Understanding the Difference between Load Testing Tools and Website Monitoring Service

There are a number of ways in which a website owner can ensure the stability and uptime of his or her website. In fact, there are so many tools being offered across the web that navigating through them and understanding the differences between them can be quite a time-consuming undertaking. Let’s take load testing tools for example. Many people are under the impression that load testing tools can replace the need for a website monitoring service. To say that is true would be akin to saying the need for a mop negates the need for a vacuum cleaner in one’s home. To understand why these two tools are so very different, you need to understand how they work, how they are both beneficial, and why you cannot go without one just because you have the other.

Understanding Load Testing Tools

When you use a load testing tool, the tool you are using sends a large volume of traffic to your website and then tests and measures what happens to your site when that traffic hits. This type of tool allows you to see what your site’s response times will be under different traffic conditions and how many concurrent users your site can handle at any given time. It is somewhat like a simulator, showing you exactly what will happen if your site is suddenly a massive success and your traffic surges to unprecedented levels.

Knowing how well your website will work under an increased load of traffic will help you understand whether or not your site can handle a large traffic influx, or if your site will go down and make it impossible to make any sales due to traffic-related downtime. Depending on the load testing tool you use, you may be able to determine why your site reacts the way it does to the influx of traffic and what you need to do to correct the problem. This allows you to use the load testing tool as a development tool, helping you understand and address potential performance problems in the future before they actually materialize.

The Difference between Load Testing and Website Monitoring

While load testing tools can be very valuable, they cannot replace the need for website monitoring service. A load testing tool will help you understand the needs of your site and what it can and cannot handle in regards to traffic. A website monitoring service, on the other hand, protects your site’s uptime in a completely different manner. When your site goes down, your website monitoring service alerts you of the downtime the moment it happens, allowing you to get your site back online as soon as possible. Website monitoring service helps you minimize downtime and protecting your business’s bottom line by keeping a watchful eye on your site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Load testing tools, on the other hand, are tools that you use on a scheduled or as-needed basis to test the load capacity of your website’s server. While the tools both work to protect your site’s uptime, they are very different in regards to how they work.

Building an Arsenal

Let’s go back to our example of a vacuum cleaner and a mop for a moment. Both of these tools are used for the maintenance of your home and, more specifically, your home’s flooring. Having one, however, does not negate the need for the other. The same is true for website monitoring service and many of the other website uptime tools available. While other tools, such as a load testing tool, can indeed be very valuable, use of the tool does not mean that you can do without website monitoring service. While tools such as a load testing tool and website monitoring service are both intended to help you minimize your website downtime, they are very different creatures and are meant to be used together, as part of a comprehensive arsenal of tools that fight downtime. Such tools are not meant to replace the need for website monitoring service altogether.