Load Testing Software
Alternatives to Artillery
Artillery combines load, stress and soak testing with Playwright-based end-to-end checks and production monitoring. It supports HTTP, WebSocket and Socket.IO, distributed runs across AWS Lambda, AWS Fargate and Azure Container Instances, and API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web and Windows environments. Its free plan allows 30 reports each month, one month of retention, two team members and tests up to 30 minutes. Paid plans start at $199/mo, with higher tiers adding capacity and controls.
- 01 LoadFocus
LoadFocus suits engineering teams, developers, web agencies, product owners and DevOps engineers who need load, page-speed, API or UI testing.
From $15.80/mo Free plan Web · API · Browser extension8.7 Visit Specs - 02
Apache JMeter JMeter suits users who need free load or stress testing across supported protocols and can work with a Java-based tool.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · Self-hosted8.4 Visit Specs - 03
BlazeMeter BlazeMeter may suit teams coordinating performance, functional, and API testing with CI/CD systems or simulating dependent services.
From $8.25/mo Free trial Web · Linux · API · Self-hosted8.3 Visit Specs - 04
Gatling Gatling suits teams that want to author load tests in code, through a no-code generator or by importing Postman tests.
From €89/mo Free trial Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.3 Visit Specs - 05 Fortio
Fortio suits developers and operators who need self-hosted HTTP or gRPC load and API testing.
Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux8.1 Visit Specs - 06 Loader.io From $99.95/mo Free plan Web · API7.9 Visit Specs
- 07 Vegeta
Vegeta suits developers and teams needing constant-rate HTTP or API load tests, including distributed runs.
Free plan Windows · macOS · Linux · API7.9 Visit Specs - 08 WebLOAD From $499/mo Free trial Web · Windows · Linux · API7.7 Visit Specs
- 09 Locust
Locust suits developers who can author test scenarios in Python and need to observe HTTP or other protocol performance.
Free plan Web · Windows · macOS · Linux7.6 Visit Specs - 10 ApacheBench (ab)Apache Software Foundation Free plan6.8 Visit Specs
- 11 k6Grafana Labs Free plan6.4 Visit Specs
- 12 Tricentis NeoLoad Web · Windows · macOS · Linux5.8 Visit Specs
- 13 Heyrakyll 5.5 Visit Specs
- 14 LoadRunner Professional 5.3 Visit Specs
- 15 wrkWg (Gil Tene and contributors) 5.0 Visit Specs
Choosing instead of Artillery
Readers may look elsewhere when those limits, overage behavior or pricing do not match their workload. Continued overages may degrade service or put an account in read-only mode. Alternatives specialize in areas Artillery combines: replaying captured production traffic, visual automation across mobile and desktop systems, scheduled synthetic checks, or open-source test orchestration. Compare how each tool authors and runs tests, which protocols and platforms it covers, where execution and data reside, and whether its pricing fits your expected volume. Decide whether Artillery’s monitoring and Playwright load testing are essential or whether a narrower focus is preferable.