About Locust
Locust is an open source load testing tool. You describe user behavior in Python code and run it against your system to see how it performs under load.
What it does
A Locust test defines user tasks, such as logging in and loading pages, and Locust runs many simulated users at once. It can spread a test across several machines, so you can simulate large numbers of users. Tests are started from the command line with a Python file that holds the user definitions.
Key features
- Define user tasks and wait times in Python
- Distributed runs across multiple machines
- HTTP client for sending requests in a test
- Install with pip from PyPI
- Optional hosted version through Locust.cloud
Who it's for
Backend and QA engineers who want load tests written as code instead of XML or GUI tools. Teams that already write Python will find the setup familiar.
Pricing and good to know
Locust is free and open source under the MIT license. It installs with pip, and the source is on GitHub. Locust.cloud offers dedicated commercial support for the project, and a hosted cloud version is in the works.
Highlights
- Define user tasks and wait times in Python
- Distributed runs across multiple machines
- HTTP client for sending requests in a test
- Install with pip from PyPI
- Optional hosted version through Locust.cloud
