6 Performance Tests to Better Understand Your Application

Let's review the six most common types of performance tests that help you evaluate and optimize your application.

Performance Testing 101

Performance testing is about the analysis of the behavior a system would show in different conditions regarding responsiveness, stability, reliability, speed, and resource usage. These metrics give development teams confidence in releasing reliable code that meets user expectations.

Traditionally, performance testing happens in front of every release in waterfall development models. However, because Agile development methodologies are more incremental, including performance testing into the actual act of development helps teams uncover and resolve issues faster.

While load tests are the most common form of performance testing, there are several other types of performance tests designed to deliver unique insights.

Load Testing

Load testing evaluates how an application performs under typical user stress. For instance, an ecommerce platform may conduct load testing by simulating peak traffic levels experienced during events like Black Friday. The objective is to detect bottlenecks and address them before deploying new code.

In DevOps pipelines, load tests are often executed alongside functional tests within continuous integration and deployment workflows to detect potential issues early.

Stress Testing

Stress testing goes beyond typical loads, deliberately pushing an application to its breaking point to determine its limits. The aim is to analyze failure points and ensure the application can fail gracefully when under extreme pressure.

Unlike load tests, stress tests are typically performed periodically rather than being part of the continuous pipeline. For example, after implementing performance optimizations, a stress test might be conducted to assess the impact of the changes.

Spike Testing

Spike testing examines how an application responds to sudden, extreme changes in load, whether increases or decreases. Unlike load testing, which simulates a gradual build-up, spike tests apply abrupt surges or drops in traffic to identify weaknesses in the application and its infrastructure.

For instance, an ecommerce platform might conduct spike testing ahead of major events like Black Friday to ensure that servers and databases can handle sudden traffic spikes effectively.

Endurance Testing

Endurance testing, also known as soak testing, evaluates how an application performs under sustained load over an extended period. While an application may handle short-term load spikes effectively, prolonged usage can reveal issues like memory leaks or gradual performance degradation. The primary goal of endurance testing is to identify and resolve these bottlenecks before they impact production.

Endurance tests can be run in parallel with a continuous integration pipeline. However, their longer runtimes mean they are typically executed less frequently than standard load tests.

Scalability Testing

Scalability testing assesses an application's performance when certain components are scaled up or down. For example, an ecommerce platform might evaluate how increasing the number of customer sign-ups or decreasing the number of orders affects resource usage and system behavior. These tests may focus on hardware, software, or database scalability.

Since scalability tests are aimed at diagnosing specific issues rather than identifying general bottlenecks, they tend to be performed less frequently.

Volume Testing

Also referred to as flood testing, volume testing examines how an application handles large amounts of data within its database. In addition to simulating high network traffic, these tests expand the database significantly to evaluate the impact on query performance and data accessibility under heavy loads. Volume testing is designed to uncover hidden bottlenecks that could otherwise go unnoticed.

These tests are often conducted before an anticipated increase in database size. For instance, an ecommerce platform might run volume tests before adding a large number of new products to its catalog.

The Bottom Line

Performance testing is essential for understanding how an application behaves when it is needed the most. While load testing remains the most widely used type, other performance tests such as stress, spike, endurance, scalability, and volume tests—address specific questions and challenges.

Incorporating these tests into your development lifecycle needs experienced professionals. Organizations like Appinventors provides expert team who can run comprehensive performance tests with ease.