Among the latter, performance characteristics play a special part. Slow, crashing, and lagging apps have no chance to take off. So neglect of performance testing can result in a real disaster. To avoid it QA engineers execute diverse types of performance testing leveraging special tools.

We have consulted with the leading software testing companies represented in our list of Top Software Testing Companies and decided to provide you with unbiased recommendations on the best performance testing tools. If you make your first steps towards performance testing our list will be of great help for you.

List Of The Best Load Testing Tools in 2023

1. Micro Focus LoadRunner
2. Akamai CloudTest
3. ReadyAPI by SmartBear
4. Radview WebLOAD
5. Apache JMeter by The Apache Software Foundation
6. IBM Rational Performance Tester
7. Loadster
8. Tricentis NeoLoad
9. BlazeMeter
10. Gatling

Comparison Of The TOP 10 Performance Testing Tools in 2023

***The calculation of the "AVG Reviews Rating'' indicator is based on the reviews published by G2, Glassdoor, Capterra, Gartner, Indeed.

***The "Superb Rating" indicator is based on the multidimensional data ranking method that takes into account the experience and size of companies, the average reviews rating, and many other factors.

1. Micro Focus LoadRunner

LoadRunner offers performance engineering solutions that assist with complicated performance scenarios. The tool gives an opportunity to emulate real-world network conditions and eliminate flaws and dependencies by creating realistic API simulations. LoadRunner supports over fifty technologies and app environments as well as fifty-two programming languages. The efficiency of the tool is proven by numerous awards including Digital Execution 2022 Vendor Assessment and Silver PeerAward.

First release: 1993 / Last release: October 2022

Suitable for: LoadRunner supports more than 50 technologies, including web applications, databases, mobile applications, and numerous protocols including MQTT, HTML5, WebSockets, RDP, Citrix, Java, .NET, Oracle, SAP, and others.

Key features:

• Scripting and debugging engines that optimize corresponding processes and let a QA team save a lot of time.
• Autocorrelation engine defining the most likely causes of performance issues.
• IDE integrated with development environments to execute performance testing at the early stages of software development.

• Emulation of thousands of concurrent users to accurately measure app scalability and capacity to withstand realistic loads.
• Ability to reproduce real business scenarios.

• Support of continuous testing through integrations with CI/CD pipelines, test automation, monitoring, and source code management solutions.

Pricing: A yearly licensing model is offered but it is rather complex and its price depends on the chosen parameters. Free trials are available as well. We recommend you contact the LoadRunner team to get details on pricing.

Website: LoadRunner

2. Akamai CloudTest

Previously known as SOASTA CloudTest, Akamai CloudTest is a popular performance testing tool supporting the entire development cycle. It helps to get ready for peak traffic by testing apps and websites safely and at scale and identifying areas that need reinforcement.

Akamai CloudTest can simulate millions of virtual users and run tests in both test and production environments. Empowered by complex big-data analytics engines, CloudTest processes vast amounts of data and provides actionable performance analytics.

First release: 2008 / Stable release: May 2023

Supported technologies: Using CloudTest you can validate the performance of websites, mobile apps, APIs, databases, and online services.

Key features:

• Easy and quick test creation. Tests can be created by inserting conditionals and loops, nesting actions, setting variables, parameters, and validations; and reusing or combining tests. What is important is that all of these can be done without coding.
• Visual playback editor. Users can drag and drop test cases into tracks to be carried out on different on-premise or cloud locations.
• Customizable dashboards. Built-in dashboards visualize analytics and data from third-party monitoring tools in an easy-to-read and easy-to-digest way.
• Globally Distributed Environment. Global Test Cloud gives an opportunity to generate a realistic load from locations where real users are actually based.
• Private Cloud. Users can leverage a virtual private cloud or internal load generators in numerous labs to create their own private test environment.
• Dynamic Ramp. During testing, a load can be increased or decreased due to real-time analytics. Business scenarios can be easily tweaked by dynamically changing a test profile to imitate promotions or an outage.
• mPulse Integration. Experiences of real users can be monitored in the course of load testing to prevent any negative user impact.

Pricing: Data on the pricing policy is not publicly available. Please, contact Akamai for the details.

