XPath vs. CSS Selectors: The Difference and Winner (2025)

XPath and CSS selectors are the two most widely used DOM query languages. Most testing and web scraping scripts rely on them to select HTML elements. But which is the winner in an XPath vs. CSS selector comparison?

In this article, you'll learn how XPath and CSS selectors work, including a detailed comparison of both tools based on performance, syntax, learning curve, and features.

• Quick answer: XPath or CSS Selectors?
• What is XPath?
• How to use XPath.
• What is a CSS selector?
• How to use CSS selectors.
• XPath vs. CSS selectors: in-depth comparison.

Let's go!

Quick Answer: XPath or CSS Selector?

While XPath and CSS selectors share the goal of locating HTML nodes, they have distinct syntaxes, functionalities and performance.

Notably, CSS selectors' syntax is more beginner-friendly and easier to maintain. They're also faster than XPath, making them more desirable for large-scale projects. 

At the same time, XPath enjoys wider document type compatibility (CSS selectors only work with HTML documents). It also offers advanced selection features and flexibility, which might be especially relevant when handling more complex HTML structures.

Keep reading for side-by-side detailed comparisons between XPath and CSS with examples.

What Is XPath?

XPath stands for XML Path Language. It's an expression language for navigating and querying XML documents, including HTML. XPath involves defining expressions that describe a path to the desired XML/HTML node.

XPath expressions allow you to select nodes from the DOM, including elements, attributes, and text. It's possible to traverse the document's hierarchical structure from either the start or the end, globally or locally. Most browsers, HTML/XML parsers, and automation tools support XPath, making it an excellent tool for testing and web scraping.

Check out our guide to learn more about how to use XPath for web scraping:

Featured

XPath for Web Scraping: Step-by-Step Tutorial for Beginners

Learn to extract HTML data with XPath expressions for web scraping with this step-by-step tutorial. You'll also implement XPath in a real Python script.

👍 Pros

• XPath is cross-platform.
• XPath is a valuable tool for working with XML-like structures.
• It supports multi-directional traversal of the DOM tree.
• You can use XPath to target attributes and text nodes within elements.
• It has several built-in functions and operators for advanced element selection and data processing tasks.
• XPath supports absolute and relative search paths.

👎 Cons

• XPath has complex syntax.
• XPath queries can be computationally expensive.

How to Use XPath

Let's consider an example to help you understand how to use XPath. Assume you want to select all product name elements from the E-commerce Challenge page, a demo website with e-commerce features.

Each product page contains 16 products. So, the XPath expression will select 16 nodes.

Right-click a product name element and select "Inspect". Spend some time in the DevTools to get familiar with the page structure:

Here, you will notice that:

• All products are inside a <ul> element.
• Each product is a <li> element.
• The product name element is an <h2> element inside an <a>.

We'll now translate those considerations into an effective XPath selector.

An XPath selector usually starts with a double slash (//), followed by the tag name of the node. This syntax specifies all descendants of the current node, regardless of their level in the hierarchy. So, the starting XPath will be this:

//ul

Then, the single forward slash (/) selects the immediate children of the current node. You can get all product elements as shown:

//ul/li

The target <h2> elements aren't immediate children, as they're inside <a> tags. So, you need the // to select all product name nodes:

//ul/li//h2

The XPath is complete. Time to test it!

There are two ways to test an XPath expression in the DevTools:

A) Go to the "Elements" tab, use the Command + F shortcut to open the search input, paste the expression, and press "Enter".

B) Open the "Console" tab and use the $x() function to launch the XPath on the page:

Fantastic! The XPath defined above gets the 16 product name elements as expected.

Building an XPath expression from scratch can be challenging. Fortunately, most browsers offer a helpful feature to get a node's absolute or relative XPath selector. 

In the "Elements" tab, right-click on the target node and select "Copy > Copy XPath":

Your clipboard will now contain an XPath string. Unfortunately, browser-generated XPath selectors are usually too specific, and you can't entirely depend. They involve many details tied to the current UI. Any slight change in the page structure usually breaks them.

Perfect! You now know how XPath works. Keep reading to learn about CSS selectors.

What Is A CSS Selector?

A CSS selector is a pattern string that uses CSS to target specific HTML elements on a web page.

