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OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) vs OpenText Silk Performer comparison

OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) and OpenText Silk Performer are both solutions in the Load Testing Tools category. OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.5, while OpenText Silk Performer is ranked #17. OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) holds a 13.6% mindshare in LTT, compared to OpenText Silk Performer’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of OpenText Silk Performer users who would recommend it.
OpenText Silk Performer
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100% willing to recommend
 

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 19, 2025

OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) and OpenText Silk Performer are competing products in the field of performance testing. LoadRunner Professional generally has an edge due to its comprehensive features and robust integration capabilities, whereas Silk Performer shines in deployment simplicity and cost-effectiveness.

Features: LoadRunner Professional is noted for its extensive testing capabilities, supporting numerous protocols, detailed analytics for complex environments, and robust integration capabilities. Silk Performer is appreciated for its intuitive setup, efficient web, mobile, and cloud testing across different platforms, and user-friendly configuration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Silk Performer offers a straightforward deployment model, enabling quick installation and effective support. LoadRunner Professional provides detailed support options but requires a more complex setup. Silk Performer is often preferred for its rapid implementation and user assistance.

Pricing and ROI: LoadRunner Professional usually demands a significant initial investment yet offers high returns with its comprehensive features and scalability, making it ideal for large enterprises. Silk Performer is considered more cost-effective, providing a good price-performance ratio, beneficial for smaller organizations or those focusing on cost efficiency.

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

OpenText Professional Perfo...
Ranking in Load Testing Tools
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
Performance Testing Tools (4th)
OpenText Silk Performer
Ranking in Load Testing Tools
17th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Load Testing Tools category, the mindshare of OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) is 13.6%, up from 11.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Silk Performer is 0.9%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Load Testing Tools Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional)13.6%
OpenText Silk Performer0.9%
Other85.5%
Load Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

HelenSague - PeerSpot reviewer
A sophisticated tool that supports many languages and works with all kinds of applications
I do not have any big challenges with LoadRunner. I only have some issues with load generators. It is a very common issue, and I hope it will be resolved in the latest release. For example, when we start to run our tests, users get the message that the load generator exceeded 80% of the CPU utilization. Even when the number of users is less, we get these messages. I am trying to resolve it, but it is not going. It is annoying. It is not a failure, but I hope that it will be resolved. IBM WebSphere MQ testing can be a bit challenging. It can handle that, but I hope that they will build more and more capabilities. We do a huge amount of testing for messaging. Just like aviation, the railway industry is based on messaging. There is messaging to build trains and messaging to create some bills. There are many train movements. Everything involves messaging. I wish that it will be developed more for IBM WebSphere testing. Monitoring is okay, but for testing, I currently have to create Java users. I have to load a lot of libraries from IBM WebSphere and so on.
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SR
Scripting and basic test executions are good features; configuring the workload for tests is easy
In terms of areas of improvement, I would say the Silk Performance Explorer tool, which is used for monitoring and analysis, can be improved because that's where we spend most of our time when we're analyzing the test data. Any enhancements that can be provided in the monitoring sphere would be useful. When you have a large amount of data the tool struggles with it and will sometimes crash, or there may be issues with too many metrics being collected when running a test. The interface for the scripting could be more feature-rich. Integration with tools like Prometheus or Grafana where we can visualize the data would be great. As things stand, we have to use one monitoring tool to visualize data and another for visualizing the test metrics. Integration would enable us to see the metrics from Silk and correlate that with the metrics from other servers or other processes we're monitoring. It would save having to look at Silk data and server metrics separately. It's the way things are going with newer tools. I think the solution is being phased out by Micro Focus and their emphasis is focused more on LoadRunner. We haven't seen much development in the last few years.
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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most important feature for us is that it supports a lot of protocols because we support all of them, including HTTP, FTP, mainframe, and others."
"The reporting mechanism is a valuable feature that generates good reports."
"The Analysis feature makes it easy to analyze cross-data and we can pin to the focus period."
"The ability to do multithreading. That's available in any performance testing tool, but the number of protocols that this particular tool supports has been very good."
"Very useful for finding out how the system responds to load, stress, and normal situations, as well as benchmarking with other industry competitors. It also improved our response time, memory delegation, and CPU delegation. In addition, we used LoadRunner to optimize our database and website."
"It is a good and stable tool."
"It is an advanced tool with multiple options available for the performance system."
"The most valuable features of Micro Focus LoadRunner Professional are scripting and executing the tests."
More OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) pros
"A good monitoring tool, simple to script and easy to configure."
 

