BlazeMeter vs. Tricentis NeoLoad Performance Testing: Which Solution Should You Choose?

Load testing is a key step in any software development process, since it provides proof that the developed feature or system performs as expected under a traffic load. By simulating user traffic, load testing helps identify bottlenecks, performance issues and limitations that can affect the system's scalability, stability, and reliability. Identifying these issues before production is an important way to ensure customer satisfaction. By preventing websites and applications from crashing or slowly loading, organizations can avoid an adverse financial impact on their business.

That’s why choosing which load and performance testing solution to use is not a decision to be taken lightly. The right system will seamlessly integrate into the developer workflow to make load testing effortless and effective. A cumbersome solution will remain “on the shelf” and won’t be used by developers and QA, leaving the system in danger of crashing in production under heavy traffic or unexpected spikes.

In this blog post, we compare two leading load testing solutions: BlazeMeter and Tricentis NeoLoad performance testing. After reading this post, you will have a better understanding of how each one operates and will know which one to choose for your needs.

BlazeMeter vs. Tricentis NeoLoad Performance Testing: A Comparison

About BlazeMeter

BlazeMeter is a Continuous Testing platform that supports shift-left capabilities, is fully open-source compatible and has a SaaS infrastructure that helps incorporate testing within the software development lifecycle (SDLC). BlazeMeter can also support on-prem test execution needs. Capabilities include performance testing, functional testing, API monitoring, service virtualization, and synchronized test data.  

About Tricentis

Tricentis provides load testing capabilities across web and mobile interfaces hosted either on premise or in the cloud. The desktop application has more capabilities than the SaaS version. Capabilities include performance testing and API testing.  

NeoLoad now also supports the execution of JMeter scripts in either the heavy client or the SaaS implementation. The user will still need to include a NeoLoad JMeter plugin that has been developed, which is a little more cumbersome.

AI Capabilities

BlazeMeter AI

AI streamlines and enhances the software testing life cycle, enabling teams to release high-quality applications more efficiently. BlazeMeter embeds AI throughout the testing lifecycle, from test creation to on-demand data generation.

BlazeMeter's AI-Powered Continuous Testing platform includes critical features such as:

• Simplified, plain-language testing
• Validation of test elements and visual validation
• Automated script creation & execution  
• Self-healing tests and test maintenance
• Synthetic data creation at scale
• Root cause analysis  
• Test log analysis

These capabilities help with the creation of more meaningful synthetic data based off prompting, provides additional information for each error encountered during test execution, accelerates the testing process and enhances the accuracy and resilience of the tests, allowing teams to focus more on innovation and less on maintenance.

NeoLoad AI

NeoLoad currently does not have built-in AI capabilities. They do suggest using public GenAI applications for building test scripts.

Test Data

Synthetic data allows teams to generate large volumes of diverse test data. This capability allows them to simulate real-world user interactions and edge cases without relying on sensitive production data. For example, addresses, dates, credit card numbers, and bank account details.

BlazeMeter Test Data

BlazeMeter offers an AI-driven test data automation suite that allows you to generate synthetic data on-demand at scale, from predefined lists or for edge cases. BlazeMeter also enables creating test data functions from text. These can be used for GUI functional and performance tests, chaos testing, mocks and virtual services, and mobile application testing.  

For use cases where you need realistic data in compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA, you can pair BlazeMeter with another Perforce solution — Delphix — for data masking.  

NeoLoad Test Data

NeoLoad does not offer synthetic data creation. It does offer a data integrity solution for catching data errors in data pipelines. 

Advanced Technology Support

Diverse Technologies Supported by BlazeMeter

BlazeMeter supports a wide range of advanced technologies to deliver high-performance, enterprise-grade testing. One of BlazeMeter’s standout features is its full compatibility with OSS testing tools like JMeter, Selenium, Gatling, Taurus, Locust, and more.

Therefore, any technology supported by OSS is natively supported by BlazeMeter as well. For example, as a fully JMeter-compatible platform, BlazeMeter supported RTE testing when the feature came out with JMeter, in 2018.

Additional technologies BlazeMeter supports include browser performance testing. It operates similarly to script-based performance tests, but the test analyzes browser interactions instead of running conventional scripts. BlazeMeter also supports IBM MQ.

Diverse Technologies Supported by NeoLoad

As a standalone vendor, NeoLoad has to invest internal engineering resources to support any new technology required by users, instead of investing those resources in the platforms. For example, RTE support was provided in 2024.

Ease of Use

BlazeMeter User Experience

BlazeMeter is designed to be a user-friendly and intuitive load testing platform built for developers, testers and not so technically-savvy users. The platform provides a clean, sleek modern interface and a wide range of features and tools that make it easy for users from all levels of expertise to create, execute, and analyze load tests. The UI is built for scalability, enabling teams to run tests across multiple locations and environments with just a few clicks

BlazeMeter provides a simple-to-use interface for creating and configuring load tests without the need for extensive scripting, while developers can create JMeter tests using JMeter DSL (with a BlazeMeter integration) or Taurus’s YAML.

