## Key facts Playwright MCP is Microsoft's MCP server for browser automation. It is Apache-2.0 licensed and v0.0.83 was released Sep 28, 2026. - License: Apache-2.0 (per GitHub) - Platforms: Node.js - Pricing model: Free and open source - Free tier: Free - Paid plans: None listed - GitHub: microsoft/playwright-mcp: 38,633 stars on 2026-10-25, last push 2026-10-22 - Latest release we saw: v0.0.83, 2026-09-28 - How to start: Add the server to your MCP client following the repository README. - v0.0.83 (2026-09-28): the newest release listed on the official page or repository when we read it on 2026-10-25. ## How to set it up: Get started with Playwright MCP These steps come from the vendor's own pages as read on 2026-10-25. We ran Playwright MCP on 2026-10-25; the test log lists what was and was not covered. 1. **Get access.** Add the server to your MCP client following the repository README. 2. **Check the limits and costs first.** Free. Open-source server; the service it connects to may have its own costs. ## Pros and cons Pros: - Apache-2.0 - Backed by the Playwright team Cons: - Version is still 0.0.x - Our test was one small task on a local 3B model; it does not show behaviour with hosted models or larger jobs ## Guides for Playwright MCP - [Playwright MCP server: setup, tools and what we measured](https://theagenticweekly.com/guides/playwright-mcp-server) (Tested (smoke test, 2026-10-25, no LLM involved); last verified 2026-10-26) ## Alternatives - [Chrome DevTools MCP](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/chrome-devtools-mcp): Chrome DevTools for coding agents. - [Browser Use](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/browser-use): Open-source library that lets AI agents drive a browser, with a pay-as-you-go cloud browser starting at $0.02 an hour. - [GitHub MCP Server](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/github-mcp-server): GitHub's official MCP server for repos, issues and pull requests. - [Figma MCP server](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/figma-mcp): Figma's own MCP server that gives coding agents access to design files. - [Firecrawl](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/firecrawl): Web data API: search, scrape and crawl for AI agents. - [MCP reference servers](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/mcp-servers): The MCP project's collection of reference servers. - [Context7](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/context7): Up-to-date, version-specific library docs served to coding agents. - [MCP Inspector](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/mcp-inspector): Official tool for exploring and testing MCP servers, with a web UI and a CLI. - [Supabase MCP](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/supabase-mcp): Connect Supabase projects to AI assistants. - [Sentry MCP](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/sentry-mcp): Sentry's agentic tooling and MCP server for errors and traces. - [Notion MCP Server](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/notion-mcp): Official Notion MCP server for reading and editing workspace content. ## FAQ ### What is Playwright MCP? Playwright MCP is Microsoft's MCP server for browser automation. It is Apache-2.0 licensed and v0.0.83 was released Sep 28, 2026. ### Is Playwright MCP free? Free. Open-source server; the service it connects to may have its own costs. Checked 2026-10-25; prices change, so confirm on the vendor's page. ### What license is Playwright MCP under? Its license: Apache-2.0 (per GitHub). Read from the project's own pages on 2026-10-25. ## Sources - [Playwright MCP repository (GitHub)](https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-mcp) (fetched 2026-10-25) ## How to cite Agentic Weekly, "Playwright MCP v0.0.83: what's new, verdict & setup", last updated 2026-10-25, https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/playwright-mcp Keep the Reported or Tested label when you quote the verdict.