Every website needs testing. You can check for layout problems, links, images, search engine optimisation, URLS, broken links…but also performance related tasks like how long it takes to load photographs or animated images. To perform these types of tests you need the best performance testing tools. As there are so many available it can be hard to know which one is the right one for you.
Performance testing tools can make your job a lot easier. When you build a site, it’ll be running in the live environment and faced with traffic. You do want to ensure that your site is responsive and works well in every environment and is able to handle any amount of traffic that’s thrown at it. Testing tools help you achieve this easily. There are many tools available which you can use for performance testing, but not all of them will work for your needs. The right tool should help with keeping track of time, memory usage or errors. It should enable you to measure page speed and so much more.
WebLOAD
This is an enterprise-scale load testing tool that can generate real-life and reliable load scenarios, even in most complex systems. Its smart analytics provide in-depth performance insights. The tool comes with built-in support for hundreds of technologies. It also integrates with several tools to support simpler monitoring.
The key features of this performance testing tool are as follows:
- It is available on the Cloud or as an on-premise deployment
- Readily extensible and supports all the major web technologies
- Creates a flexible test environment
- Native JavaScript based on smart scripting with validation engines, parameterization, and powerful correlation
- Detects bottlenecks automatically
WebLOAD is widely used by performance testing services with complex and heavy user load requirements. You can conduct stress and load testing on any web-based software by creating load from on-premise systems and the Cloud. It supports technologies including enterprise applications to web protocols. It supports integration with tools like Selenium, Jenkins, and many others to allow continuous load testing for DevOps.
LoadNinja
LoadNinja allows you to build scriptless load tests. It is preferred by performance testing services because it helps reduce testing times by half. Other advantages include replacing load emulators with real browsers and generating actionable metrics.
This tool allows you to debug in the real-time, record client-side interactions, identify performance issues instantly, and do much more. LoadNinja allows you to boost your testing coverage without compromising on quality. It removes cumbersome, repetitive tasks involved in script translation, dynamic correlation, and script scrubbing. It allows you to spend more time in developing scalable applications and less time on creating load testing scripts.
The key features of LoadNinja are as follows:
- Real browser load testing at scale
- Create a scriptless load test and playback feature
- Real-time management of virtual user activity
- Real-time test debugging
- Advanced browser-based metrics with reporting and analytics features
- Cloud-based hosting eliminates maintenance of the server
LoadNinja supports the following protocols:
- HTTPS
- HTTP
- Java-based protocol
- SAP GUI Web
- Google Web Toolkit
- WebSocket
- Oracle Forms
LoadView
LoadView is also widely popular with performance testing services. This is an on-demand and fully-managed load testing and stress testing tool. It is different from most other load testing tools in that testing is conducted in real browsers. The result is close emulation of real users and highly accurate data. It is fully cloud-based and is readily deployed in minutes. It allows creating multi-step scripts simulating user interaction with your application or website.
Some of the key features of LoadView are as follows:
- Supports advanced load testing features like global Cloud-based infrastructure, point and click scripting, and real browser testing
- Allows instant and easy creation of test scripts without the need for coding
- Supports Rich Internet Applications including Java, Flash, HTML5, Ruby, Silverlight, and PHMP among others
- Over a dozen global Cloud locations supported by Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services
- Test compatibility with dozens of desktop and mobile devices and browsers
- Easy to share performance metrics and reports
- Identifies bottlenecks and supports scalability
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.
LoadView
LoadView is a fully managed, on-demand load testing tool that allows complete hassle-free load and stress testing.
Unlike many other load testing tools, LoadView performs testing in real browsers (not headless phantom browsers), which provides extremely accurate data, closely emulating real users. You only pay for what you use and no contracts are required. LoadView is 100% cloud-based, scalable, and can be deployed in minutes.
Advanced Load Testing Features include Point and Click Scripting, Global Cloud-Based Infrastructure, Real Browser Testing
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
Conclusion:
There are numerous ways to conduct performance testing. From using third-party providers, self-hosted software, or using command line software. The choice can be overwhelming if you’re just starting out. The beauty of the internet is that you’re not alone. There are plenty of online communities with experts who are more than willing to help you on the journey toward finding the right load testing tools .