We simulate real-world load on websites, mobile apps, APIs and enterprise systems to show how they behave under pressure — before your users find out. Cloud-based load generation, real-time dashboards and a clear route to fixing what we find.
Our load generators and reporting tools run in the cloud and scale to thousands of concurrent users from multiple global locations, or inside your own network where security requires it. We work with Apache JMeter, OpenText LoadRunner and Tricentis NeoLoad. Performance testing has been core to our services since 1999 and many of our clients are repeat customers over many years.
What we test for
Load testing — how the system performs under expected load levels, including seasonality and predictable spikes in usage.
Stress testing — how the system behaves at and beyond peak demand, establishing its maximum capacity and how it fails.
Volume testing — how the system handles large data volumes, assessing storage and processing capacity.
Soak and stability testing — extended runs under moderate load to expose memory leaks, connection exhaustion and slow degradation.
How we run a performance test
1. Build the load profile. We work with you to identify the core business processes, realistic transaction volumes and the peak you actually need to survive. This step determines whether the test is meaningful, and it is where most performance testing goes wrong.
2. Script and validate. Journeys are scripted across both UI and API, parameterised with test data, and validated against a small load before scaling up.
3. Execute with live visibility. Tests run from the cloud or inside your network, with a real-time dashboard your technical teams can watch as it happens. Fixes can start before the test finishes.
4. Analyse, fix, retest. Where bottlenecks are found we investigate root cause alongside your teams, then retest to prove the fix worked.
All scripts and assets are handed over with instructions for re-use, so the work has value beyond the engagement.
Where AI fits in performance testing
We use AI to accelerate the slow parts: generating load scripts from API specifications and recorded user journeys, and correlating results across application, database and infrastructure metrics to point at a probable root cause rather than a list of symptoms.
Analysis and recommendations stay with a consultant. An incorrect diagnosis delivered quickly is worse than no diagnosis at all, and performance problems are the area where a plausible-sounding wrong answer costs the most.
Testing for peak events
Some systems only have to survive one day a year. We have performance tested Clearing and enrolment for universities, vaccine booking at national scale for the NHS, and seasonal peaks for retail and logistics clients.
Where the event is fixed and immovable, we work backwards from it: baseline early, test against a realistic peak profile with headroom built in, and retest after every fix. We have worked with 30+ of the UK's universities, running performance tests on cloud instances of their Student Records Systems including SITS, Ellucian Banner and SAP.
Performance testing tools we use
We are not tied to a single vendor. Tool choice follows the application, your existing stack and your budget.
- Load generation — Apache JMeter, OpenText LoadRunner, Tricentis NeoLoad, WebLoad
- Observability and analysis — Dynatrace, Grafana, and your existing APM tooling
- Pipeline integration — Jenkins, Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions
Our in-house accelerators enhance the open-source tools, speeding up scripting and keeping results consistent between test cycles.
Performance engineering: beyond the one-off test
A performance test tells you where you stand today. Performance engineering builds the checks into your delivery pipeline, so regressions are caught at commit rather than at launch.
Once designed, our tests integrate into your CI platform and keep earning their build cost on every release. [Read more about performance engineering]
What you get from performance testing
Find problems early — simulate thousands of concurrent users and measure real user experience, so issues surface before go-live rather than in production.
Scalability insight — understand how well your infrastructure scales, and whether autoscaling actually reacts quickly enough to the peaks you expect.
Risk reduction — identify and resolve bottlenecks before they cause outages, which are expensive in both revenue and reputation.
Lower running costs — optimised applications need fewer resources, reducing cloud spend and energy use.
Cloud migration confidence — baseline testing against your existing environment proves the new platform delivers the improvements promised, before you switch over.
Why Prolifics Testing
- Performance testing since 1999
- UK consultants leading delivery, supported by our Hyderabad centre
- Cloud or in-network load generation, with real-time dashboards for your team
- Vendor-neutral tooling: JMeter, LoadRunner, NeoLoad
- ISO 9001, ISO 27001 and CMMI accredited
- Trusted by leading global law firms, 30+ UK universities, retailers, charities and financial services companies
Performance testing FAQs
What is the difference between load testing and stress testing?
Load testing measures how a system performs under the demand you expect, including seasonal peaks. Stress testing deliberately pushes beyond that point to establish maximum capacity and observe how the system fails. Most organisations need both: load testing proves you can handle a normal busy day, stress testing tells you what happens when something unexpected occurs.
How much does performance testing cost?
Cost depends on the number of business processes in scope, the complexity of scripting them, and how many test cycles you need. A typical first engagement covers a handful of critical user journeys at a fixed price, which establishes a baseline and a realistic cost for ongoing testing.
How many concurrent users should we test for?
Start from your busiest observed hour, not your average. Take peak concurrent users from your analytics or server logs, apply your expected growth, then add headroom — commonly 20 to 50% above the realistic peak. We help build this profile as the first step of any engagement, because a test against the wrong volume tells you nothing useful.
How long does a performance test take?
A focused test of a small number of journeys typically takes two to three weeks from kick-off to report, with most of that time spent on scripting and profile design rather than execution. Larger programmes covering full enterprise applications run longer and usually involve several test and fix cycles.
When should we run performance tests?
Before any major release, cloud migration or known peak event, and ideally continuously through your pipeline. Testing late is the most common and most expensive mistake: performance problems found a fortnight before launch are architectural, not configuration, and architecture is not something you can fix in a fortnight.
Can you test cloud applications and autoscaling?
Yes. Autoscaling behaviour is a key consideration in how we design tests: we build load profiles with realistic ramp patterns to confirm that additional capacity comes online quickly enough that users never notice the transition.
Should we use JMeter, LoadRunner or NeoLoad?
Apache JMeter is open source, free of licence cost and well suited to web and API testing where you have technical skills in-house. OpenText LoadRunner and Tricentis NeoLoad offer broader protocol support, stronger analysis and vendor support, which matters for complex enterprise estates. We run all three and recommend against the application rather than the licence.
Can you test APIs as well as user interfaces?
Yes, and for most systems API-level testing gives more reliable results with less script maintenance. We typically combine both: API load for volume, plus a smaller set of UI journeys to measure the experience an actual user gets.
Do we need production-like test data?
Realistic data volumes matter, because a database that performs well with a thousand records may not with ten million. We can generate masked, GDPR-compliant test data through our Tidium platform where production data cannot be used.
Get in touch
Book a no-obligation performance testing conversation. Thirty minutes with a Principal Consultant to talk through your applications, your expected peaks and where the risk actually sits.
Call +44 (0) 20 8905 2761 or email info@prolifics-testing.com
