I'm trying to figure out how to stress test my website to see how many users or requests it can handle before it starts to slow down or crash. What tools do you recommend for load testing? I'm considering options like k6, JMeter, Locust, or maybe something else. I'm looking for a simple but effective way to simulate real traffic.
5 Answers
A funny idea might be to post your URL on Reddit for a free stress test! But, then again, you'd probably only get a handful of views unless your code is really terrible!
I've had success with JMeter in the past. I usually run it on an EC2 instance instead of my local machine to avoid any performance issues. Do you have any user pattern data? That can really help you understand expected user behavior better.
If you know which requests will take longer, you could focus your load tests on those specific requests using something like Google’s load testing tool. It’s about identifying bottlenecks rather than just checking if it holds up, which can really help you fine-tune your code after you make changes.
I usually stick with JMeter too. It's a solid choice for most sites!
Not at the moment, but I plan to start with generic traffic models before diving into real user data.