Locust vs Artillery

Locust8.8Visit Artillery7.8Visit

Higher score Locust #7 in Performance Testing Software 8.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Locust

vs

Artillery #16 in Performance Testing Software 7.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit Artillery

• Locust fits best

  Python teams building flexible open-source tests

• Artillery fits best

  Teams testing APIs, browsers, and WebSockets

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Side by side

Feature	Locust 8.8/10 Visit ↗	Artillery 7.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.8	7.8
Ranking	#7 in Performance Testing Software	#16 in Performance Testing Software
Best for	Python teams building flexible open-source tests	Teams testing APIs, browsers, and WebSockets
Pricing model	Free	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Free plan	$199/mo
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux
Support	Docs	Email, Community, Docs
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Locust 5/5 · Artillery 5/5
Load testing	✓	✓
Stress testing	✓	✓
Browser-based testing	✓	✓
Distributed load	✓	✓
API testing	✓	✓
Specs
Deployment model	Hybrid	Hybrid
Max virtual users	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Define test scenarios in regular Python code Run real-time, headless, or distributed tests Extend workloads with protocols, clients, and integrations	Tests HTTP, WebSocket, Socket.IO, and Playwright browser workloads Runs distributed tests through AWS Lambda, AWS Fargate, and Azure Connects with CI/CD, observability tools, dashboards, and cloud reports
Cons	Self-hosted deployment places operations on your team Browser testing uses documented Playwright or Selenium extensions Core HTTP/HTTPS coverage may require extensions for other protocols	Free plan limits teams to 30 reports and 30-minute tests monthly Paid plans start at $199 per month The broad feature set may exceed the needs of basic API testing
Our verdict	Locust is an open-source performance and load testing tool for developers and test engineers who want to define simulated behavior in Python. It supports load, stress, browser, distributed-load, and API testing across web, Windows, macOS,… Read the review →	Artillery is a performance testing platform for developers, QA engineers, and SRE teams. Its CLI supports load and stress testing for APIs, web applications, and network services across HTTP, WebSocket, and Socket.IO. Playwright-based… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Locust — where it wins

  • Define test scenarios in regular Python code
  • Run real-time, headless, or distributed tests
  • Extend workloads with protocols, clients, and integrations

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment places operations on your team
  • Browser testing uses documented Playwright or Selenium extensions
  • Core HTTP/HTTPS coverage may require extensions for other protocols

• Artillery — where it wins

  • Tests HTTP, WebSocket, Socket.IO, and Playwright browser workloads
  • Runs distributed tests through AWS Lambda, AWS Fargate, and Azure
  • Connects with CI/CD, observability tools, dashboards, and cloud reports

  Where it doesn't

  • Free plan limits teams to 30 reports and 30-minute tests monthly
  • Paid plans start at $199 per month
  • The broad feature set may exceed the needs of basic API testing

• Locust8.8/10 · Free plan

  A flexible Python-based load testing tool for teams that want self-hosted control.

  Visit LocustFull verdict →
• Artillery7.8/10 · Free plan

  A flexible performance testing platform spanning APIs, browsers, WebSockets, and distributed execution.

  Visit ArtilleryFull verdict →