Section: IT & Technology · Software DevelopmentDifficulty: Medium

Load Testing

USUK

Testing a system under expected and peak load conditions to measure performance.

Definition

Load testing evaluates a system's behavior under anticipated normal and peak load conditions by simulating multiple concurrent users or transactions. It measures response times, throughput, and resource utilization to identify performance bottlenecks before production deployment. Tools like JMeter, Gatling, and k6 generate synthetic load to stress-test APIs, databases, and web servers. Results inform capacity planning and scaling decisions.

Example

“Before a major product launch, the engineering team ran load tests simulating 10,000 concurrent users to ensure the platform would not degrade during peak traffic.”

Synonyms

  • performance testing
  • stress testing
  • capacity testing
  • scalability testing

Antonyms / Opposites

  • unit testing
  • functional testing

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Related Terms

  • sre
  • observability
  • monitoring
  • microservices

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