Best API Performance Testing Tools

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Have you ever heard of the term ‘API Performance’? If you are not familiar with this term, you are not alone. The simple definition of API is Application Programming Interface. Another name for API is Web Services. You can think of Web Services as an interface or interface protocol that allows one software application to connect to another service over the internet. APIs are crucial, especially in developing efficient solutions by allowing efficient data transfer between client/server applications.

API performance is the speed at which an API responds to calls. It is critical for providing an exceptional user experience to your users. When an API takes too long to respond, it gives the impression that the system hosting the API is down or overloaded. If your API service is slow, users will abandon your service immediately and move on to your competitors’ services.

1. RapidAPI

The list of best API testing tools starts with RapidAPI. RapidAPI is the largest API marketplace over a million developers use to find, test, and connect to thousands of APIs, all with a single account. On RapidAPI, you can collaborate on APIs using RapidAPI for teams with external and internal APIs. Developers can use RapidAPI Testing on their internal APIs too with RapidAPI Teams or using RapidAPI Hub.

Pros:

  • It is free to use.
  • You can test as many APIs on the marketplace as you want.
  • One workspace for 10,000 public APIs.

2. REST-assured

REST-assured is considered as one of the best tools for testing APIs in Java. Rest-assured is an open-source platform with a Java Domain-specific language. The Rest-assured API was created so that you don’t need to be an expert in HTTP to test web APIs.

Pros:

  • You don’t have to be an HTTP expert.
  • You don’t have to code things from scratch as it comes with some inbuilt functions.
  • It supports the syntax of Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) testing – Given/When/Then.

Cons:

  • It supports only the Java language.
  • It does not support SOAP APIs explicitly.

3. Postman

After REST-assured, the next API testing tool is Postman. Postman offers a web version as well as a desktop app, and can also be used for testing API services. It enables the user to easily share the knowledge with the team.

Pros:

  • This tool is easy to use compared to others.
  • Easy to set-up parameters on method calls.
  • Ability to store commands.
  • It offers API development capabilities as well.

Cons:

  • Pricing for enterprise is high.
  • Enterprise version is easy to set up and use, but the number of requests is limited.
  • It’s not possible to test more than one API simultaneously.

4. Paw

Paw is another beautiful API testing tool specially designed for Mac. Whether you are an API maker or consumer, Paw helps you to build HTTP requests, inspect a server’s response, and even generate client code.

Pros:

  • It is easy to use.
  • It has an excellent interface.
  • It is more stable in performance as compared to other API testing tools.
  • It also has multi-dimensional environment settings.

Cons:

  • Currently, Pas is available for Mac users only.
  • High pricing (one-time purchase).

5. SoapUI

SoapUI is another on-prem API testing tool that allows developers to test REST, SOAP, GraphQL, and Web Services. SoapUI Pro gives development and testing teams a powerful solution to create, run, and analyze complex tests on web services. SoapUI boasts a lot of unique features like test reports, SOAP API testing, and others.

Pros:

  • It can create custom codes using Groovy.
  • You can transfer data from one response to multiple API calls without manual intervention.
  • It stores your work so that you can revisit it at a later time.

Cons:

  • Not helpful with Web UI Testing and mobile app testing.
  • This tool lacks documentation.
  • Saving projects can be a little confusing for beginners.

6. WebLOAD

WebLOAD is an enterprise-scale load testing solution capable of generating reliable, real-life load scenarios, even for the most complex systems, with smart analytics providing performance insights.

WebLOAD is based on a flexible platform with built-in support for hundreds of technologies and integration with many tools from CI/CD pipelines to monitoring.

WebLOAD Features:

  • WebLOAD is offered on the Cloud (SAAS) or as an On-Prem deployment
  • Flexible test scenario creation
  • Smart Scripting based native JavaScript with Powerful correlation, parametrization and validation engines
  • Supports every major web technology and easily extendible
  • Automatic bottleneck detection
  • Easy-to-reach customer support

7. 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 an app and device-specific performance metrics that easily integrate 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

8. LoadNinja

LoadNinja by SmartBear allows you to quickly create scriptless sophisticated load tests, reduce testing time by 50%, replace 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 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

Protocols:

  • HTTP, HTTPS, SAP GUI Web, WebSocket, Java based protocol, Google Web Toolkit, Oracle forms, & more

9. JMeter

Apache JMeter may be used to test performance both on static and dynamic resources, Web dynamic applications. It can be used to simulate a heavy load on a server, group of servers, network, or object to test its strength or to analyze overall performance under different load types.

Ah yes, this is one of the names that every developer came across at least once.

JMeter is an open-source load test tool based on Java built by the Apache Foundation that’s been around since 1998 and still receives many updates.

One of the reasons for its popularity is its architecture based on plugins. It can not only test HTTP but also other protocols.

Pros:

  • Portable standalone tool, runs anywhere
  • Large community. A variety of plugins and resources can be found on the web due to its popularity
  • Support for different application and protocol types (such as HTTP, REST, TCP, Database)
  • Data analysis and HTML reports out of the box
  • Can run as a headless tool in CLI or even CI/CD environments
  • Can run test plans
  • Distributes testing is possible

Cons:

  • Can be overwhelming if you are new to load tests due to its many possibilities
  • Might not fit into everybody’s workload for people who are heavily used to CLI tools

10. Artillery

Artillery is a modern, powerful & easy-to-use solution for load testing and functional testing. Ship scalable backends, APIs & services that stay performant & resilient under high load.

Artillery is an open-source CLI tool that can run load tests based on YAML files. It is based on Node.js and can run almost anywhere as well. It is best known for its simplicity yet many possibilities for load tests.

Pros:

  • Really easy to use. You only need to get familiar with YAML.
  • Can be easily integrated into terminals and CI/CD
  • Can be used as an npm package for your own scripts/projects
  • Quick tests
  • Exports results as HTML reports
  • Can run tests on HTTP, Socket.io, and WebSockets
  • Supports environments, phases and random payloads from CSV files

Cons:

  • No distributed testing
  • File uploads only available in Artillery Pro

Conclusion

A smooth, trouble-free user experience is what every business wants to offer its clientele. To achieve an outstanding user experience, it is important to have a well-planned and effective API. It has become a key factor in the success of any business website. Enterprise organizations are well aware of the fact that speed and efficiency are what matters to their users.

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