diff --git a/packages/vitest/package.json b/packages/vitest/package.json
index f0c7710779c0..ec8873cec1f0 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/package.json
+++ b/packages/vitest/package.json
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@
     "@types/micromatch": "^4.0.2",
     "@types/prompts": "^2.4.4",
     "@types/sinonjs__fake-timers": "^8.1.2",
+    "@wdio/types": "^8.16.3",
     "birpc": "0.2.14",
     "chai-subset": "^1.6.0",
     "cli-truncate": "^3.1.0",
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/browser/webdriver.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/browser/webdriver.ts
index 29aa8a2f959c..f4ddccd5c3e0 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/browser/webdriver.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/browser/webdriver.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import type { Awaitable } from '@vitest/utils'
+import type { Capabilities } from '@wdio/types'
 import type { BrowserProvider, BrowserProviderOptions } from '../../types/browser'
 import { ensurePackageInstalled } from '../pkg'
 import type { WorkspaceProject } from '../workspace'
@@ -10,6 +11,14 @@ export interface WebdriverProviderOptions extends BrowserProviderOptions {
   browser: WebdriverBrowser
 }
 
+type BrowserOptionsKey = 'goog:chromeOptions' | 'moz:firefoxOptions' | 'ms:edgeOptions'
+interface WebdriverBrowserExtensionMapValue {
+  key: BrowserOptionsKey
+  value: {
+    args: string[]
+  }
+}
+
 export class WebdriverBrowserProvider implements BrowserProvider {
   public name = 'webdriverio'
 
@@ -42,6 +51,9 @@ export class WebdriverBrowserProvider implements BrowserProvider {
     const options = this.ctx.config.browser
 
     if (this.browser === 'safari') {
+      if (options.headless)
+        throw new Error('You\'ve enabled headless mode for Safari but it doesn\'t currently support it')
+
       const safaridriver = await import('safaridriver')
       safaridriver.start({ diagnose: true })
       this.stopSafari = () => safaridriver.stop()
@@ -53,13 +65,57 @@ export class WebdriverBrowserProvider implements BrowserProvider {
 
     const { remote } = await import('webdriverio')
 
+    const webdriverBrowserExtensionMap: {
+      chrome: WebdriverBrowserExtensionMapValue
+      firefox: WebdriverBrowserExtensionMapValue
+      edge: WebdriverBrowserExtensionMapValue
+    } = {
+      chrome: {
+        key: 'goog:chromeOptions',
+        value: {
+          args: [],
+        },
+      },
+      firefox: {
+        key: 'moz:firefoxOptions',
+        value: {
+          args: [],
+        },
+      },
+      edge: {
+        key: 'ms:edgeOptions',
+        value: {
+          args: [],
+        },
+      },
+    }
+
+    const capabilities: Capabilities.VendorExtensions & {
+      browserName: WebdriverProviderOptions['browser']
+    } = {
+      browserName: this.browser,
+    }
+
+    if (this.browser !== 'safari') {
+      if (options.headless) {
+        switch (this.browser) {
+          case 'chrome':
+            webdriverBrowserExtensionMap[this.browser].value.args = webdriverBrowserExtensionMap[this.browser].value.args.concat(['headless', 'disable-gpu'])
+            break
+          case 'firefox':
+            webdriverBrowserExtensionMap[this.browser].value.args.push('-headless')
+            break
+          case 'edge':
+            webdriverBrowserExtensionMap[this.browser].value.args.push('--headless')
+        }
+      }
+      capabilities[webdriverBrowserExtensionMap[this.browser].key] = webdriverBrowserExtensionMap[this.browser].value
+    }
+
     // TODO: close everything, if browser is closed from the outside
     this.cachedBrowser = await remote({
       logLevel: 'error',
-      capabilities: {
-        'browserName': this.browser,
-        'wdio:devtoolsOptions': { headless: options.headless },
-      },
+      capabilities,
     })
 
     return this.cachedBrowser
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 6c47174572df..fad90432bc87 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -1393,6 +1393,9 @@ importers:
       '@types/sinonjs__fake-timers':
         specifier: ^8.1.2
         version: 8.1.2
+      '@wdio/types':
+        specifier: ^8.16.3
+        version: 8.16.3
       birpc:
         specifier: 0.2.14
         version: 0.2.14
diff --git a/test/browser/specs/runner.test.mjs b/test/browser/specs/runner.test.mjs
index 3c9619d31652..b4a21fd3d685 100644
--- a/test/browser/specs/runner.test.mjs
+++ b/test/browser/specs/runner.test.mjs
@@ -5,7 +5,12 @@ import { execa } from 'execa'
 
 const browser = process.env.BROWSER || (process.env.PROVIDER === 'playwright' ? 'chromium' : 'chrome')
 
-const { stderr, stdout } = await execa('npx', ['vitest', '--run', `--browser.name=${browser}`, '--browser.headless'], {
+const testArgs = ['vitest', '--run', `--browser.name=${browser}`]
+// Safari doesn't support headless mode
+if (browser !== 'safari')
+  testArgs.push('--browser.headless')
+
+const { stderr, stdout } = await execa('npx', testArgs, {
   env: {
     ...process.env,
     CI: 'true',
@@ -24,8 +29,8 @@ const passedTests = getPassed(browserResultJson.testResults)
 const failedTests = getFailed(browserResultJson.testResults)
 
 await test('tests are actually running', async () => {
-  assert.ok(browserResultJson.testResults.length === 8, 'Not all the tests have been run')
-  assert.ok(passedTests.length === 7, 'Some tests failed')
+  assert.ok(browserResultJson.testResults.length === 9, 'Not all the tests have been run')
+  assert.ok(passedTests.length === 8, 'Some tests failed')
   assert.ok(failedTests.length === 1, 'Some tests have passed but should fail')
 
   assert.doesNotMatch(stderr, /Unhandled Error/, 'doesn\'t have any unhandled errors')
diff --git a/test/browser/test/headless.test.ts b/test/browser/test/headless.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8e0e7d9cf6df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/browser/test/headless.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import { expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+it('is running in headless mode', () => {
+  expect(navigator.userAgent.search(/headless/i)).not.toBe(-1)
+})