The platform integrates with various CI/CD tools, including Jenkins, GitLab, and Bamboo, making it easy to integrate load testing into existing development workflows. In addition, BlazeMeter enables integration with any custom CI/CD tool using CLI and APIs.

BlazeMeter also provides advanced real-time monitoring and reporting features that enable users to monitor the performance of their tests as they run, detailed reports and insights after the tests are completed, and APM integrations. BlazeMeter users can collaborate and break down organizational silos by sharing the test creation and the results.

Finally, BlazeMeter offers a comprehensive Help Center that is available directly from the application and online. This means that information is always at the users’ fingertips at any given time. A simple click of a button brings up the specific answer whenever a question arises directly in the context of a feature.

Tricentis User Experience

Tricentis, on the other hand, requires learning and practice to be used effectively. While the interface is designed to be user-friendly, with drag-and-drop functionality and pre-built templates, it does require custom development.

In addition, in its attempt to adapt to the SaaS age, it developed a web UI.  As a result, the functionality is split between a desktop and a Web UI, creating a sub-optimal and old-fashioned user experience.  

Like BlazeMeter, NeoLoad also enables real-time monitoring, reporting, and collaboration features. However, the APM integration at NeoLoad SaaS is very limited.

Service Virtualization

BlazeMeter Service Virtualization

BlazeMeter enables configuring and integrating virtual services into load and performance tests, from the BlazeMeter platform, and as part of the CI/CD pipeline. These virtual services are automated, deployable, maintainable, and can be used for a variety of real-world conditions, like slow response times, incomplete inputs, unexpected errors, etc. With service virtualization, users eliminate component dependencies by enabling testing against unavailable or complicated services.  

BlazeMeter also offers platform-native test data that is synthetic and mimics real production data as part of its virtual services offering. Test data can be synchronized across Tests, Virtual Services and System under Test/Application under Test.

Tricentis Service Virtualization

Despite the importance of service virtualization for dependency elimination, Tricentis only provides this as a costly add-on. 

SaaS / On-Prem

BlazeMeter: Cloud-Native and On-Prem

BlazeMeter SaaS was born in the SaaS age and has always been a SaaS native application. Users can record test scripts, upload their JMeter or other testing scripts, configure tests, run them, collaborate on tests, view results, and share reports - from anywhere in the world and from any device. This makes BlazeMeter easy to use and encourages inter-organizational collaboration while reducing organizational silos.

In addition, BlazeMeter offers an on-premises solution for enterprises who need it for compliance or other requirements.

Tricentis: Mostly On-Prem

Tricentis is a legacy platform developed as a thick client application. Over the years, they developed a SaaS layer to answer modern needs for global access. However, not all functionalities are available through the web UI. Instead, some are only accessible through the desktop version, creating friction when testing.

Shift Left Capabilities

BlazeMeter Shift Left

BlazeMeter was born in the shift-left and DevOps age. As a result, it is designed to support developer agility. This includes integrations and plugins for CI/CD tools like Jenkins, Circle CI, Bamboo, and others.

BlazeMeter also offers API interfaces and command-line options through open-source Taurus to easily integrate with the developer workflow. Finally, BlazeMeter provides services like test data and service virtualization, which remove blockers that often impede shifting left performance testing.

Tricentis Shift Left

Tricentis NeoLoad can be integrated into CI/CD pipelines. However, since the tool was developed when the concepts of shifting left and DevOps did not exist, shift left integrations were stitched on top of the tool, impacting performance and the user experience.

Vendor Lock

BlazeMeter Open-Source Compatibility

BlazeMeter supports all major open-source testing tools. These include JMeter, Gatling, Selenium, Locust, and others. In addition, users can convert their LoadRunner scripts into JMeter scripts. As a result, testers can choose which testing tool and scripting language they want to work with, and BlazeMeter will support them all. As a result, users are not locked into BlazeMeter and can use the tools of their choice. They can also move on from BlazeMeter at any given time.

Tricentis Proprietary Solution

Tricentis developed a proprietary syntax. Users have to learn this syntax to use Tricentis and the skills are not transferable to another platform. This creates vendor-lock. 

BlazeMeter vs. Tricentis Comparison Table 

Next Steps for Choosing Your Load Testing Solution

Choosing the right load testing platform for your needs depends on multiple factors. This includes your use cases, the tools you need to integrate with, the type of testing scripts you need to write, and so on. The best way to choose your platform, after reading online reviews, is to try out the solutions for yourself.

BlazeMeter offers a free tier version you can use to see if it fits your performance testing needs.  

Start Testing Here