What is the difference in chromedriver_binary and chomedriver.exe in selenium python

Question

From my knowledge, there are two ways to use a chrome driver with selenium in python:

1. either by downloading the chromedriver.exe, then by integrating it into the parameter:

   browser = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path=r"C:\path\to\chromedriver.exe")
   

2. either by installing chromedriver_binary via

   pip install chromedriver-binary
   

   in this case no more need to configure the instantiation of chrome driver

   browser = webdriver.Chrome()
   

My question is which is the most efficient method in terms of execution time? Which of these two methods do you recommend?

Answer 1

chromedriver-binary

chromedriver-binary downloads and installs the chromedriver binary version 97.0.4692.36 for automated testing of webapps. The installer supports Linux, MacOS and Windows operating systems.

• To install:

  pip install chromedriver-binary
  

• Usage: To use chromedriver you need the following import:

  import chromedriver_binary
  

  This will add the executable to your PATH so it will be found. You can also get the absolute filename of the binary using:

  chromedriver_binary.chromedriver_filename
  

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However with Selenium v3.x you can download the ChromeDriver and use the key executable_path to pass the absolute path of the ChromeDriver.

browser = webdriver.Chrome(executable_path=r"C:\path\to\chromedriver.exe")

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Conclusion

There is no best practices defined neither any efficiency matrix comparing the two approaches. It's the user perspective of comfortness. The only bonus point using executable_path is, you don't require to install any additional package.