diff --git a/docs/src/test-api/class-testconfig.md b/docs/src/test-api/class-testconfig.md
index 37b9ca5f27..90425fcf4c 100644
--- a/docs/src/test-api/class-testconfig.md
+++ b/docs/src/test-api/class-testconfig.md
@@ -629,6 +629,9 @@ export default defineConfig({
   - `stdout` ?<["pipe"|"ignore"]> If `"pipe"`, it will pipe the stdout of the command to the process stdout. If `"ignore"`, it will ignore the stdout of the command. Default to `"ignore"`.
   - `stderr` ?<["pipe"|"ignore"]> Whether to pipe the stderr of the command to the process stderr or ignore it. Defaults to `"pipe"`.
   - `timeout` ?<[int]> How long to wait for the process to start up and be available in milliseconds. Defaults to 60000.
+  - `gracefulShutdown` ?<[Object]> How to shut down the process. If unspecified, the process group is forcefully `SIGKILL`ed. If set to `{ signal: 'SIGINT', timeout: 500 }`, the process group is sent a `SIGINT` signal, followed by `SIGKILL` if it doesn't exit within 500ms. You can also use `SIGTERM` instead. A `0` timeout means no `SIGKILL` will be sent. Windows doesn't support `SIGINT` and `SIGTERM` signals, so this option is ignored.
+    - `signal` <["SIGINT"|"SIGTERM"]>
+    - `timeout` <[int]> 
   - `url` ?<[string]> The url on your http server that is expected to return a 2xx, 3xx, 400, 401, 402, or 403 status code when the server is ready to accept connections. Redirects (3xx status codes) are being followed and the new location is checked. Either `port` or `url` should be specified.
 
 Launch a development web server (or multiple) during the tests.
diff --git a/docs/src/test-webserver-js.md b/docs/src/test-webserver-js.md
index bf01a5cd27..f4c86197c0 100644
--- a/docs/src/test-webserver-js.md
+++ b/docs/src/test-webserver-js.md
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
 | `stdout` | If `"pipe"`, it will pipe the stdout of the command to the process stdout. If `"ignore"`, it will ignore the stdout of the command. Default to `"ignore"`. |
 | `stderr` | Whether to pipe the stderr of the command to the process stderr or ignore it. Defaults to `"pipe"`. |
 | `timeout` | How long to wait for the process to start up and be available in milliseconds. Defaults to 60000. |
+| `gracefulShutdown` | How to shut down the process. If unspecified, the process group is forcefully `SIGKILL`ed. If set to `{ signal: 'SIGINT', timeout: 500 }`, the process group is sent a `SIGINT` signal, followed by `SIGKILL` if it doesn't exit within 500ms. You can also use `SIGTERM` instead. A `0` timeout means no `SIGKILL` will be sent. Windows doesn't support `SIGINT` and `SIGTERM` signals, so this option is ignored. |
 
 ## Adding a server timeout
 
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/processLauncher.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/processLauncher.ts
index 4e6c1030b2..1310f95277 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/processLauncher.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/processLauncher.ts
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ export async function launchProcess(options: LaunchProcessOptions): Promise<Laun
   let processClosed = false;
   let fulfillCleanup = () => {};
   const waitForCleanup = new Promise<void>(f => fulfillCleanup = f);
-  spawnedProcess.once('exit', (exitCode, signal) => {
+  spawnedProcess.once('close', (exitCode, signal) => {
     options.log(`[pid=${spawnedProcess.pid}] <process did exit: exitCode=${exitCode}, signal=${signal}>`);
     processClosed = true;
     gracefullyCloseSet.delete(gracefullyClose);
diff --git a/packages/playwright/src/plugins/webServerPlugin.ts b/packages/playwright/src/plugins/webServerPlugin.ts
index e2474f35f2..002ad235bd 100644
--- a/packages/playwright/src/plugins/webServerPlugin.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright/src/plugins/webServerPlugin.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ export type WebServerPluginOptions = {
   url?: string;
   ignoreHTTPSErrors?: boolean;
   timeout?: number;
+  gracefulShutdown?: { signal: 'SIGINT' | 'SIGTERM', timeout?: number };
   reuseExistingServer?: boolean;
   cwd?: string;
   env?: { [key: string]: string; };
@@ -92,7 +93,7 @@ export class WebServerPlugin implements TestRunnerPlugin {
     }
 
     debugWebServer(`Starting WebServer process ${this._options.command}...`);
-    const { launchedProcess, kill } = await launchProcess({
+    const { launchedProcess, gracefullyClose } = await launchProcess({
       command: this._options.command,
       env: {
         ...DEFAULT_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLES,
@@ -102,14 +103,33 @@ export class WebServerPlugin implements TestRunnerPlugin {
       cwd: this._options.cwd,
       stdio: 'stdin',
       shell: true,
-      // Reject to indicate that we cannot close the web server gracefully
-      // and should fallback to non-graceful shutdown.
-      attemptToGracefullyClose: () => Promise.reject(),
+      attemptToGracefullyClose: async () => {
+        if (process.platform === 'win32')
+          throw new Error('Graceful shutdown is not supported on Windows');
+        if (!this._options.gracefulShutdown)
+          throw new Error('skip graceful shutdown');
+
+        const { signal, timeout = 0 } = this._options.gracefulShutdown;
+
+        // proper usage of SIGINT is to send it to the entire process group, see https://www.cons.org/cracauer/sigint.html
+        // there's no such convention for SIGTERM, so we decide what we want. signaling the process group for consistency.
+        process.kill(-launchedProcess.pid!, signal);
+
+        return new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+          const timer = timeout !== 0
+            ? setTimeout(() => reject(new Error(`process didn't close gracefully within timeout`)), timeout)
+            : undefined;
+          launchedProcess.once('close', (...args) => {
+            clearTimeout(timer);
+            resolve();
+          });
+        });
+      },
       log: () => {},
       onExit: code => processExitedReject(new Error(code ? `Process from config.webServer was not able to start. Exit code: ${code}` : 'Process from config.webServer exited early.')),
       tempDirectories: [],
     });
-    this._killProcess = kill;
+    this._killProcess = gracefullyClose;
 
