What is load testing?
"Will it cope if we get featured?" is a question with a measurable answer. This is how you get it.
In short
Load testing is running an application under a realistic, simulated volume of users or requests to measure how it performs: response times, error rates and where it slows down. A stress test pushes beyond expected load to find the breaking point. Both are run on a production-like environment before a launch or a campaign, not discovered during one.
Also called: Performance testing, Stress testing
Why it matters when your prototype goes to production
A prototype has never had more than a few people on it at once. Launches, press and waitlists do not ramp gently: they arrive at once. Load testing tells you in advance whether the database, the queue and the third-party limits hold, and which one gives out first.
Kinds of performance test
- Load test: expected traffic, to confirm normal performance.
- Stress test: beyond expected traffic, to find the breaking point.
- Spike test: a sudden surge, like a launch.
- Soak test: steady traffic for hours, to find leaks and slow drift.
Ekko, a viral waitlist platform, had its queue stress-tested with 25,000 synthetic waitlist entries, with zero queue collisions and zero duplicate rewards. Where no load test has been run, as on Bell so far, our case studies say so rather than quote a number.
Common questions
What is the difference between load testing and stress testing?
Load testing checks performance at the traffic you expect. Stress testing deliberately exceeds it to see where and how the system fails.
Related terms
Read next
Sources
More on this: Production architecture & security · All glossary terms
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