What engineers want in performance testing tools: A look into Reddit conversations

When choosing a performance testing tool, most teams rely on vendor demos, feature comparisons, and analyst reports.

But what if we listened to the engineers who actually use these tools every day? What would they tell us about what really matters?

To find out, we analyzed dozens of candid Reddit discussions from communities like r/QualityAssurance and r/PerformanceTesting. The conversations were refreshingly honest—engineers sharing real experiences, frustrations, and preferences without the polish of marketing materials.

What emerged was a clear picture of what engineers value most, and it's not always what vendors emphasize.

What Reddit tells us about performance testing tools

Spend a few hours combing through subreddits and Reddit threads on performance testing, and a few themes start jumping out at you. Engineers aren’t shy about what they want—and what they hate. Their comments reveal a surprisingly consistent set of priorities.

One user says:

“JMeter gives you an easy start but Gatling is pretty solid and gives you control and freedom to do whatever you like by using Scala in the scripts.”

Another shares:

“I love K6. It’s flexible, code-native and has an amazing UI if used in the cloud.”

And that’s just a small show of what people say; the comments range from enthusiastic to bluntly critical, but they all point to a set of deeply held needs that go beyond feature lists.

How we analyzed the data

We pulled together more than 35 quotes from experienced practitioners—test engineers, SREs, and developers—discussing their hands-on experience with performance testing tools.

Each quote was tagged with a theme, such as:

• Ease of Use
• Scriptability and chaining
• Integration
• Observability and reporting
• Performance and efficiency
• Cost and licensing
• Community and documentation
• Tool flexibility
• Career and future value

We also mapped specific features to the themes Redditors discussed. Here's how those line up:

• Ease of use → GUI onboarding, clean DSLs, setup scripts
• Scriptability → Language support, test chaining, reuse
• Observability → Built-in support for Grafana, Prometheus, DataDog
• Cost → OSS core, tiered pricing, scalable infrastructure

Then we used sentiment analysis to understand how positively or negatively each tool and theme was perceived. The results were illuminating.

So, who’s winning the sentiment war?

Some tools clearly resonated more than others. K6 and Gatling stood out as the most positively discussed.

Gatling has earned the engineers’ respect for its sophisticated DSL and Java/Scala and JavaScript integration, with engineers appreciating its control and freedom. K6 was praised for its architecture, and excellent performance characteristics.

JMeter held its ground, often praised for being a legacy workhorse but dinged for being clunky or outdated. Locust got a boost from its Python-based scripting. NBomber, on the other hand, drew criticism for its documentation.

Tools like Neoload and LoadRunner were often mentioned in enterprise settings, but pricing concerns crept in.

Meanwhile, integration with observability tools like Grafana and Prometheus showed up again and again as a must-have.

What do engineers actually care about?

After analyzing over 35 quotes from experienced practitioners, several themes emerged consistently:

1. Ease of use vs. power

Engineers want tools that are approachable but don't sacrifice capability. As one user noted: "JMeter has a GUI and is easy to pick up but harder to create more complex cases."

The sweet spot seems to be tools that offer both simple onboarding and the ability to handle sophisticated scenarios as teams mature.

2. Code-first approach

Modern engineers think in code, not clicks. They want tools that treat performance tests as code, with version control, reusability, and the ability to integrate into their existing workflows.

"Locust scripts are pretty much 'just Python,'" one engineer explained, highlighting how natural language fit matters.

3. Integration is everything

The days of standalone tools are over. Engineers repeatedly emphasized integration with:

• CI/CD pipelines
• Observability stacks (Grafana, Prometheus, Datadog)
• Existing tech stacks and languages
• Cloud infrastructure

When asked what made Gatling valuable, one user wrote:

“The DSL is really nice, making the load tests easy to set up, read, and understand… not needing to context switch languages is also nice.”

For many, it’s not just about load testing—it’s about working with the rest of the engineering workflow, not against it.

"K6 integrates with Grafana, Dynatrace and other tools to interpret results,"

This is a kind of comment that emphasizes toolchain compatibility.

4. Performance that scales

Ironically, engineers want their performance testing tools to actually perform well. They're frustrated with tools that consume excessive resources or can't generate realistic load.

"K6 is solid. A single instance can generate 30k+ virtual users at a fraction of memory and CPU usage over JMeter," one practitioner noted.

5. Real-world scenarios

Simple load testing isn't enough. Engineers need tools that can handle:

• Complex authentication flows
• Sequential request chains
• Dynamic data extraction
• Session management

Red flags and pain points

Even highly-rated tools aren’t perfect. Reddit users weren’t shy about surfacing gaps. These critiques offer valuable product signals: what to simplify, document better, or open source.

Documentation and community

"NBomber is an OK tool but the documentation unfortunately sucks," one engineer complained. This means that quality documentation and active communities are deal-breakers.

Cost and vendor lock-in

"Neoload is great for overall testing. The problem is they are pricing themselves out of the market." Engineers are increasingly cost-conscious and wary of vendor dependencies.

Career alignment

Engineers think about tool choices in terms of career growth: "Performance testing is part of engineering now." They prefer tools that align with industry trends and valuable skills.

What this means for tool selection

The Reddit conversations reveal that successful performance testing tools must:

1. Align with existing workflows rather than demanding new ones
2. Treat tests as code with proper versioning and reusability
3. Integrate seamlessly with modern DevOps toolchains
4. Scale efficiently without consuming excessive resources
5. Support realistic scenarios beyond simple load generation
6. Provide transparency in pricing and capabilities
7. Invest in community and documentation

The Gatling perspective

Gatling emerged as one of the most respected tools in our research—not necessarily because it's the most flashy, but because it's trusted. Engineers praised its Scala-based scripting, deep JVM integration, and robust documentation.

“You can write perf test in Java or in Scala with Gatling.”

— u/Get_To_D_Choppa

“Gatling gives you control and freedom.”

— u/ohmyroots

It’s a tool that fits naturally into any ecosystem and rewards engineers who want fine control over their tests.

What this means for you

Reddit is more than a place for memes and hot takes—it's where real engineers talk shop. And from those conversations, we learned:

• Tools must integrate, not isolate.
• Scripting is power—treat load tests as code.
• Engineers want transparency and control, not magic.

If you’re building, marketing, or choosing a performance testing tool, the message is clear: respect your engineers.

Build tools that adapt to their workflows, not the other way around.

And maybe—just maybe—check Reddit before your next product decision.