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  • Linux VPS
  • Ubuntu 24.04

Selenium and Playwright on a VPS

Selenium and Playwright run well on a GhostRDP Linux VPS Standard plan with 4 vCPU and 8 GB RAM in Germany or the Netherlands, from €12.99/mo.

Headless browsers need a few system libraries that a fresh server doesn't have. Playwright installs them for you, and Selenium can use the same libraries. This guide sets up both in one Python environment.

Order Standard · €12.99/moInstall steps

  • Headless Chromium

    Playwright installs the browser and its system libraries.

  • Browsers in parallel

    Memory for several headless browsers at once.

  • Scheduled jobs

    Run scrapers on a timer with cron or systemd.

Plans for Selenium and Playwright

Each headless browser uses a few hundred MB of memory and a share of a core. Standard runs several browsers in parallel; Basic is fine for one or two.

  • Linux VPS Standard

    Recommended

    €12.99/mo

    €11.04/mo billed yearly, save €23/year

    • 4 vCPU
    • 8 GB ECC RAM
    • 70 GB NVMe
    • 1 Gbps port
    Order Standard

  • Linux VPS Pro

    €25.99/mo

    €22.09/mo billed yearly, save €46/year

    • 6 vCPU
    • 12 GB ECC RAM
    • 90 GB NVMe
    • 1 Gbps port
    Order Pro

  • Linux VPS Advanced

    €34.99/mo

    €29.74/mo billed yearly, save €62/year

    • 12 vCPU
    • 24 GB ECC RAM
    • 150 GB NVMe
    • 1 Gbps port
    Order Advanced

What you need

  • Operating system
    Linux VPS with Ubuntu 24.04 (Playwright supports Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04)
  • Minimum resources
    2 vCPU and 2 GB RAM for one or two browsers
  • Disk
    About 1 GB for the browser downloads

Official site: playwright.dev

How to install Selenium and Playwright

Written for Ubuntu 24.04 from the official instructions. Run the commands as root and replace YOUR_SERVER_IP with your server's address.

  1. 1

    Connect to your server over SSH

    Use the IP address and root password from your welcome email (the server page has a Copy SSH command button). Windows 10 and 11, macOS and Linux all include an SSH client in the terminal.

    Shell
    ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP
  2. 2

    Update the system

    Install the latest security updates before you add anything else.

    Shell
    apt update && apt -y upgrade
  3. 3

    Create a Python environment

    One virtual environment in /opt/scraper for both libraries.

    Shell
    apt install -y python3-venv
python3 -m venv /opt/scraper
/opt/scraper/bin/pip install playwright selenium
  4. 4

    Install Chromium and its system libraries

    Playwright downloads its Chromium build and installs the Linux packages browsers need.

    Shell
    /opt/scraper/bin/playwright install --with-deps chromium
  5. 5

    Test Playwright

    Opens a page in headless Chromium and prints its title.

    Shell
    /opt/scraper/bin/python - <<'EOF'
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

with sync_playwright() as p:
    browser = p.chromium.launch()
    page = browser.new_page()
    page.goto("https://example.com")
    print(page.title())
    browser.close()
EOF
  6. 6

    Test Selenium

    Selenium 4.6 and later downloads a matching Chrome and driver by itself (Selenium Manager) on first run.

    Shell
    /opt/scraper/bin/python - <<'EOF'
from selenium import webdriver

options = webdriver.ChromeOptions()
options.add_argument("--headless=new")
options.add_argument("--no-sandbox")
driver = webdriver.Chrome(options=options)
driver.get("https://example.com")
print(driver.title)
driver.quit()
EOF

After installing

  • Scheduling
    Run jobs on a timer with cron (crontab -e) or a systemd timer, and log output to a file.
  • Be a good citizen
    Respect each site's terms and robots.txt and keep request rates reasonable.
  • Proxies
    Each server has one IPv4 address. If you need more, add extra IPv4 addresses at checkout or use your own proxies.

Selenium and Playwright questions

Which plan do I need for scraping?

Standard for several browsers in parallel. Basic is enough for one or two at a time. Memory is usually the limit: plan on a few hundred MB per open browser.

Do I need a desktop to run the browsers?

No. Both run headless on a plain Linux server. If you prefer a visible browser, use a Windows RDP plan.

Should I use Playwright or Selenium?

Both work. Playwright installs its own browsers and waits for pages automatically; Selenium fits existing Selenium code and grids.

Can I add more IP addresses?

Yes, extra IPv4 addresses are an add-on at checkout.

Stuck on a step? Our team answers on live chat and in tickets.

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