So you are thinking of running performance tests on your website/app to see how it performs? All right, let’s see. There are many tools in the market which are used to test the performance of websites/apps. Let us compare them with the help of some features that they have in common.
Looking for a tool to do performance testing? This article provides a comparison of features in different tools to help you find the right one for your needs. It also explains how they are used in web performance testing, what level of expertise is needed, and when to use each tool.
WebLOAD
Enterprise-grade load and performance testing tool for web applications. WebLOAD is a tool of choice for enterprises with heavy user load and complex testing requirements. It allows you to perform load and stress testing on any internet application by generating load from the cloud and on-premises machines.
WebLOAD’s strengths are its flexibility and ease of use – enabling you to quickly define the tests you need with features like DOM-based recording/playback, automatic correlation, and JavaScript scripting language.
The tool provides a clear analysis of your web application performance, pinpointing issues and bottlenecks that may stand in the way of achieving your load and response requirements.
WebLOAD supports hundreds of technologies – from web protocols to enterprise applications and has built-in integration with Jenkins, Selenium and many other tools to enable continuous load testing for DevOps.
System Requirements: Windows, Linux
LoadNinja
LoadNinja by SmartBear allows you to quickly create scriptless sophisticated load tests, reduces testing time by 50%, replaces load emulators with real browsers, and get actionable, browser-based metrics, all at ninja speed.
You can easily capture client-side interactions, debug in real-time, and identify performance problems immediately. LoadNinja empowers teams to increase their test coverage without sacrificing quality by removing the tedious efforts of dynamic correlation, script translation, and script scrubbing.
With LoadNinja, engineers, testers and product teams can focus more on building apps that scale and focus less on building load testing scripts.
Features:
- Scriptless load test creation & playback with InstaPlay recorder.
- Real browser load test execution at scale.
- VU Debugger – debug tests in real-time.
- VU Inspector – manage virtual user activity in real-time.
- Hosted on the cloud, no server machine & upkeep required.
- Sophisticated browser-based metrics with analytics and reporting features.
ReadyAPI Performance
SmartBear offers an all-in-one automated API Testing Platform called ReadyAPI. It contains various tools like Swagger & SwaggerHub, SoapUI NG, ReadyAPI Performance, Secure Pro, ServiceV, and AlertSite.
ReadyAPI Performance is an API tool for load testing. This API testing tool will assure you that your APIs can perform anywhere. It will let you install load agents on any server or cloud as well as on-premise. It provides advanced performance metrics for load test runs.
SoapUI NG is a tool for functional testing and you can use these functional testing use cases designed in the SOAPUI for performance testing.
This load testing tool will help you with testing the speed, scalability, and performance of the APIs, Servers, and Network Resources. It has features of flexible load generation, parallel API load tests, server monitoring, and pre-built load templates.
Kobiton
Kobiton offers flexible real device access options that include a public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises. With Kobiton’s Performance Testing capabilities, users can integrate real device testing with Load and Stress testing solutions. This can be done manually, with automation via script-based solutions like Appium, and using Kobiton’s AI-driven scriptless engine. With Kobiton, you have a platform solution that allows for insight into app and device-specific performance metrics that easily integrates with solutions like NeoLoad or JMeter.
Features:
- Kobiton’s device lab management will let you connect with devices in the cloud, your local on-premises devices as well as on-desk devices.
- Create automated test scripts from manual tests and are executable on multiple devices simultaneously.
- Users can test crucial app and website-specific performance with Kobiton’s Payload capture
- Automatic test case generation from the manual session
StresStimulus
StresStimulus targets application scenarios that are difficult to test with other tools. It automatically fixes playback errors thanks to its proprietary autocorrelation. StresStimulus records user actions and replays them to emulate variable usage patterns. It also monitors load impact on application responsiveness and server infrastructure. The result analyzer finds hidden concurrency errors left unexposed by functional testing and includes detailed application performance metrics.
Features:
- End-to-end Test Wizard covers all steps from recording to test results, which reduces the learning curve
- On-premise or cloud testing supported with multiple load generators
- Works as a stand-alone tool or Fiddler add-on
- Exports script to Visual Studio test format to help with scenarios that fail when recorded in Visual Studio directly
- Manual scripting is not required but available; supports three scripting languages
Apache Jmeter
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 services. It is one of the best load testing tools that is mainly used as website load testing tools for web service applications.
Features:
- This free tool doesn’t demand state of the art infrastructure for load testing and supports multiple load injectors managed by a single controller
- It is one of the performance test tools which is highly portable and supports 100% all the Java based apps
- Less scripting efforts as compared to other api performance testing tools because of its user-friendly GUI
- Simple charts and graphs sufficient for analyzing key load related statistics and resource usage monitors.
- Supports Integrated real-time, Tomcat collectors for Monitoring
Protocols
Web : HTTP, HTTPS, WebServices : XML, SOAP, etc., Java based protocols, FTP
MICRO FOCUS (HP) LOADRUNNER:
LoadRunner is a commercial performance testing solution originally developed by HP and now acquired by Micro Focus. It has very advanced set of features which usually do not come built in with open-source or free tools. Some of the key points about LoadRunner are listed below.
Commercial tool: LoadRunner is a commercial product, falling in category of most expensive performance testing tools. Micro Focus (previously HP) LoadRunner license cost varies depending on required virtual users, protocols and perpetual licenses etc.
Components: LoadRunner is not a single application but a complete suite of tools like VU Generator, Controller, Analyzer, Load generator, Load calculator and protocol advisor.
Platform compatibility: LoadRunner can operate from Windows operating system or can be used as a cloud solution.
Supported applications: LoadRunner (performance center) provides support for widest range of applications. It can be used to test performance of databases, server side applications and native/browser based mobile applications.
Advanced reports: LoadRunner is best known for its very detailed reports which help a lot in analyzing the performance issues.
Available resources: Micro Focus provides dedicated support & knowledge base for LoadRunner to all licensed customers. Other than that, one can also find plenty of articles & video tutorials online on Micro Focus LoadRunner.
Conclusion
Performance testing is used to confirm the performance of an application; it verifies that the software is performing up to standards. This can be used to determine if there are potentially many users connected to the service, or if it will offer good performance for a small number of users. This article will compare and contrast three software programs that can help you determine whether your website will perform well under stress: LoadPro, JMeter and ApacheBenchmark. These tools compare and contrast based on their performance metrics and abilities to test application load times.