Difference Between Performance Testing and Load Testing

The key difference between performance testing and load testing is that performance testing is a non-functional testing that is used to validate and verify system attributes under a variety of load conditions while load testing is a type of performance testing that checks the ability of an application to perform under the expected workload.

When developing a software, it is important to check whether the software is working according to the requirements. Software testing is the process of verifying and validating that the software is working as expected. The objectives of testing are to find defects and to improve the quality. There are various types of testing. This article discusses two of them; that are performance testing and load testing.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Performance Testing
3. What is Load Testing
4. Side by Side Comparison – Performance Testing vs Load Testing in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is Performance Testing?

System attributes such as speed, scalability, stability are checked under performance testing. The commonly used performance testing tools are Apache Jmeter, webLOAD, HP Load Runner, HTTP Load and IBM Rational Performance Tester.

There are various types of performance testing. Load testing is to check the ability of the system to perform under expected user load. Stress testing is to check how the system works when there is an extreme workload. It checks the high data processing ability of the system. The scalability testing is used to determine the application effectiveness when scaling up. Endurance testing checks whether the application can handle the expected workload for a long period of time. Spike testing checks how the software reacts to sudden loads generated by the users.  Those are some common performance testing types.

What is Load Testing?

Load testing is a type of performance testing. It checks how the system works with the expected workload. It monitors the system when it is used by multiple users simultaneously. In a bank application, a specific number of transactions should be handled within the set duration. Load testing is done for most applications such as e-commerce websites, air ticket reservation systems etc. to check whether multiple users can access the system at the same time.

Load testing involves handling several issues before the application is distributed to the market. It includes checking application servers, web servers, database servers, and network delays between client and server. The software design issues and hardware limitations are also solved in load testing. Overall, it helps to minimize the response times for important business-critical transactions.

What is the Difference Between Performance Testing and Load Testing?

Summary – Performance Testing vs Load Testing

The difference between performance testing and load testing is that, performance testing is a non-functional testing that is used to validate and verify system attributes such as speed, scalability, stability, responsiveness under a variety of load conditions while load testing is a type of performance testing that checks the ability of an application to perform under the expected workload.

Reference:

1.“Software Performance Testing.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Apr. 2018. Available here 
2.“Load Testing Tutorial: Tools, Process & Examples.” Meet Guru99 – Free Training Tutorials & Video for IT Courses. Available here  
3.“Performance Testing Tutorial: Types, Process & Important Metrics.” Meet Guru99 – Free Training Tutorials & Video for IT Courses. Available here  

Image Courtesy:

1.’762486′ by testbytes (Public Domain) via pixabay