diff --git a/lib/helper/Playwright.js b/lib/helper/Playwright.js
index 939988c9a..5ea865d99 100644
--- a/lib/helper/Playwright.js
+++ b/lib/helper/Playwright.js
@@ -575,7 +575,8 @@ class Playwright extends Helper {
     // Clear popup state to ensure clean state for each test
     popupStore.clear()
 
-    recorder.retry({
+    // Configure retry for this test; will clean up after test completes
+    this._retryConfig = {
       retries: test?.opts?.conditionalRetries || 3,
       when: err => {
         if (!err || typeof err.message !== 'string') {
@@ -584,7 +585,8 @@ class Playwright extends Helper {
         // ignore context errors
         return err.message.includes('context')
       },
-    })
+    }
+    recorder.retry(this._retryConfig)
 
     // Start browser if needed (initial start or browser restart strategy)
     if (!this.isRunning && !this.options.manualStart) await this._startBrowser()
@@ -689,6 +691,12 @@ class Playwright extends Helper {
   }
 
   async _after() {
+    // Clean up our retry config to prevent accumulation
+    if (this._retryConfig) {
+      recorder.retries = recorder.retries.filter(r => r !== this._retryConfig)
+      this._retryConfig = null
+    }
+
     if (!this.isRunning) return
 
     // Clear popup state to prevent leakage between tests
diff --git a/lib/helper/Puppeteer.js b/lib/helper/Puppeteer.js
index ff00f6dd8..094b3752c 100644
--- a/lib/helper/Puppeteer.js
+++ b/lib/helper/Puppeteer.js
@@ -354,7 +354,8 @@ class Puppeteer extends Helper {
   async _before(test) {
     this.sessionPages = {}
     this.currentRunningTest = test
-    recorder.retry({
+    // Configure retry for this test; will clean up after test completes
+    this._retryConfig = {
       retries: test?.opts?.conditionalRetries || 3,
       when: err => {
         if (!err || typeof err.message !== 'string') {
@@ -363,13 +364,20 @@ class Puppeteer extends Helper {
         // ignore context errors
         return err.message.includes('context')
       },
-    })
+    }
+    recorder.retry(this._retryConfig)
     if (this.options.restart && !this.options.manualStart) return this._startBrowser()
     if (!this.isRunning && !this.options.manualStart) return this._startBrowser()
     return this.browser
   }
 
   async _after() {
+    // Clean up our retry config to prevent accumulation
+    if (this._retryConfig) {
+      recorder.retries = recorder.retries.filter(r => r !== this._retryConfig)
+      this._retryConfig = null
+    }
+
     if (!this.isRunning) return
 
     // Clear popup state to prevent leakage between tests
diff --git a/lib/plugin/retryFailedStep.js b/lib/plugin/retryFailedStep.js
index 394fa4e5c..2ff51fe86 100644
--- a/lib/plugin/retryFailedStep.js
+++ b/lib/plugin/retryFailedStep.js
@@ -152,7 +152,9 @@ export default function (config) {
     test.opts.stepRetryPriority = stepRetryPriority
 
     debug('applying retries = %d for test %s', config.retries, test.title)
-    recorder.retry(config)
+    if (!recorder.retries.find(r => r === config)) {
+      recorder.retry(config)
+    }
   })
 
   event.dispatcher.on(event.test.started, test => {
@@ -171,4 +173,8 @@ export default function (config) {
       test.opts.conditionalRetries = test.opts.conditionalRetries || config.retries
     }
   })
+
+  event.dispatcher.on(event.test.after, () => {
+    recorder.retries = recorder.retries.filter(r => r !== config)
+  })
 }