Web Performance

What Web Performance does

Web Performance, Inc. is a private, founder-owned software company founded in 1999 and headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. It develops WPLoadTester, a load and performance testing tool for web applications, REST/GraphQL/microservice APIs, and mobile-web apps. The product records browser sessions, uses an Automatic State Management (ASM) rules-based expert system to detect and configure dynamic variables (session tokens, CSRF fields, OAuth2/PKCE/Bearer tokens, JWTs, framework patterns for React/Angular/Vue/Node), and generates load from a single machine or distributed engines in the customer's own AWS or Azure account.

WPLoadTester ships in a permanent Free edition (single-machine, no signup, no credit card, no artificial virtual-user cap) and a paid Cloud edition that adds distributed load generation, AI-written bottleneck reports based on a human-authored diagnostic playbook, server-side monitoring with AWS CloudWatch and Dynatrace integration, and business-hours support. The WPLoadTester 7 release layer adds an AI Assistant that uses the customer's own Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, or AWS Bedrock key to configure tests, plus an MCP server exposing test cases, results, and the diagnostic playbook to Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and Codex. A command-line runner with JUnit XML and pass/fail thresholds integrates with GitHub Actions and Jenkins.

The company operates without a commissioned sales team: senior engineers answer sales and support calls directly, and consulting and training (live, instructor-led, $1,400 per person) are delivered by the same engineers. Cloud pricing is a flat annual license ($2,900 for 5,000 VU, $6,900 for 10,000 VU) with no per-VU-hour markup; cloud compute bills directly to the customer's AWS or Azure account at roughly $4 per typical 10,000-user, 2-hour run. Named enterprise and government customers include NASA, Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, American Express, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Wells Fargo, HP, Bell Canada, British Telecom, France Telecom, Toyota, Lufthansa, BP, the US Census, the US Department of Justice, the French Ministry of the Interior, and CNAV. Web Performance has been bootstrapped since a single $350K round in March 2005 and operates with 11-50 employees; Kapitec Software acts as a regional channel partner for French-speaking customers.

Name

Web Performance

Legal name

Web Performance, Inc.

Website

https://webperformance.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Web Performance is a bootstrapped Durham, NC software company that builds WPLoadTester, a load and performance testing platform for web apps and APIs, sold as a free single-machine edition and a flat annual Cloud license that runs load generation in the customer's own AWS or Azure account.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Durham

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Licenses (Free and Cloud): Free permanent single-machine edition with no artificial VU cap. Cloud license adds distributed load generation, AI bottleneck reports, full server monitoring, and business-hours support. Flat annual license with no per-VU-hour charges.
2. Training Services: Live, hands-on instructor-led training taught by senior performance engineers via teleconference. 6-8 hours across two days. $1,400 per person.
3. Consulting Services: US-based performance engineers provide comprehensive performance and scalability testing, bottleneck analysis, and architecture reviews. Same engineers who wrote the tool work on customer stack.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Web Performance develops WPLoadTester, a load and performance testing software for web applications, APIs, and mobile web. It records browser sessions, automatically configures dynamic variables (OAuth2, PKCE, CSRF, JWT, session tokens) via its Automatic State Management (ASM) expert system and an AI Assistant using the customer's own AI keys, and generates load from a single machine or distributed engines running inside the customer's own AWS or Azure account. The product ships in a Free permanent single-machine edition and a paid Cloud edition with AI-written bottleneck reports, full server monitoring, and business-hours support.

Product overview

Web Performance offers a single unified load testing product, WPLoadTester, in Free and Cloud editions. The Free edition provides permanent, single-machine load testing with the AI Assistant for test configuration using the user's own AI key. The Cloud edition adds distributed load generation across the user's own AWS or Azure account, AI-written bottleneck reports, full server monitoring with CloudWatch/Dynatrace integration, and business-hours support. Key sub-products and modules include the Analytics Dashboard (six-tab interactive results viewer), Server Monitor (server-side metrics agent), Load Engine (distributed load generation workers), Web Performance Portal (team results repository), ASM (Automatic State Management expert system for dynamic variable detection), the AI Assistant (AI orchestrator for configuration and reporting), the Diagnostic Playbook (human-authored triage decision tree), the MCP Server (Model Context Protocol integration for agentic workflows), and User Capacity Analysis (capacity-finding methodology). The company also offers WPLoadTester Training (live instructor-led classes) and consulting services delivered by the same engineers who build the software. The ecosystem is anchored by the MCP server, which exposes WPLoadTester functionality to any MCP-compatible agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.), enabling scripted and programmatic workflows.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• WPLoadTester: The company's flagship load testing software product, available in Free and Cloud editions for Windows and macOS.
• WPLoadTester Cloud
• Server Monitor