Website: CloudTest

3. ReadyAPI by SmartBear

ReadyAPI is a unique API testing platform because it provides an opportunity to create, manage, and execute automated functional, security, and performance tests using one centralized interface. ReadyAPI Performance Module can simulate a huge load on a web server. Performance tests are created and automated with just a few clicks. Moreover, ReadyAPI Performance can reuse functional API tests written within the ReadyAPI Test tool to accelerate testing and reduce the time needed to deploy high-performance REST and SOAP web services. Load tests can be run locally or load generation can be distributed among several computers and cloud machines.

The process of comprehensive API load testing becomes completely smooth when the entire ReadyAPI platform suite is leveraged.

First release: data is unavailable / Last release: May 2023

Supported technologies: ReadyAPI is a perfect match for testing APIs.

Key features:

• Flexible load generation. Load tests can be run using local machines, Amazon Elastic Cloud, or worldwide distributed machines.
• Isolated Load Testing. With the help of ReadyAPI and/or VirtServer, complex load scenarios can be run against virtualized assets due to which results of load testing are not affected by third-party APIs
• Parallel load testing. Several load test scenarios can be run simultaneously giving an opportunity to define how different conditions interact with each other and impact the performance of an API.
• Reusability of functional tests. Already written in ReadyAPI tests can be reused under different load test scenarios without editing the original tests.
• Server monitoring. By monitoring how servers respond to traffic it is possible to identify what resources cause latency and bottlenecks.
• Pre-built Templates. There are pre-built load strategies that users can configure to meet their testing needs.

Pricing: API Performance Module is available starting at EUR 6490 per year. A free 14-day trial is also available.

Website: ReadyAPI

4. Radview WebLOAD

WebLOAD is a unique enterprise-scale tool that can address any performance testing issue. One can efficiently handle the most sophisticated systems and integrations with its IDE, while its functionality can be easily extended through JS libraries, Selenium, and other tools. WebLOAD gives an opportunity to establish an end-to-end performance testing process comprising script writing, complex scenario building, massive user load simulation, test running, and performance issue identification on the fly.

Among organizations that use WebLOAD, there are Intel, NASA, eBay, and other well-known companies.

First release: 2010 / Stable release: May 2023

Supported technologies: The tool supports web applications, mobile applications, databases, servers, APIs, packaged applications, and more than 150 protocols including HTTP/HTTPs, HTTP/2, HTML5, SOAP, XML, AJAX, and others,

Key features:

• Integration with APM tools enabling instant correlation of test results to relevant server-side events due to which it is possible to quickly identify root causes.
• Availability of two deployment options, SaaS or self-hosted, with identical functionality.
• Comprehensive, customizable reports and robust analytics.
• A rich set of dashboards that let to observe the performance of selected transactions as the load increases, evaluate response time, compare numerous sessions, etc.

Pricing: WebLOAD offers three packages: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. The data on their price is not publicly available but you can send a quote on the official website.

Website: WebLOAD

5. Apache JMeter by The Apache Software Foundation

Apache JMeter is a leading open-source performance testing tool. It is Java-based and used for load testing of functional behavior and performance measurement. It lets to simulate rather heavy loads on a network, a server, or a set of servers, and Java objects.

The tool looks like a browser but, in fact, it is not a browser. It works at a protocol level. With its help, QA engineers can easily create a test plan, run a load test, and analyze its results using the HTML report. Apache JMeter is a choice of numerous companies all over the world that strive to offer great user experience and reduce downtime.

First release: 1998 / Last release: June 2022

Supported technologies: Initially the tool was designed exclusively for testing web applications but now it is also suitable for a variety of services and supports the most diverse protocols including HTTP, HTTPS, LDAP, SOAP, FTP, SMTP(S), POP3(S), IMAP(S), and TCP.

Key features:

• A full-fledged Test IDE enabling quick test plan recording, building, and debugging.
• The CLI mode used to load test from any Java-compatible operating system.
• Generation of dynamic and comprehensive HTML reports.
• Easy correlation due to the opportunity to extract data from the most widely used response formats and any text formats.
• Utter portability;
• Multi-threading enabling concurrent sampling by multiple threads or by separate groups of threads.
• Limitless testing capabilities provided by Pluggable Samplers.
• Excellent extensibility and personalization provided by data analysis and visualization plugins;
• Continuous Integration enabled by third-party libraries for Jenkins, Maven, and Gradle.

