Test types

Every performance test has a goal. Pick the wrong type and you waste time, and the results can mislead you. This section defines each test type, says when to use it, and shows how to configure and run it in MaxoPerf.

Which test type should I run?

Match your goal to a test type in the matrix below. Each link opens the type page with a MaxoPerf walk-through.

My goal	Test type	Typical profile
Verify the system starts and basic flows work	Smoke test	1–5 VUs, 30–60 s
Confirm behaviour under expected peak load	Load test	50–500 VUs, 10–30 min
Find the point where the system degrades	Stress test	Ramp past expected peak
Measure reaction to a sudden traffic surge	Spike test	Instant jump to 10× normal
Detect slow leaks (memory, connections, drift)	Soak / endurance test	Normal load, 2–12+ h
Find the absolute ceiling before failure	Breakpoint / capacity test	Step-ramp to failure
Validate horizontal scale-out behaviour	Scalability test	Repeated runs at N, 2N, 4N VUs
Measure performance with large data sets	Volume test	Normal load, large payloads / DBs
Compare performance across configurations	Configuration test	Fixed load, repeated across configs
Catch performance regressions in CI / CD	Baseline regression test	Same profile each build
Benchmark REST/gRPC/GraphQL endpoint latency	API performance test	Per-endpoint isolation
Measure real-browser Core Web Vitals	Frontend / browser performance test	Selenium / browser runner

Test type spectrum

Tests sit on a spectrum from “tiny sanity check” to “find the cliff”:

Smoke → Load → Stress → Breakpoint
               ↕
            Spike  ← (orthogonal: sudden surge)
               ↕
         Soak / Endurance ← (orthogonal: time dimension)

Baseline regression and API performance tests are practices you can apply on top of any of the types above.

Reading order

New to performance testing? Read the types in this order:

1. Smoke test: start here. It is the cheapest and fastest feedback.
2. Load test: the test you will run most often.
3. Stress test: push beyond normal load.
4. Spike test: a sudden surge.
5. Soak / endurance test: stability over a long run.
6. Breakpoint / capacity test: the absolute ceiling.
7. Scalability test: check scale-out.
8. Volume test: large data sets.
9. Configuration test: compare infra variants.
10. Baseline regression test: a CI gate.
11. API performance test: endpoint focus.
12. Frontend / browser performance test: browser & Core Web Vitals.

Where to go next

• Foundations: latency, throughput, VUs and baselines, before you choose a type.
• Cookbook: step-by-step recipes for common performance testing goals.
• Do & Don’t: patterns that separate good tests from misleading ones.