The Definitive Guide to Performance Testing

by BlazeMeter

Performance testing for websites and mobile applications is an important consideration for ensuring your application delivers the best possible experience to your end users. However, it's a big area and can sometimes be a little complex.

Often divided into two main areas: backend testing (network performance and the quality of your code) and functional testing (how the application looks and works in a browser).

This guide will focus mostly on backend testing and provide you with a complete overview of best cases practices and world-class resources to learn more. Specifically, we'll cover:

• An introduction to performance testing - if you're new to performance testing, this first section will enable you to better understand what it is and why it's beneficial.
• Backend testing - this is the primary focus of this guide and we'll break down some of the most important tests you can and should run.
• Functional testing - well briefly cover functional testing and why it's also an important area to consider. 
• The performance testing process - we'll outline a best case practice flow and important steps you'll need to make sure you complete to run effective performance tests.
• Performance test planning - before you run your own performance test, it's important to consider important elements like objectives, key performance indicators, and business objectives.
• Scripting - we'll cover the right approach to scripting and some important steps to make sure your performance tests will run correctly.
• Monitoring & post test analysis - monitoring your performance tests will give you a better idea of how reliable the tests and results are. We'll also explore best case reporting practices and key information you should be looking for.
• Additional Information - performance testing is a growing industry and there's much more to consider when it comes to cloud performance testing, integrating performance tests with the AGILE workflow, and how to run performance tests on mobile.

Whether you're an experienced performance tester or an absolute beginner, this guide is an indispensable resource that you can use from beginning to end, or jump right to the areas you need the most help with.