Pricing: As long as the tool is open source, it can be used free of charge.

Website: Apache JMeter

6. IBM Rational Performance Tester

Designed by IBM, Rational Performance Tester is a tip-notch performance testing tool enabling QA teams to test earlier and more frequently taking advantage of a DevOps approach. It checks the scalability and performance of web and server applications, detects corresponding issues, and identifies their causes. Using this tool QA teams can easily and swiftly carry out performance tests and predict the impact of different loads on applications under test.

First release: 2005 / Last release: March 2023

Supported technologies: Rational Performance Tester is suitable for testing web apps, SAP, SOA, Citrix, HTTP, Siebel, SIP, and TCP Socket.

Key features:

• Advanced testing. Using Rational Performance Tester, QA engineers can create test scripts without coding, which saves time and makes tests less complex.
• Test data. The tool provides flexible modeling and lets QA engineers emulate different user populations with minimum memory and processor footprint.
• Root cause analysis. Rational Performance Tester comes with a root-cause analysis solution helping to identify the source code or physical application tier that causes performance issues.
• Real-time reporting. Performance and throughput reports are generated in real time, letting QA engineers get aware of existing performance problems right during the test run.
• Cloud support. Rational Performance Tester on Cloud facilitates large-scale and globally distributed performance testing.

Pricing: Information about pricing is not publicly available. Contact the IBM team for pricing details.

Website: Rational Performance Tester

7. Loadster

Loadster is a powerful stress and load testing tool being able to launch thousands of bots. With its help, you can be sure that your web app will not crash under peak traffic. This tool is just what you need to detect weak spots and bottlenecks, improve performance, optimize costs, and prevent downtime. That is why Loadster is a choice of such large well-known organizations as Amazon, Yale, Queensland Government, Dell, and others.

First release: 2012 / Last release: March 2023

Supported technologies: Loadster is a perfect performance testing tool for web apps, websites, and APIs.

Key features:

• Realistic load testing is realized through Browser Bots that control real headless Chrome browsers.
• Loadster enables testing at the protocol layer that is more cost-effective and scales to legions of bots. Scripted HTTP/S requests against an API or static website are executed by Protocol Bots.
• Available in Chrome and Firefox, the Loadster Recorder extension enables recording of load test scripts outright in a browser. Recorded scripts can be played back in real time and edited if there is a need.
• To reinforce its users, Loadster also offers JavaScript Code Blocks that give an opportunity to completely control looping, flow, and conditionals.
• The tool allows users to test from twenty-four AWS or GCP global cloud regions or their own self-hosted engines.
• The Loadster CLI can be used to launch performance tests from a CI pipeline, build server, or cron job. Provided as a self-contained native binary for Mac, Windows, and Linux, it makes it easy to run and monitor load testing.
• Loadster provides data on a variety of real-time metrics as load testing runs. Once it is completed, a test report containing this data is automatically generated.

Pricing: Loadster offers two options: Loadster Fuel and Monthly plans. The former suggests paying as you go from USD 97 per 1000 bot hours. The latter starts from USD 399 a month and lets you run tests anytime. More details you can find on the official website.

Website: Loadster

8. Tricentis NeoLoad

NeoLoad is a top-notch SaaS-based performance testing tool designed by Tricentis to handle the challenges of modern enterprises. Being extremely fast and flexible, it works with complementary solutions and integrates with a great range of technologies from some legacy systems to the DevOps toolchain enabling continuous performance testing. With NeoLoad, both protocol and browser-based performance testing is extremely easy. It is also worth noting that the tool is cloud-agnostic and integrated with all cloud development tools.

First release: 2005 / Last release: February 2023

Supported technologies: NeoLoad provides support for packaged applications, virtualization, web and mobile apps, microservices, APIs, and numerous protocols including SOAP, GWT, MQTT, RTMP, and others.