     debugWebServer(`Process started`);
 
diff --git a/packages/playwright/types/test.d.ts b/packages/playwright/types/test.d.ts
index 7c9cae5415..cff8c8ca60 100644
--- a/packages/playwright/types/test.d.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright/types/test.d.ts
@@ -9657,6 +9657,18 @@ interface TestConfigWebServer {
    */
   timeout?: number;
 
+  /**
+   * How to shut down the process. If unspecified, the process group is forcefully `SIGKILL`ed. If set to `{ signal:
+   * 'SIGINT', timeout: 500 }`, the process group is sent a `SIGINT` signal, followed by `SIGKILL` if it doesn't exit
+   * within 500ms. You can also use `SIGTERM` instead. A `0` timeout means no `SIGKILL` will be sent. Windows doesn't
+   * support `SIGINT` and `SIGTERM` signals, so this option is ignored.
+   */
+  gracefulShutdown?: {
+    signal: "SIGINT"|"SIGTERM";
+
+    timeout: number;
+  };
+
   /**
    * The url on your http server that is expected to return a 2xx, 3xx, 400, 401, 402, or 403 status code when the
    * server is ready to accept connections. Redirects (3xx status codes) are being followed and the new location is
diff --git a/tests/playwright-test/web-server.spec.ts b/tests/playwright-test/web-server.spec.ts
index 04e3c1d328..6caed12a42 100644
--- a/tests/playwright-test/web-server.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/playwright-test/web-server.spec.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import type http from 'http';
 import path from 'path';
 import { test, expect, parseTestRunnerOutput } from './playwright-test-fixtures';
+import type { RunResult } from './playwright-test-fixtures';
 import { createHttpServer } from '../../packages/playwright-core/lib/utils/network';
 
 const SIMPLE_SERVER_PATH = path.join(__dirname, 'assets', 'simple-server.js');
@@ -744,3 +745,66 @@ test('should forward stdout when set to "pipe" before server is ready', async ({
   expect(result.output).toContain('[WebServer] output from server');
   expect(result.output).not.toContain('Timed out waiting 3000ms');
 });
+
+test.describe('gracefulShutdown option', () => {
+  test.skip(process.platform === 'win32', 'No sending SIGINT on Windows');
+
+  const files = (additionalOptions = {}) => {
+    const port = test.info().workerIndex * 2 + 10510;
+    return {
+      'child.js': `
+        process.on('SIGINT', () => { console.log('%%childprocess received SIGINT'); setTimeout(() => process.exit(), 10) })
+        process.on('SIGTERM', () => { console.log('%%childprocess received SIGTERM'); setTimeout(() => process.exit(), 10) })
+        setTimeout(() => {}, 100000) // prevent child from exiting
+      `,
+      'web-server.js': `
+        require("node:child_process").fork('./child.js', { silent: false })
+        
+        process.on('SIGINT', () => {
+          console.log('%%webserver received SIGINT but stubbornly refuses to wind down')
+        })
+        process.on('SIGTERM', () => {
+          console.log('%%webserver received SIGTERM but stubbornly refuses to wind down')
+        })
+
+        const server = require("node:http").createServer((req, res) => { res.end("ok"); })
+        server.listen(process.argv[2]);
+      `,
+      'test.spec.ts': `
+        import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
+        test('pass', async ({}) => {});
+      `,
+      'playwright.config.ts': `
+        module.exports = {
+          webServer: {
+            command: 'echo some-precondition && node web-server.js ${port}',
+            port: ${port},
+            stdout: 'pipe',
+            timeout: 3000,
+            ...${JSON.stringify(additionalOptions)}
+          },
+        };
+      `,
+    };
+  };
+
+  function parseOutputLines(result: RunResult): string[] {
+    const prefix = '[WebServer] %%';
+    return result.output.split('\n').filter(line => line.startsWith(prefix)).map(line => line.substring(prefix.length));
+  }
+
+  test('sends SIGKILL by default', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
+    const result = await runInlineTest(files(), { workers: 1 });
+    expect(parseOutputLines(result)).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  test('can be configured to send SIGTERM', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
+    const result = await runInlineTest(files({ gracefulShutdown: { signal: 'SIGTERM', timeout: 500 } }), { workers: 1 });
+    expect(parseOutputLines(result).sort()).toEqual(['childprocess received SIGTERM', 'webserver received SIGTERM but stubbornly refuses to wind down']);
+  });
+
+  test('can be configured to send SIGINT', async ({ runInlineTest }) => {
+    const result = await runInlineTest(files({ gracefulShutdown: { signal: 'SIGINT', timeout: 500 } }), { workers: 1 });
+    expect(parseOutputLines(result).sort()).toEqual(['childprocess received SIGINT', 'webserver received SIGINT but stubbornly refuses to wind down']);
+  });
+});