Difference between Performance Testing and Load Testing


Performance testing is a type of testing that is performed for verifying the performance of a system and to monitor the behavior of the system under stress. It tells about the reliability, stability, response time, and scalability of a system. On the other hand, load testing is primarily aimed for identifying the behavior of a system under the expected load.

Read this article to learn more about performance testing and load testing and how they are different from each other.

What is Performance Testing?

Performance testing is performed over the software to test its performance under a particular workload for its sensitivity, reaction time and its stability. Performance testing is basically a superset of stress testing.

The primary goal of performing performance testing is to set the standards and benchmarks for the product. Performance testing indicates how the product behaves under regular parameters. Checking for concurrent users and response time is an example of performance testing.

What is Load Testing?

Load testing checks the performance of a software to check its performance under real life-based loads. In other words, load testing is a type of testing that checks the behavior of a system under the expected load. To perform the load testing of a system, we first need to know the expected load on the application in real life.

Load testing collects all the data about response time, reliability, and stability of the system, and then analyzes the data to find the inconsistencies. Basically, the load test is performed to ensure the stable operation of a system under an expected load.

The greatest advantage of load testing is that it helps in understanding the expected load that a system can handle so that we can reduce the risk of a failure.

Now, let us discuss the differences between performance testing and load testing in detail.

Difference between Performance Testing and Load Testing

The following are some of the important differences between Performance Testing and Load Testing −

Key

Performance Testing

Load Testing

Purpose

Performance testing tests the system performance under varying loads.

Load testing tests the system performance for multiple users using the application at the same time.

Threshold

Performance testing is conducted at below and above threshold limits.

Load testing is conducted at threshold limits.

Result

Performance testing ensures that the system is performing perfectly under varying loads.

Load testing ensures that the system can handle how many users at a time without performance degradation.

Result

Performance testing checks the performance of the system.

Load testing checks the operational capacity of the system.

Cost

Performance testing tools are not much costly.

Load testing tools are very costly.

Targets

Performance testing checks the reliability, scalability, and speed of the system.

Load testing checks the sustainability of the system.

Conclusion

The most significant difference between the two is that performance testing checks the performance of a system, while load testing checks the operational capacity of a system.

Updated on: 21-Feb-2023

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