Microsoft Playwright Testing on Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Playwright Testing is a fully managed service for running Playwright-based end-to-end tests in the cloud. The service enables scalable and parallel execution of Playwright tests on Microsoft-managed infrastructure without operating your own test runners.
The service provides pre-configured browser environments (Chromium, Firefox, WebKit) and integrates seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines via Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or other systems. Through cloud-based parallelization, test suites can be executed significantly faster than on local machines.
Microsoft Playwright Testing is available in selected Azure regions and meets GDPR requirements when using European regions.
Typical Use Cases
CI/CD integration: Automatic execution of end-to-end tests with every commit or pull request without maintaining own test infrastructure.
Cross-browser testing: Parallel testing of web apps in Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit to ensure cross-browser compatibility.
Scalable test execution: Parallelization of large test suites across hundreds of browser instances for faster feedback cycles.
Visual regression tests: Screenshots and videos of tests for visual validation and debugging of UI issues.
Frequently Asked Questions about Microsoft Playwright Testing
What is the difference to local Playwright?
Microsoft Playwright Testing provides managed browser infrastructure, automatic scaling and parallelization, as well as integration with Azure services. Tests can be adopted unchanged from local Playwright execution but run faster and without consuming local resources.
Which Playwright versions are supported?
The service supports current Playwright versions and is regularly updated. Specific versions can be specified in test configurations to ensure compatibility with existing test suites.
How does parallelization work?
Tests are automatically distributed across multiple browser workers. The number of parallel workers can be configured. Playwright’s sharding mechanism ensures even distribution of tests and optimal execution time.
Can I save screenshots and videos from tests?
Yes, Playwright Testing can create screenshots on failures and videos of test executions and store them in Azure Storage. These artifacts can be used for debugging and reporting.
How is billing structured?
Costs are based on test execution minutes. There is a free tier with limited minutes per month. Beyond that, fees per test minute apply, depending on the chosen service tier.
Does the service support authentication and secret credentials?
Yes, integration with Azure Key Vault enables secure management of credentials and secrets for tests. Additionally, Azure Managed Identities can be used for authentication against other Azure services.
Can I test local development environments?
No, Microsoft Playwright Testing can only test publicly accessible URLs. For tests against local development servers, they must be temporarily made publicly accessible (e.g., via Azure Dev Tunnels) or tests must be run locally.
Alternatives
alternatives:
- provider: “aws” product: “device-farm”
- provider: “gcp” product: “cloud-test-lab”
Integration with innFactory
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, innFactory supports you in implementing end-to-end testing strategies with Microsoft Playwright Testing. We help with test automation, CI/CD integration, and optimization of test pipelines.
Contact us for a non-binding consultation on Microsoft Playwright Testing.
