LoadRunner is a robust performance testing tool that helps businesses ensure their systems can handle heavy traffic and maintain reliability under load. By simulating thousands of users, it identifies performance bottlenecks before they affect real users.
LoadRunner is known for its wide protocol support, distinguishing it from other online load testing tools. It supports a wide array of protocols, including common ones like web, mobile, and APIs and more specialized ones such as Oracle 2-Tier, Citrix, Winsock, MQ, JDBC, and many others. This extensive protocol range makes LoadRunner ideal for testing complex systems with multiple layers and technologies.
Originally developed by Mercury Interactive in the 1990s, LoadRunner was later acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Micro Focus, and it is now part of OpenText. A notable development in its history was the collaboration between SAP and HP, which resulted in SAP LoadRunner, a version specifically designed for SAP load testing.
LoadRunner is widely used by large enterprise companies worldwide due to its scalability and rich features, such as advanced analytics tools that deliver deep insights into system performance under load. The LoadRunner family includes solutions such as StormRunner (a cloud-based performance testing tool), LoadRunner Professional, and LoadRunner Enterprise, catering to various performance testing needs.
The main downside of LoadRunner is its high licensing cost, making it more accessible to larger organizations with significant budgets for performance testing.
