Top 5 Performance Testing Tools in 2022
- WebLoad
- Katalon Studio
- Apache JMeter
- NeoLoad
- LoadRunner
In practice, software applications address problems such as running slow while several users use it simultaneously, inconsistency across different operating systems and poor usability. Thereby, a method was generated: Performance testing. Above all, the main purpose of this testing type is to provide stakeholders with information about the application regarding speed, stability, and scalability.
What is performance testing?
Performance testing is a non-functional testing technique to determine the system parameters in terms of responsiveness and stability under various workloads. Most importantly, the goal of performance testing is not to find bugs but to eliminate performance bottlenecks such as long load time, poor response time, poor stability, etc.
Performance testing types
As a tester, it is essential to understand various types of test and how those can benefit your applications. Generally, you can classify Performance testing into common categories below:
- Load testing: This testing type evaluates the performance of the system under normal and peak load conditions.
- Endurance testing: Endurance testing is an evaluation of how software performs with a normal workload over an extended amount of time. Primarily, the purpose of this testing type is to check for system problems. Endurance testing is also known as soak testing
- Volume testing: Also known as Flood testing – determines how efficiently software performs with a large, projected amount of data.
- Scalability testing: This testing type measures the application’s performance in terms of its ability to scale up or scale down the number of user requests or any of its non-functional capability.
- Spike testing: Spike testing estimates the weakness of an application.
- Stress testing: The purpose of this testing is to evaluate the performance of the system when pushing the application beyond the normal or peak load conditions.
Automation testing tools
Specifically, automated tools execute performance testing when you need to simulate real user activities. They work as follow:
- Identify transactions and pages to test
- Record user activity and generate a test script
- Identify data and parameters of the application (workload characterization)
- Modify the script according to the data just identified to reflect the activity of several users
- Playback the script increasing the numbers of simulated users (virtual users)
- Extract response time of main user transactions or pages
Top 5 Performance Testing Tools
Selecting the right performance testing tool plays an essential role in the success of a testing project. A suitable tool can help save plenty of time and budget for the team. Below are the suggestions for top 5 excellent tools to consider for performance testing:
1. WebLoad
WebLoad is an enterprise-scale load testing tool which features a comprehensive IDE, Load Generation Console, and a sophisticated Analytics Dashboard. It has built-in flexibility, allowing QA and DevOps teams to create complex load testing scenarios. Apart from being a multifacet tool, WebLoad also enjoy these notable features include:
- Easy to use with DOM-based record and playback feature.
- Flexible test scenarios creation on the Cloud (SaaS) or on-premise deployment.
- Powerful correlation, parameterization and validation engines engine
- Automatic bottleneck detection via insightful dashboards with real-time metrics, graphs, and layouts.
- Smart scripting based on Native JavaScript scripting.
- Integrations with an array of web protocols, Selenium, and CI/CD – DevOps practices like Jenkins.
- Easy-to-reach customer support.
Website: https://www.radview.com/
2. Katalon Studio
Katalon Studio, developed by Katalon, is a powerful automation solution with a comprehensive and integrated set of features for Web, API, desktop and mobile test automation that users can implement into their CI/CD pipeline. Besides, some distinguished advantages of this tool are:
- Easy to set up and quick to get started
- Provide integration with the third party tools such as Jira, Git, Jenkins, etc.
- Provide inbuilt image based test automation
- Hundreds of built-in keywords for creating test cases
- Support BDD Cucumber to express test scenario in natural languages
- Smart Wait fixes the timing issue in which elements on the web page are loaded at different time intervals.
- The testing capability can be extended via plugins on Katalon Store
- In-depth views of reports on Katalon TestOps.
- Execute existing test cases from Selenium/TestNG/JUnit projects without adding any code.
Website: https://katalon.com/
3. Apache JMeter
Considered as one of the most preferred tools for performance testing, JMeter is an open source tool that can be used for performance and load testing for analyzing and measuring the performance of a variety of software services and products. Additionally, some advantages of this tool are:
- Highly portable for many different application/server/protocol types: Web (http, https); SOAP/REST WebServices; native commands or shell scripts, etc.
- Less scripting efforts
- Simple charts, graphs, and plugins visualizing data
- Support Integrated collectors
- Easy Continuous Integration with third party libraries such as Maven, Gradle and Jenkins
- Extract data in many formats such as HTML, JSON , XML
- Cache and offline replay test results.
Website: https://jmeter.apache.org/
4. NeoLoad
Developed by Neotys, NeoLoad is a testing platform for enterprises to automate tests from APIs, mobile, to Web applications. It is designed to automate test design, maintenance, and analysis. In addition, NeoLoad integrates with continuous delivery pipelines to support performance testing. The tool provides many advanced features, including:
- Integrate with CI/CD servers for Jenkins, TeamCity, Bamboo and XebiaLabs XL Release
- Automated test design enabling 10x faster creation
- Collaboration: Shared test scripts and reports.
- Hybrid on-premise and cloud load generation
- Support SOAP/Web Services with options for REST and WSDL API testing.
- Convert existing Selenium, Worksoft Certify, and Tricentis Tosca functional tests.
Website: https://www.neotys.com/
5. LoadRunner
Developed by Micro Focus, LoadRunner is used to test applications, measure system behavior, and performance under load. This testing tool can also simulate thousands of users concurrently using application software.
Some of the advantages of this tool are:
- Lower the cost of distributed load testing
- A wide range of application environments and protocols, including Web/Mobile, Web service, HTML5, WebSockets, Oracle, and SAP, to name but a few
- Scale from single projects to a full-scale testing Center of Excellence (CoEs)
- Reducing the risk of deploying systems
- Lower hardware and software costs
- Effective tool utilization tracking
- Browser-based access to global test resources
Website: https://www.microfocus.com/en-us/products/loadrunner-load-testing/overview
Learn more: Top 3 API Testing Tool Comparison: SoapUI vs Postman, Katalon Studio