Cypress to Playwright migration, one part of the suite at a time

A Cypress to Playwright migration moves your end-to-end tests to Playwright without leaving your team without a safety net. At AutomationDataCamp, it starts with an assessment of your Cypress suite during a QA audit, then runs incrementally, with both suites in your CI until the Cypress tests can be retired.

What is a Cypress to Playwright migration?

A Cypress to Playwright migration is the rewrite of an existing Cypress test suite as Playwright tests, together with the configuration, fixtures, custom commands and pipeline jobs around it. It is not a line-by-line translation: the two tools have different execution models. Cypress queues commands that run inside the browser, while Playwright drives the browser from outside with async/await. A good migration also removes tests that no longer earn their place and fixes the ones that were flaky.

Why do teams migrate from Cypress to Playwright?

• Browser coverage: Playwright runs Chromium, Firefox and WebKit, the engine behind Safari, from the same API.
• Multiple tabs and origins: Playwright handles several pages, tabs and domains in one test, which helps with payment providers, single sign-on and pop-ups.
• Parallel execution: Playwright Test runs tests in parallel and shards them across CI machines out of the box, without a paid service.
• Languages: Playwright is available for JavaScript and TypeScript, Python, Java and .NET; Cypress tests are written in JavaScript or TypeScript.

Migrating is not always the right call. If your Cypress suite is stable, fast enough and covers the browsers your users have, the effort may be better spent elsewhere. Our comparison of Playwright and Cypress goes into the trade-offs, and the audit gives you a recommendation for your own suite, including "do not migrate yet".

What is included in the migration?

• An assessment of the existing Cypress suite: test inventory, custom commands, network stubbing, test data, flaky tests and run times.
• A target Playwright architecture: project structure, fixtures, page objects or helpers, configuration per environment.
• The migration of priority tests first, with obsolete or duplicate tests flagged for removal rather than copied.
• CI/CD jobs for the new suite, with parallel runs and reports (see how to automate tests in CI/CD).
• Skills transfer, so your developers can write and maintain Playwright tests themselves.

Everything is delivered in your repository.

How does the migration work?

1. Assessment during the QA audit (5 working days): we read the Cypress suite and the pipeline, map what each test protects, and produce a migration plan with priorities and a cost. One critical flow is automated in Playwright as proof of feasibility.
2. Framework set-up: the Playwright project is created next to the Cypress one, as part of QA industrialisation.
3. Incremental migration: tests move one functional area at a time, starting with the journeys that matter most to the business.
4. Both suites in CI: during the transition, Cypress and Playwright run side by side in your pipeline. A Cypress spec is deleted only once its Playwright replacement is green and stable, so coverage never drops.
5. Handover: the Cypress jobs are removed and your team takes over the new suite.

Stability gets particular attention, because a migration is a good moment to remove the causes of flaky tests rather than move them across (read 8 causes of flaky Playwright tests and how to fix them).

How long does a Cypress to Playwright migration take?

It depends on the size of the suite, the number of custom commands and plugins, how much the tests rely on network stubbing, and how stable your test environments are. We do not quote a duration before seeing the code. The audit gives you a plan with a timeline for your suite, and because the migration is incremental, your team keeps a working regression suite throughout.

How much does a Cypress to Playwright migration cost?

The first step is the QA audit: €1,000 excl. VAT, fixed price, delivered in 5 working days, which includes the assessment of your Cypress suite. The migration itself is delivered within QA industrialisation, which starts at €4,500 excl. VAT fixed price; for a migration, scope, timeline and final price are set after the audit, once the existing suite has been assessed. If you prefer to migrate gradually alongside your sprints, embedded QA at €300 excl. VAT per day is also an option.

Who does the work?

The AutomationDataCamp team, led by Oussama Belakhdar, QA architect and founder. Engagements are 100% remote, in English or French, for companies in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Europe, the Gulf states and the Nordics. We have tested software in healthcare, finance, e-invoicing, blockchain, logistics, e-commerce and document management.

Frequently asked questions

Can you convert Cypress tests to Playwright automatically?

Tools and AI assistants can speed up the first draft, but the two frameworks work differently, so every migrated test is reviewed, run and stabilised by hand. Obsolete tests are removed rather than converted.

Do we have to stop writing Cypress tests during the migration?

No. Both suites run in your CI during the transition. New tests are usually written in Playwright, and each Cypress spec is deleted once its Playwright replacement is green and stable.

How long does the migration take?

It depends on the size and state of your suite. We do not quote a duration before the audit; the audit gives you a plan, a timeline and a price for your suite.

How much does a Cypress to Playwright migration cost?

It starts with a €1,000 excl. VAT QA audit that includes the assessment of your Cypress suite. The migration is then delivered within QA industrialisation, from €4,500 excl. VAT fixed price, with scope and final price set after the audit.

Should we migrate at all?

Not always. If your Cypress suite is stable, fast enough and covers your users' browsers, migrating may not be worth it. The audit tells you whether to migrate now, later or not at all.