Apache Jmeter Vs HP LoadRunner

Head to Head

Open source and free to use.

Industry standard and product from HP.

Limited protocol support.

I have the greatest number of protocol support.

Pure Java (works on any OS that supports a JVM).

C based Language, Java, Java Script and VB.

I have good industry support.

70% Market Share.

JMeter has an unlimited load generation capacity.

LoadRunner has a limited load generation capacity.

JMeter is technically less proficient.

LoadRunner is highly developed and complex.

JMeter lacks in the user interface.

LoadRunner is impressive interface.

Atul Pant

Page 1

Feature Comparison
Apache JMeter

HP LoadRunner

Platform

Java (Platform independent )

Microsoft Windows
(server parts require ASP.NET)

Tool Architecture

Master: Jmeter GUI, control each slave.

Slave: Jmeter-server, receive command from the master and send a
request to server.
Target: web server under test, get request from slaves.

Virtual User Generator : Load script authoring

Analysis: Result Analysis
Controller: Load generator & Test Execution

Remote load
generators

Multiple Remote Load generators hosts are supported.

Distributed (even multi-region) load generator hosts. Over-firewall

solutions.

Cloud-capability

Third-party cloud-based testing is available.

E.g. BlazeMeter

Installing Load Generators on the cloud is available.

Resource monitoring

Few/limited

Supports a variety of platforms/applications.

Resource metrics can be conveniently tracked with other metrics in
the Analysis tool.

Documentation

Apache website provides documentation.

Quality: mixed.

Context sensitive help (press F1)

Quality: good

Community

Open source software community, mailing list.

Official forum on HP site. Activity is low/medium.

Scripting

A script is actually a graphical tree of nodes, with limited editing

capabilities.
Supports BeanShell for evaluations, checks, etc.

C (primarily) and Java.

TruClient protocol: JavaScript.

Recording

HTTP Proxy

HTTP Proxy for remote applications.

Network capture of local applications.
TCP dump for mobile/webservice protocols.

Scenario composition

One script can contain multiple thread groups and form the scenario.

Separate scripts can be configured to constitute a scenario

Protocol coverage

Focus primarily on HTTP and Java-related protocols (JMS, JDBC).

Also supports FTP, LDAP, and SOAP.

Broad coverage from plain HTTP-based protocols through

proprietary enterprise products.

Extensibility

Java plugins

SDK

Atul Pant

Page 2

Functional Comparison
Apache JMeter

HP LoadRunner

Script

Test Plan

VuGen

Recording

Workbench

VuGen

Scenarios

Thread Group

Controller

Results

Listener

Result Analyser

Controller

Logic Controller

Transaction

Request

Sampler

Request

Settings

Config Elements

Runtime/Recording Settings

Timer

Constant Timer
Uniform Random Timer
Gaussian Random Timer
Synchronizing Timer

Think Time
Rendezvous Point

Parameterization

CSV Data set

File or Table
XML Parameter Types
Internal Data Parameter Types
Date/Time
Group Name,
Iteration Number
Random Number
Unique Number
Vuser ID
User-Defined Function Parameters

Correlation

Regular Extractor Expression

Manual Correlation
Automatic Correlation

Check Points

Response Assertion
Duration Assertion
Size Assertion
HTML Assertion
XML Assertion
Xpath Assertion

Text
Image

Atul Pant

Page 3

Apache JMeter
File Extension

Atul Pant

.jmx (Script)
.jtl (Logs)

HP LoadRunner
.usr (Script)
.lrs (Scenario)
.lrr (Results)

Page 4