Loadster
Software testing tools
Load testing tools
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
Take the quiz to check if Loadster and its alternatives fit your requirements.
$29 per month
Free Trial unavailable
Free version
Small
Medium
Large
- Retail and wholesale
- Accommodation and food services
- Information technology and software
What is Loadster
Loadster is a load and performance testing tool used to simulate concurrent users and measure how web applications and APIs behave under stress. It targets QA teams, developers, and performance engineers who need to run load tests during development, pre-release validation, or capacity planning. The product focuses on creating load tests from recorded browser sessions and running them at scale to capture response-time and error-rate behavior.
Purpose-built for load testing
Loadster centers on generating concurrent traffic and measuring performance under load, which aligns with common pre-production validation and capacity planning workflows. It supports running repeatable tests to compare performance across builds or configuration changes. This focus can reduce the need to adapt general testing tools for performance-specific scenarios.
Record-and-replay test creation
The product is designed to build load scenarios from recorded user activity, which can speed up initial script creation for teams without deep scripting expertise. This approach can help teams model realistic navigation flows rather than only synthetic endpoint calls. It is particularly useful when validating end-to-end web journeys that include multiple requests and assets.
Actionable performance outputs
Load testing tools typically provide response-time, throughput, and error metrics that help teams identify bottlenecks and regressions. Loadster’s core value is in producing these performance signals from controlled, repeatable traffic patterns. These outputs support go/no-go release decisions and help prioritize optimization work.
Limited breadth beyond performance
Loadster is primarily a load/performance tool rather than a broad software testing suite. Teams that also need usability research, session replay, feedback collection, or managed functional testing will likely require additional products. This can increase toolchain complexity for organizations seeking an all-in-one testing platform.
Scripting and protocol constraints
Record-and-replay approaches can be less flexible when applications use complex authentication, dynamic tokens, or highly asynchronous client behavior. Some scenarios may still require manual parameterization, correlation, or custom scripting to achieve stable, realistic tests. Protocol coverage and extensibility may not match more developer-centric performance frameworks.
Enterprise governance may vary
Depending on deployment and licensing options, organizations may find gaps in areas such as centralized administration, SSO/SAML, role-based access controls, audit logging, or advanced reporting. Larger teams often require standardized CI/CD integration patterns and environment management for performance testing. Buyers should validate these capabilities against internal security and compliance requirements.
Plan & Pricing
Monthly Fuel Plans (tiered subscription)
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1k Monthly Fuel Plan | $78 / month | 1,000 monthly fuel units; unused monthly-plan fuel rolls over while subscription is active. |
| 5k Monthly Fuel Plan | $318 / month | 5,000 monthly fuel units. |
| 10k Monthly Fuel Plan | $578 / month | 10,000 monthly fuel units. |
| 20k Monthly Fuel Plan | $798 / month | 20,000 monthly fuel units. |
| Monitoring Plans | Starting at $29 / month | Fuel-free monitoring cycles (thousands per month) plus phone notifications (SMS/Robocall); listed as "starting at $29/month" on official site. |
Pay-as-you-go (usage-based)
Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (Loadster Fuel) Free tier/trial: Every account starts with 50 free fuel units (no credit card required). See note below. Example costs: 1,000 units – $97; 5,000 units – $397; 10,000 units – $697; 20,000 units – $997. Discount options / notes: Monthly fuel plans offer a lower per-unit cost and roll over unused fuel while subscription is active. Custom/enterprise and bulk fuel pricing, annual discounts, and "bring your own cloud" options are available via sales contact on the official site.
