What is Puppeteer-Sharp and how does it differ from Puppeteer?

What is Puppeteer-Sharp?

Puppeteer-Sharp is a .NET port of Google's Puppeteer library, providing a high-level API to control headless Chrome or Chromium browsers over the DevTools Protocol. Originally developed by Darío Kondratiuk, Puppeteer-Sharp brings the power of headless browser automation to the .NET ecosystem, enabling C# developers to perform web scraping, automated testing, and browser automation tasks.

Core Features

Puppeteer-Sharp provides comprehensive browser automation capabilities including:

Page Navigation: Load web pages and handle complex SPAs
Element Interaction: Click buttons, fill forms, and simulate user actions
Data Extraction: Extract text, HTML, and structured data from pages
Screenshot Capture: Generate full-page or element-specific screenshots
PDF Generation: Convert web pages to PDF documents
Network Monitoring: Intercept and analyze network requests
JavaScript Execution: Run custom JavaScript in the browser context

Key Differences Between Puppeteer and Puppeteer-Sharp

1. Language and Platform

Puppeteer: JavaScript/TypeScript running on Node.js
Puppeteer-Sharp: C# running on .NET Framework/.NET Core/.NET 5+

2. Installation and Package Management

Puppeteer: Installed via npm/yarn package manager
Puppeteer-Sharp: Installed via NuGet package manager

3. Asynchronous Programming Patterns

Puppeteer: Uses JavaScript Promises and async/await
Puppeteer-Sharp: Uses .NET Task-based Asynchronous Pattern (TAP)

4. API Naming Conventions

Puppeteer: Uses camelCase (e.g., newPage(), goto())
Puppeteer-Sharp: Uses PascalCase following .NET conventions (e.g., NewPageAsync(), GoToAsync())

5. Browser Management

Puppeteer: Automatically downloads Chromium during installation
Puppeteer-Sharp: Requires explicit browser download using BrowserFetcher

6. Error Handling

Puppeteer: JavaScript-style exception handling
Puppeteer-Sharp: .NET exception handling with try-catch blocks

Installation

Installing Puppeteer (Node.js)

# npm
npm install puppeteer

# yarn
yarn add puppeteer

Installing Puppeteer-Sharp (.NET)

# Package Manager Console
Install-Package PuppeteerSharp

# .NET CLI
dotnet add package PuppeteerSharp

# PackageReference (in .csproj)
<PackageReference Include="PuppeteerSharp" Version="13.0.2" />

Code Examples and Comparisons

Basic Page Screenshot

Puppeteer (JavaScript):

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

(async () => {
    const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
    const page = await browser.newPage();
    await page.goto('https://example.com');
    await page.screenshot({ path: 'example.png' });
    await browser.close();
})();

Puppeteer-Sharp (C#):

using PuppeteerSharp;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Download browser if not exists
        await new BrowserFetcher().DownloadAsync();

        var browser = await Puppeteer.LaunchAsync(new LaunchOptions
        {
            Headless = true
        });

        var page = await browser.NewPageAsync();
        await page.GoToAsync("https://example.com");
        await page.ScreenshotAsync("example.png");
        await browser.CloseAsync();
    }
}

Form Interaction and Data Extraction

Puppeteer (JavaScript):

const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

(async () => {
    const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ headless: false });
    const page = await browser.newPage();

    await page.goto('https://example.com/search');
    await page.type('#search-input', 'puppeteer');
    await page.click('#search-button');
    await page.waitForSelector('.results');

    const results = await page.evaluate(() => {
        return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.result')).map(result => ({
            title: result.querySelector('h3').textContent,
            url: result.querySelector('a').href
        }));
    });

    console.log(results);
    await browser.close();
})();

Puppeteer-Sharp (C#):

using PuppeteerSharp;
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

class Program
{
    static async Task Main(string[] args)
    {
        await new BrowserFetcher().DownloadAsync();

        var browser = await Puppeteer.LaunchAsync(new LaunchOptions
        {
            Headless = false
        });

        var page = await browser.NewPageAsync();

        await page.GoToAsync("https://example.com/search");
        await page.TypeAsync("#search-input", "puppeteer");
        await page.ClickAsync("#search-button");
        await page.WaitForSelectorAsync(".results");

        var results = await page.EvaluateFunctionAsync<dynamic[]>(@"() => {
            return Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('.result')).map(result => ({
                title: result.querySelector('h3').textContent,
                url: result.querySelector('a').href
            }));
        }");

        foreach (var result in results)
        {
            Console.WriteLine($"Title: {result.title}, URL: {result.url}");
        }

        await browser.CloseAsync();
    }
}

PDF Generation

Puppeteer-Sharp (C#):

using PuppeteerSharp;
using PuppeteerSharp.Media;

var browser = await Puppeteer.LaunchAsync(new LaunchOptions { Headless = true });
var page = await browser.NewPageAsync();

await page.GoToAsync("https://example.com");
await page.PdfAsync("output.pdf", new PdfOptions
{
    Format = PaperFormat.A4,
    PrintBackground = true,
    MarginOptions = new MarginOptions
    {
        Top = "1cm",
        Bottom = "1cm",
        Left = "1cm",
        Right = "1cm"
    }
});

await browser.CloseAsync();

Performance and Community Considerations

Community and Ecosystem

Puppeteer: Larger community, extensive documentation, more third-party tools and integrations
Puppeteer-Sharp: Smaller but active community, primarily focused on .NET developers

Performance

Puppeteer: Generally faster startup times, native JavaScript execution
Puppeteer-Sharp: Slight overhead due to .NET marshalling, but comparable performance for most use cases

Feature Parity

Puppeteer-Sharp maintains close API compatibility with Puppeteer
New features in Puppeteer may take time to be implemented in Puppeteer-Sharp
Both support the same underlying Chrome DevTools Protocol features

When to Choose Puppeteer-Sharp

Choose Puppeteer-Sharp when: - Your application is built on the .NET platform - You need to integrate browser automation with existing C# codebases - You prefer strongly-typed APIs and compile-time error checking - Your team has .NET expertise but limited JavaScript/Node.js experience - You're building Windows-first applications or services

Summary

Puppeteer-Sharp brings the powerful capabilities of Google's Puppeteer to the .NET ecosystem, enabling C# developers to perform sophisticated browser automation tasks without leaving their preferred development environment. While there are some differences in syntax and conventions, the core functionality remains consistent, making it an excellent choice for .NET developers who need headless browser automation capabilities.

Table of contents

What is Puppeteer-Sharp and how does it differ from Puppeteer?