Introduction To API Load Testing

What is an API?

An Applications Programming Interface (API) is a computing interface that is tasked with dictating and allowing communication and exchange of data between applications. Have you ever asked yourself how applications such as the Uber application, which is a taxi-hailing application, are able to implement and share information with the Google Maps application?

Well, in the Uber app, you are able to request a taxi and see its location as well as track its location before it gets to where you are. Similarly, you are able to follow directions in the application until you get to where you are going. This has been made possible by the use of APIs.

It would have taken Uber a lot of time and resources if they were to build the entire Uber application without implementing other applications. Furthermore, they would have had higher chances of having errors in their application if they built everything from scratch.

This shows how important APIs are today, as they have simplified development and reduced the time developers take to build applications. They are also at the forefront of the trends shaping digital transformation among businesses today.

What is API Load Testing?

As much as businesses implement the use of APIs, it does not necessarily mean that their applications are always successful and that they meet all their requirements. When using an API, businesses need to employ a set of tools to help in the management of the API, from the time it is incepted to the time it is retired.

One of the most important tests to perform on an API is load testing. Load testing can be defined as a type of API testing that tests the performance of the API under different real-life load conditions.

Applications run through a client and server architecture, which is connected using APIs. These APIs need to be tested to make sure that they meet their requirements. When testing the APIs, businesses can simulate an extra load in different situations to see how the API performs.

Businesses need to make sure that their applications are scalable and can handle all the users that access them. To check if the applications meet this requirement, they (businesses) can perform load testing on their APIs. This helps in eliminating any future problems related to the performance of their applications.

Importance of API Load Testing

As discussed above, API load testing is very important to businesses that implement the use of APIs. Here are some of the benefits of conducting load tests on APIs;

• Offers Stability to Applications: When an application faces a downtime or stops responding to requests sent by users, chances are that most if not all the users will look for alternative applications. Load testing makes sure that applications are tested through all possible conditions to avoid such problems.
• Ensures Fast and Smooth Performance: Applications users would rather use applications that load and respond fast. You will lose users if you have a server with slow response times. Google indicates that more than fifty-three percent of application users leave an application that takes more than three seconds to respond to requests. However, conducting load tests on APIs helps organizations to avoid such issues. It also helps them to save time and money that would have been spent addressing performance issues. In addition, it helps them maintain a good brand reputation by ensuring that their applications meet the demands of their users.
• Gathering Comprehensive Performance Statistics: When performing API load tests, testers are able to collect comprehensive statistics with regard to the response times of their APIs. For instance, if an organization requires a response time of three seconds or less, depending on their performance requirements, they are able to see which APIs or rather applications meet a set of key performance indicators. This way, they are able to use the gathered statistics to customize their APIs to make sure that they meet their requirements.

APIs are the building blocks fueling the innovation and digitization of business processes. This means that they are used by different parties that bring different loads to the APIs. It is often difficult to predict such loads, and any mistakes might lead to downtimes that might have negative effects on the business operations. To avoid such issues, businesses need to make sure that they conduct load tests on all APIs that they implement.