How to set Selenium Python WebDriver default timeout?

Setting default timeout in Selenium Python WebDriver helps prevent tests from hanging indefinitely. Selenium provides two main approaches: set_page_load_timeout() for page loading and implicitly_wait() for element location.

Page Load Timeout

The set_page_load_timeout() method sets a timeout for page loading. If the page doesn't load within the specified time, a TimeoutException is thrown.

Syntax

driver.set_page_load_timeout(timeout_in_seconds)

Example

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from selenium.common.exceptions import TimeoutException

# Setup WebDriver
service = Service()
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service)

try:
    # Set page load timeout to 10 seconds
    driver.set_page_load_timeout(10)
    driver.get("https://www.tutorialspoint.com/")
    print("Page loaded successfully")
except TimeoutException:
    print("Page load timeout exceeded")
finally:
    driver.quit()

Implicit Wait

The implicitly_wait() method sets a default timeout for finding elements. This is a global setting applied to all element location operations throughout the WebDriver session.

Syntax

driver.implicitly_wait(timeout_in_seconds)

Example

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service

# Setup WebDriver
service = Service()
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service)

try:
    # Set implicit wait to 10 seconds
    driver.implicitly_wait(10)
    driver.get("https://www.tutorialspoint.com/")
    
    # This will wait up to 10 seconds for the element to appear
    element = driver.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "h1")
    print(f"Found element: {element.text}")
    
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error: {e}")
finally:
    driver.quit()

Comparison

Best Practices

Use reasonable timeout values − too short may cause false failures, too long slows down test execution. Combine both methods for comprehensive timeout handling:

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service

service = Service()
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service)

# Set both timeouts
driver.set_page_load_timeout(30)  # 30 seconds for page load
driver.implicitly_wait(10)        # 10 seconds for element finding

# Your test code here
driver.get("https://www.tutorialspoint.com/")

Conclusion

Use set_page_load_timeout() to control page loading duration and implicitly_wait() for element location timeouts. Setting both ensures robust test execution without indefinite hanging.