Ask a Flooder

How do you load test a native mobile app? Nicole discusses the general approach to mobile load testing, what a device farm is, and why a device farm isn't necessary for load testing. She also discusses the best mobile load testing tools to use.  

Catch the video version of this podcast episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_rRu0cDey4

[Video] What are the best tools for load testing?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5Wo6x2OoZU 

[Video] Recording mobile traffic using JMeter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVUyYF1VPlo 

[Blog post] Guide to mobile load testing: https://bit.ly/33CLgh4 

Case study: Iowa Caucus Reporter App: https://bit.ly/2J9qjkm 

Case study: Robinhood app: https://bit.ly/3ahYpP2

Run your first load test on Flood: http://bit.ly/2wK8buq

When it comes to software testing, the debate of Puppeteer vs Selenium is a hot one. Nicole tackles it here to determine which one is better for load testing in particular. Spoiler: The answer is still "it depends".  

Catch the video version of this podcast episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K61W7ivhsuE

A more detailed blog post on Puppeteer vs Selenium: http://bit.ly/2vxWpmA 

Get started on Flood with Selenium: http://bit.ly/2U5xrEO 

Get started on Flood with Element: http://bit.ly/33w3uR7

Run your first load test on Flood: http://bit.ly/2wK8buq

Nicole talks about how to install the JMeter Plugin Manager as well as other plugins, what the best JMeter plugins are, and why you need them. JMeter is an open-source load testing tool that is already robust, but there are some fantastic plugins that have been developed for it that you might want to use in your next load test.  

Catch the video version of this podcast episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYyLoH-FQrk

Top 10 JMeter plugins and how they help: http://bit.ly/33sqKj9 

JMeter Plugins Org: https://jmeter-plugins.org/ 

Plugins Manager: https://jmeter-plugins.org/wiki/PluginsManager/ 

HTTP/2 Tutorial for JMeter: http://bit.ly/3a1fNaM

Run your first load test on Flood: http://bit.ly/2wK8buq

What's the difference between load testing and stress testing? When should you choose to run a load test on your application, and when is a stress test more appropriate? Well, it's all in the intention.  

Catch the video version of this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igP2q__zMcc

Video on performance testing vs load testing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CueAkDY5yE 

Real-life stress testing in action: Robinhood app failure http://bit.ly/3cSRUUq

Run your first load test on Flood: http://bit.ly/2wK8buq

One of our most commonly-asked questions is: "What are the best tools for load testing?" The answer will depend on a few things: your reason for load testing, the application you want to test, what kind of load testing you want to carry out, your team's experience with scripting, and how many virtual users you want to run.  

Note from Nicole: In this video, I say that traditional load testing tools can't simulate requests that are triggered by interactions on the client-side. This isn't technically true: if you know what the requests are, you can build those requests manually on a protocol-level tool (like JMeter or Gatling). However, this takes more work compared to browser-level tools that just do this natively.  

Choosing a load testing tool: http://bit.ly/2IIPIRy 

JMeter vs Gatling: http://bit.ly/38MvfWO

What is the meaning of concurrent users in performance testing? You might have seen concurrent users in JMeter or other tools, but what does it mean and how can you use the term properly?  

The tweet mentioned: https://twitter.com/flood_io/status/1224284942932332544 -- and hey, follow us while you're at it! 

An article by Tim Koopmans on why concurrent users is not as important as you think: http://bit.ly/38Keqf5

Run your first load test on Flood: http://bit.ly/2wK8buq

In a two-for-one Ask a Flooder, Nicole answers two questions: What is the difference between performance testing and load testing and in which situations is performance testing a better option than load testing?  

Front-end performance testing tools mentioned: 

https://gtmetrix.com/ 

https://www.webpagetest.org/

Run your first load test on Flood: http://bit.ly/2wK8buq

How do you load test a mobile app? In this tutorial, Nicole discusses how to record mobile traffic from a native mobile app from a laptop using a free tool called JMeter, with step-by-step instructions.  

Where do you go from here? Check out our full guide to mobile load testing: http://bit.ly/2TLzRYV 

See this in action for a real app (Iowa Caucus Reporter App): http://bit.ly/33ig9XR 

What FOMO has to do with performance testing (Robinhood app): http://bit.ly/2wMkgPV

Run your first load test on Flood: http://bit.ly/2wK8buq

If you want to run a load test using real browsers, Flood Element is one of the best options. Element is a powerful open-source tool that you can use for both functional and nonfunctional testing. Here's how to get started.  

More about Element: http://bit.ly/3aMLcgZ 

Getting Started with Element: http://bit.ly/2W2oFZl

Run your first load test on Flood: http://bit.ly/2wK8buq

Why does your load testing tool report high response times, but on your browser, your application loads really quickly? Nicole talks about the most common cause for these unexpected response times. Run your first load test on Flood: http://bit.ly/2wK8buq