It can select elements by tags, class names, IDs, attribute values, and more with a simple syntax. CSS selectors are straightforward, making them an excellent tool for locating HTML nodes. That's why most testing and scraping scripts rely on them for element selection strategy.

👍 Pros

• CSS selectors are beginner-friendly with straightforward syntax.
• They offer better element selection efficiency than XPath.
• It provides intuitive selection via ID (#) or class selectors (.).
• CSS selectors are easy to read, understand, and maintain.
• They offer cross-browser compatibility.

👎 Cons

• Unlike XPath, CSS selectors can't directly target text nodes.
• CSS selectors don't support multi-directional DOM tree traversing.
• Direct selection of sibling elements requires custom iteration logic at the application level.

How to Use CSS Selectors

Let's learn how to define CSS selectors with an example. Again, you'll target product nodes from the E-commerce Challenge page. Visit the page in the browser, inspect a product name, and open the DevTools:

This time, focus on HTML tags and CSS classes of elements in the DOM structure.

Note that:

• Each product is in a <li> element with the class product.
• The product title is in an <h2> child with the class product-name.

To devise an effective CSS selector, you first need to focus on targeting the product elements. The following selector gets all elements with tag li and whose HTML class attribute contains product:

li.product

Then, target the product name with the space operator. In CSS, A B selects all B elements that are inside A. As there's only a single <h2> child inside each product card and its class is long and specific, you can go for a simple solution to search for all product name elements:

li.product h2

You can verify that in three popular ways in the DevTools: 

A) Reach the "Elements" tab, open the search input with the Command + F shortcut, paste the CSS selector, and press "Enter":

B) Open the "Console" tab and use the $$() function to test a CSS selector against the page:

C) Use the document.querySelectorAll() JavaScript function in the console:

Wonderful! You now know how to use a CSS selector.

Like XPath, most browsers can automatically produce CSS selectors for selected nodes. Inspect the desired element, right-click on it, and select "Copy >Copy Selector":

Yet, don't rely heavily on browser-generated locators because they're too tied to the site's current structure.

XPath vs. CSS Selectors: In-Depth Comparison

In this section, you'll see how XPath and CSS selectors compare in more detail. But first, use the table below to scan their differences.

Let's now compare both selectors using specific metrics.

CSS Selectors Are Faster than XPath

The performance of XPath or CSS selectors depends on several factors, like query complexity, browser version, library implementation, page structure complexity, and more. In some specific scenarios, one may be better than the other.

CSS selectors are generally faster than XPath because modern browsers have optimized native CSS engines for efficient element selection. However, XPath is better suited for edge cases, such as selecting elements with obfuscated attributes or navigating complex DOM structures.

CSS Selectors Are Easier to Learn and Use

The syntax for CSS selectors is generally considered easier for most users. It's more intuitive and concise. XPath's syntax is more tricky and verbose, especially for complex selections. Look at the table below for a syntax comparison:

As you can see, CSS selectors rely on a much more intuitive syntax, which makes them easier to write and read. The alternation between // and / makes XPath expressions confusing.

XPath Has More Advanced Filtering Logic

XPath uses low-level syntax to traverse the DOM tree flexibly and has advanced filtering logic. This feature makes it a better option for selecting elements based on their attributes, text content, and complex hierarchical relationships. 

Conversely, CSS selectors are more specific and limited to selecting elements based on their tag names, classes, IDs, and attributes without direct text or parent selection support.

CSS Selectors and XPath: Use Case Comparison

CSS selectors and XPath expressions are handy in browser automation, testing, and web scraping. Their different characteristics make them better for specific use cases. 

Use the quick guide below to learn which to choose based on your project's requirements.

CSS selectors shine when:

• The page structure isn't complex, and the selection goals are simple.
• You need to save execution time when scaling to thousands of pages.
• Project maintenance at scale is crucial.

XPath expressions are a better solution for:

• Complex document traversal, as XPath's real strength lies in its ability to navigate the DOM in both directions.
• Text content selection. In XPath 2.0, you can apply text pattern matching with matches().
• Fine-grained attribute-based selection and data extraction. 

Conclusion

In this XPath vs. CSS selector guide, you explored the two most popular HTML query languages. You started from the basics and then learned about their syntax and capabilities.

You know now:

• What XPath and CSS selectors are.
• Their pros and cons.
• How they work and how to define XPath / CSS selector queries.
• The differences between XPath and CSS selectors.

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