Load test or cloud load test?
Both send simulated visitors at a site you have verified and measure how it responds. They differ in size, and in the question they answer.
Side by side.
| What is compared | Load testing | Cloud load testing |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Pro and Business | Business |
| Runs from | Cloudflare's network | Isolated cloud infrastructure |
| Size of a test | 1 to 6 concurrent users | 50 to 1,000 virtual users |
| Length of a run | 15 to 30 seconds | 20 to 120 seconds |
| Tests a month | 100 on Pro, 500 on Business | 50 on Business |
| The question it answers | Is the site quick under light traffic, and what slows first? | Does it keep up with the number of users you choose, up to 1,000? |
| In the report | p50, p95 and p99 response times, time to first byte, throughput, error rate and a consistency score | The users held, throughput, p95 and p99, time to first byte and error rate |
Which one?
Choose load testing when
- You want a quick read before a routine release.
- You changed hosting, caching or the database and want a before and an after.
- You are on Pro.
Choose cloud load testing when
- A launch, a sale or a press moment is coming.
- You are deciding how much infrastructure to pay for.
- The lighter test came back clean and you want to see the site under hundreds of users.
Both run only against a site you have verified, and both end in a PDF report with an AI summary. Behind a CDN, either result may reflect the CDN's cache and not your own server.
More comparisons.
Stress test or cloud stress test?Security scan or deep TLS analysis?Uptime monitoring or the Down Checker?Security Headers Checker or security scanning?SSL Certificate Checker or deep TLS analysis?One account, or separate tools?BCDRPulse or a dedicated uptime monitor?BCDRPulse or a dedicated load-testing service?BCDRPulse or a dedicated vulnerability scanner?Continuous resilience or a chaos engineering platform?
Start with your own sites.
Monitoring is free for 10 sites. Add the tests when you need them.