Key features:

• Browser-based testing. Empowered by RealBrowser technology, NeoLoad provides great browser-based performance capabilities for intricate tailor-made web and cloud-native apps. Tests are easily and quickly designed and executed to capture client-side end-user metrics. Moreover, using the same tool it is possible also to leverage a protocol-based approach for back-end testing.
• Performance test as code. Pre-packaged integrations for CI/CD tools and the NeoLoad API enable easy design, maintenance, and running of performance tests as code. Test results are analyzed within a continuous integration pipeline. Also, by using the Command Line Interface of NeoLoad, one can apply an agnostic pipeline approach for performance test automation.
• Codeless test design. Performance tests for large-scale, complex applications can be quickly created without coding, by using a graphical user interface.
• Automatic test update. NeoLoad offers automated test script updating.
• Dynamic infrastructure. With NeoLoad, it is possible to use test infrastructure more efficiently by easily setting up testing resources within a preferred cloud orchestrator. This way resources are automatically freed up as tests are complete.
• Resource Reservation. There is an ability to reserve licenses, VUs, load generators, etc. by date and time to guarantee availability and dedication of resources.

Pricing: A request for NeoLoad pricing can be sent on the official website of Tricentis.

Website: NeoLoad

9. BlazeMeter

BlazeMeter represents itself as a complete continuous testing platform and one-stop shop for performance testing, functional testing, API testing, monitoring, test data generation, and mock services. Its aim is to speed up digital transformation and shift quality left.

The tool gives an opportunity to run scalable performance tests against apps of different types and at any stage of software delivery due to powerful analytics, collaboration, and a plethora of other useful features. Use BlazeMeter to easily create, scale, analyze, and automate your performance tests.

First release: 2016 / Last release: May 2023

Supported technologies: With BlazeMeter, it is possible to load test web apps, mobile apps, APIs, and microservices.

Key features:

• Quick and easy upload and configuration of high-scale performance tests via intuitive UI, while leveraging preferred open-source tools like Apache JMeter, Selenium, Gatling, etc.
• Real-time control of threads, hits/sec, arrival rates, and other performance metrics.
• The ability to simulate more than two million virtual users across 56 locations worldwide while using a preferred cloud provider: AWS, Azure, or Google.
• The ability to test both a mobile user experience and backend under load in the cloud thanks to BlazeMeter’s tandem with Perfecto.
• Scriptless performance testing letting users easily build either single-endpoint tests or intricate multi-step workflows.
• Accurate API testing in dynamic environments ensured by Auto Correlation plugin that identifies dynamic parameters in recorded test scripts, removing the need for manual updates and saving a lot of time.
• Opportunity for automatic and continuous testing due to the compatibility of BlazeMeter with such tools as Jenkins, TeamCity, Taurus, and New Relic.

Pricing: BlazeMeter offers four options. The Starter package is free of charge. The Basic package costs USD 149 per month. The Pro package is available for USD 649 per month. The cost of the Unleashed package is discussed individually with each client. An annual subscription is also available and lets you save up to 35%.

Website: BlazeMeter

10. Gatling

Gatling is a widely-used open-source tool enabling continuous load testing through integration with a development pipeline. It offers a web recorder and comprehensive, well-visualized reports. Its code-like scripting lets users easily maintain testing scenarios and seamlessly integrate them into a CD pipeline.

Besides, Gatling comes with its own Domain Specific Language (DSL), so every team member can easily understand written scenarios. It is also up to you to choose Scala, Java, or Kotlin. For those who need even more, Gatling Enterprise with more advanced metrics and features is offered. As for now, more than 100.000 businesses worldwide make use of this powerful tool simulating hundreds of thousands of requests per second and providing accurate metrics.

First release: 2012 / Last release: May 2023

Supported technologies: This load testing solution is suitable for web applications, APIs, and microservices.

Key features:

• Heavy traffic simulation. With Gatling and Gatling Enterprise, it is possible to simulate up to millions of virtual users interacting with a web app.
• CI/CD integration and automation with load testing as code. The tool has been designed to be integrated into the SDLC and be used by DevOps teams.
• Automated deployment of load generators. One or several load generators are needed to execute load testing. With the automated deployment of load generators that Gatling provides, test infrastructure setup is not a pain in the neck anymore.