Products and services

• WPLoadTester Load testing software for web applications, APIs, and mobile web. Records browser sessions, auto-configures dynamic variables via the ASM expert system and AI Assistant, generates load from local machines or distributed cloud engines running in the customer's own AWS or Azure account, and produces an interactive analytics dashboard with AI-written bottleneck reports. Ships in a Free permanent single-machine edition for Windows and macOS and a paid Cloud edition with distributed load generation and business-hours support.
• WPLoadTester Training Live instructor-led training class on WPLoadTester, taught online via teleconference over 6-8 hours across two days by the senior performance engineers who built the tool. Covers recording, configuration, running tests, and analyzing results. Priced at $1,400 per person.
• Performance Engineering Consulting Services US-based senior performance engineering consulting covering comprehensive performance and scalability testing, bottleneck analysis, and architecture reviews, delivered by the same engineers who built WPLoadTester.

Quantifiable outcome

• ~6x faster test configuration with AI Assistant vs manual scripting
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers31 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration13 records

AI capability6 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Kapitec SoftwareregionalChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorKapitec Software is the representative of Web Performance in France, serving as the regional channel partner for French-speaking customers. Mentioned in CNAV case study as the local support contact.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• BlazeMeter: Cloud-based load and performance testing platform, now part of Broadcom, offering a SaaS alternative for JMeter-style load generation and CI/CD integration. Directly comparable to WPLoadTester's Cloud edition and explicitly called out as a head-to-head competitor on Web Performance's own comparison pages.
• Grafana Labs (k6): Open-source and cloud load testing tool (k6) developed by Grafana Labs, targeting developer-led load testing in CI/CD and modern API stacks. Closely comparable to WPLoadTester on developer-centric scripting, distributed load generation, and CI integration, and named as a comparable peer on Web Performance's site.
• Apache JMeter: The de facto open-source load testing tool maintained by the Apache Software Foundation, used as the baseline for many cloud wrappers (BlazeMeter, OctoPerf, etc.). Functionally overlaps with WPLoadTester's protocol-based load generation and is the incumbent alternative that Web Performance's ASM and AI Assistant are explicitly positioned against.
• Gatling: Open-source load testing framework with a commercial cloud edition for distributed load generation. Competes with WPLoadTester on developer-friendly scripting, distributed cloud engines, and CI/CD integration, and is a frequent comparison point for modern protocol (HTTP, WebSocket) load testing.
• Tricentis NeoLoad: Enterprise load and performance testing tool from Tricentis, targeting large organizations that want to integrate load testing with broader functional test automation. Comparable to WPLoadTester on enterprise scripting, distributed cloud load generation, and integration with CI/CD pipelines.
• Flood.io: Cloud load testing platform built on top of open-source engines (JMeter, Gatling, Selenium-style scripting). Directly comparable on distributed cloud load generation and analytics dashboards, and competes for the same enterprise and SMB testing budgets.
• LoadForge: Cloud load testing service targeting web and API load tests from a managed cloud. Named explicitly on Web Performance's comparison pages as a head-to-head alternative, with overlapping use cases in distributed load generation and developer-friendly test configuration.

Broad incumbents

• OpenText LoadRunner: Enterprise load and performance testing suite originating with Mercury/HP/Micro Focus, now under OpenText. Targets the same Fortune 500, regulated-industry performance-engineering buyers (banking, government, telecom) that Web Performance serves, but as part of a much broader application quality and DevOps portfolio.

Emerging players

• OctoPerf: Cloud-based JMeter-compatible load testing platform with a SaaS analytics UI. Comparable on cloud load generation and JMeter-compatible scripting, though narrower in scope than WPLoadTester's BYO-Cloud/BYO-AI architecture.
• Locust: Open-source, Python-based load testing tool with optional distributed execution. Overlaps with WPLoadTester's protocol-level load generation and CI/CD usage, particularly among developer-led teams building custom testing workflows.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Web Performance