What Is Load Testing, and What Are the Best Tools for Conducting It

With increasing demands for speed and stability of digital products, load testing is becoming an important stage in software quality assurance. It allows you to evaluate how the system copes with a high number of users, requests, or operations, and helps to identify bottlenecks before they lead to failures. To effectively conduct such tests, developers and QA specialists use various tools, including both classic solutions and modern JMeter alternatives that offer flexibility, scalability, and convenient functionality. The choice of the right tool directly affects the accuracy of the results and the success of system optimization.

What Is Load Testing?

Load testing is a way to identify weak points when increasing the load on a service. Depending on the testing goals, different situations are simulated:

• the number of users grows smoothly, but every minute;
• the number of users grows sharply and unpredictably;
• a lot of users with slow Internet came;
• many requests came from one IP address;
• all users chose the same service;
• there was an influx of new users trying to register.

Simply put, load testing is when testers give some load and see how the system copes with it.

Goals and Objectives of Load Testing

Since load can mean different things, before testing, testers agree on what exactly they will test. Here are some possible goals of load testing:

• to look at memory consumption and processor load;
• to measure the average response time of the site if the number of visitors increases 10 times;
• to check whether the server will overheat if all registered users constantly use it;
• to check the database response time with a constant increase in the number of requests;
• to see what will happen if all users simultaneously start uploading large video files to the server;
• to make sure that the site will not crash if 3 million people visit it at the same time.

The idea is that there are many options for what to test, but you need to choose something specific, one or several. You can’t test everything at once; you need different tools and different tests for this.

Types of Load Testing

There are several types of load testing, each of which is aimed at checking certain aspects of a web resource’s operation under load.

Performance testing

The main goal of this testing is to determine how well an application or website can scale under high load and its gradual increase. To do this, the following actions are performed:

• change the execution time of operations without changing the specified intensity;
• determine how many users simultaneously use the application;
• estimate the limits of acceptable performance;
• study performance under various loads.

Stress testing

This type of testing is used to determine how ready an application or website is for stress loads. Another goal is to identify how capable the project is of returning to a normal work pace after a high level of load and its change, as well as to assess the drop in performance. The role of stress is played by a high value of the intensity of operations.

Volume testing

During this testing, it is determined how the performance will change if the volume of data in the resource database is increased. To do this, the following actions are taken:

• measure how long it takes to perform certain operations at different intensities of their execution;
• determine how many visitors are working with the resource at a given time.

Stability and reliability testing

Stability and reliability testing is carried out to determine the operability of the project in long-term work areas. The load intensity is average. In this type of testing, the execution time of operations is not so important. The main thing here is that there are no memory leaks, as well as restarts and other processes that affect the stability of the project.

Conducting Load Testing

Load testing is rarely carried out on a production server. If the server fails to handle the load, all users will be left without service. Instead, testers assemble an environment or platform that is as close to the real thing as possible. This means:

• the same server (or with exactly the same characteristics);
• the same Internet speed;
• the same database;
• the same software settings.

Sometimes it happens that everything is fine on the test stand, but in real life, everything crashes after a thousand visitors. This means that the testers did not take into account some parameters, because of which everything broke.

Stages of Load Testing

As a rule, load testing is carried out based on the following checklist:

1. Studying the system.
2. Determining the customer’s goals that load testing will help achieve.
3. Developing a methodology and strategy.
4. Writing scripts.
5. Conducting tests.
6. Collecting monitoring data.
7. Analysis of the obtained data.
8. Reporting.

Load Testing Software

Testers use various tools in the process of evaluating product performance. Load testing is carried out using programs and services that are worth paying attention to.

Apache JMeter

This tool is probably the most popular among testers. The program is open source. Here are the main advantages of the program: a simple and clear interface, work in the popular Java language, a large number of additional plug-ins and built-in options.

A pleasant bonus for the user is a comprehensive analysis of the results obtained. The program has only one drawback – no JavaScript support.

LoadRunner

This program for load testing is staffed by real professionals with the appropriate qualifications. The tool has a wide functionality, which allows for a comprehensive approach to software testing. LoadRunner, which works directly in the browser, allows you to test not only products for personal computers, but also applications for smartphones. The disadvantage of the program is the high cost of the licensed version.

LoadNinja

Users of the service can construct tests without having any programming knowledge. Several metrics are used at once, which make it possible to test the product and debug the source code. The main disadvantage of the service is the inability to test software that does not support or use JavaScript.

Conclusion

Load testing is not just an endurance test, but a strategic tool for preventing failures and increasing application reliability. With the right methods and tools, such as JMeter, LoadRunner, and its alternatives, experts can deeply analyze the system’s behavior under peak loads and prepare it for real operating conditions in advance. This approach not only allows you to maintain a high quality of user experience, but also lays the foundation for scaling and sustainable development of the project. If you are looking for high-quality alternatives, we recommend paying attention to PFLB, which offers many advantages.