• Collaborative and user-friendly interface. For organizations where performance is of utter importance, Gatling Enterprise offers a centralized interface for all load testing campaigns.
• Numerous integrations. A tool can be connected to the most diverse official and third-party plugins like Maven, Gradle, Jenkins, Bamboo, Grfana, Gilab, GitHub Actions, Cassandra, Kafka, and others.

Pricing: Gatling is open-source and can be used free of charge. As to Gatling Enterprise, it is commercially available. There are three packages - Scout (from EUR 99 per month), Scale (from EUR 396 per month), and Custom (price available upon request only). Annual payment plan is also provided. Using it, one can save a lot of money. More details on pricing can be found on the official website.

Website: Gatling

Read more about Top 10 Application Performance Monitoring Tools In 2023

FAQ

What is performance testing?

Performance testing can be defined as a type of non-functional software testing that verifies the speed, responsiveness, scalability, and stability of a software product under various workloads. It detects performance issues in a software product or infrastructure and helps to eliminate bottlenecks.

What is a performance testing tool?

This is a special software designed to enable automated execution of performance testing. It gives an opportunity to design real-world scenarios, simulate a required number of concurrent virtual users or transactions, collect different metrics, and analyze testing results.

Why does it make sense to use performance testing tools?

Performance testing is all about workloads, but even an expected workload level not talking about extreme ones hardly can be simulated manually. This makes the use of special performance testing tools essential. Moreover, such tools bring numerous benefits, including the following ones:

1. Automation: They enable the automated execution of complicated test scenarios.
2. Scalability: Such tools can simulate thousands or even millions of virtual users to make sure that a system can withstand growing user traffic. This is of utter importance for fast-developing apps.
3. Metrics and analysis: They collect and analyze a vast amount of data on different performance metrics such as request rate, response time, error rate, resource utilization, etc., detect performance issues, and generate comprehensive reports.
4. Exceptional user experience: Performance testing tools pinpoint bottlenecks and flaws helping to deliver a software product that will not lag or crash.

What are the leading performance testing tools?

Multiple performance testing tools are available today on the market. Still, speaking about the leading ones, we would like to highlight the following:

1. Apache JMeter: An open-source tool that simulates heavy loads and works with various protocols and technologies.
2. LoadRunner: A powerful tool by Micro Focus that supports a great variety of protocols and offers a comprehensive suite of performance testing features.
3. Gatling: An open-source tool built on Scala that enables the execution of high-performance load testing and supports scripting scenarios.
4. NeoLoad: An efficient tool designed by Neotys that offers great capabilities for load testing of APIs, web apps, and mobile apps.
5. Apache Bench: An easy-to-use command-line tool that tests the performance of web servers.
6. Locust: A reliable load testing solution that lets users write test scenarios in Python.

What facets should I consider when choosing a performance testing tool?

To make the right decision on which performance testing tool to use, take into account the following factors:

1. Test requirements: Evaluate if a tool supports the technologies, protocols, and environments you need to test.
2. Scalability: Make sure that a performance testing solution can generate sufficient load to simulate realistic scenarios.
3. User-friendliness: Consider offered user interface, scripting capabilities, and the learning curve for your QA team.
4. Reporting and analysis: Opt for tools that offer robust analysis and detailed reports on a great number of metrics.
5. Integration: Check if the tool can be integrated with your existing development and testing ecosystems.
6. Cost: Consider offered pricing structure, licensing models, and whether it fits your budget.

Is it only web applications that can be validated with performance testing tools?

No, such tools can be also leveraged for testing mobile apps, APIs, client-server apps, databases, and others. Still, different performance testing solutions have different capabilities and support various technologies, so it's necessary to choose the one that aligns with your project requirements.

Is it possible to simulate real-world scenarios leveraging performance testing solutions?

Yes, modern performance testing tools simulate real-world scenarios with ease by generating needed loads and virtual users that mimic the behavior of actual users. Usual user activities, such as logging in, browsing, making transactions, and interacting with different elements of the application can be simulated with ease.