Cons

"The technical support of Micro Focus LoadRunner Professional could improve. I had an issue with the licensing and their response time is slow. They can improve on this in the future."
"The solution uses a lot of memory and then it dies. It's difficult to work with the solution sometimes when you run a scenario it dies. They need to make the solution lighter somehow."
"Lacks specific level monitoring."
"LoadRunner experiences high resource utilization. Even though we have machines with higher configurations, I've observed this behavior. Heavy traffic recording results in the tool hanging. So heavy traffic recording makes the tool slow."
"You should be able to use LoadRunner as a single platform. You should be able to have browser based access. You should be able to run enterprise tests."
"I would like them to lower the licensing cost and provide better support."
"Micro Focus has two separate products for web and mobile applications, which means you have to invest in both."
"Sometimes when we were migrating from one version to another, some of our scripts started failing."
More OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) cons
"If you have a large amount of data, the solution can struggle."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing depends on our choices because it depends on what type of protocol we are getting, what type of licensing we are getting, and what kind of relationships we have with HP and Micro Focus."
"There is an annual license required to use Micro Focus LoadRunner Professional. There are not any additional costs other than the licensing fees to use it."
"This is not a cheap product."
"The fee for LoadRunner Professional is very high - about US$500 per user."
"The licensing of Micro Focus LoadRunner Professional could improve. If it can be easier and the concurrent run can be included with the current total number of users, it would be helpful."
"I would rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."
"I don't know the licensing cost, but I think that you would get a discount for normal usage. I think there are different yearly options for different types of usage. It is not only how many users, but also whether it is shareable or not and other criteria involved in each feature. There are additional fees for the users and hardware linked to the processing."
"The pricing model, especially when involving partners, could use some improvement."
More OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) pricing and cost advice
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Comparison Review

it_user104961 - PeerSpot reviewer
Apr 13, 2014
LoadRunner vs NeoLoad
The six phases of an IT project Enthusiasm Disillusionment Panic Search for the guilty Punishment of the innocent (the performance tester) Praise and rewards for the incompetent non-participants This article has been put together as part of an evaluation of the performance test tools NeoLoad and…
Read full review
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise65
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Micro Focus LoadRunner Professional?
When designing a workload model offers a good range of possibilities for creating goal-oriented scenarios, which helps us understand and meet SLAs.
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus LoadRunner Professional?
The pricing should be reduced and made more competitive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Micro Focus LoadRunner Professional?
I would like to improve OpenText LoadRunner Professional based on what we discussed in our last discussion, as those points remain similar and applicable. For future updates, I would like to see th...
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Earn 20 points
 

Comparisons

Tricentis NeoLoad vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) Logo
Tricentis NeoLoad vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional)
Compared 23% of the time
OpenText Core Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Cloud) vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) Logo
OpenText Core Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Cloud) vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional)
Compared 13% of the time
Apache JMeter vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) Logo
Apache JMeter vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional)
Compared 10% of the time
OpenText Enterprise Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Enterprise) vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) Logo
OpenText Enterprise Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Enterprise) vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional)
Compared 6% of the time
ReadyAPI Performance vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) Logo
ReadyAPI Performance vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional)
Compared 5% of the time
More OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) Competitors
OpenText Enterprise Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Enterprise) vs OpenText Silk Performer Logo
OpenText Enterprise Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Enterprise) vs OpenText Silk Performer
Compared 42% of the time
Apache JMeter vs OpenText Silk Performer Logo
Apache JMeter vs OpenText Silk Performer
Compared 28% of the time
More OpenText Silk Performer Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional)
August 2025
OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) reportDownload OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) product report
Buyer's Guide
Load Testing Tools
August 2025
OpenText Silk Performer reportDownload OpenText Silk Performer product report
 

Also Known As

Micro Focus LoadRunner Professional, Micro Focus LoadRunner, HPE LoadRunner, LoadRunner
Micro Focus Silk Performer, Silk Performer
 

Overview

OpenText Professional Performance Engineering, known as LoadRunner Professional, stands out with its powerful scripting tool, flexible capabilities, and extensive analytics, supporting numerous concurrent users for impactful load testing.

This performance engineering tool offers integration across systems and strong community support, paired with user-friendly interfaces. It excels in features like multi-protocol support, auto-correlation, and detailed reporting. However, improvements are needed in user-friendliness and cost-effectiveness, as scripting remains complex and pricing is a hurdle. Enhancing mobile and SPA testing capabilities, modern protocol support, and compatibility with non-Windows platforms would greatly benefit users while expanding monitoring and technical support responsiveness.

What are the key features of OpenText LoadRunner Professional?
  • Powerful Scripting Tool: Facilitates complex load testing scenarios.
  • Flexible Engine: Supports various test configurations.
  • Multi-Protocol Support: Ensures broad compatibility.
  • Extensive Analytics: Provides real-time performance stats.
  • Concurrent User Simulation: Enables robust load testing.
  • Auto-Correlation: Simplifies script creation.
  • Comprehensive Reporting: Offers detailed insights.
What benefits should users expect from LoadRunner Professional?
  • Enhanced System Performance: Identifies and rectifies bottlenecks.
  • Cost Efficiency: Strategic use can reduce overall costs.
  • Industry Compatibility: Adapts to diverse environments.
  • Scalability: Supports applications with varied user loads.
  • Performance Benchmarking: Ensures optimal application performance.

LoadRunner Professional is employed for performance and load testing across sectors such as banking, hospitality, and telecommunications. Users simulate business transactions and test applications under different user loads, focusing on API testing, web applications, and benchmarking to achieve optimal performance in complex scenarios.

OpenText

Test Asset reusability for performance monitoring
Silk Performer can considerably speed up testing cycles by allowing you to reuse your existing functional tests. Use Silk Test® or Selenium for performance testing and synthetic monitoring purposes as well.

Cloud in
Integrated scalability from the Cloud
Silk Performer load testing enables your applications for 'battle readiness' that can withstand massive, global usage. Easily simulate any size peak-load and avoid costly investments in stress testing hardware and setup.

Retina scan
Monitor user experience with advanced diagnostics
Detect, isolate, and resolve performance issues with effective end-to-end diagnostics. Design scripts to uncover errors from the user’s perspective and analyze results with easy to read visual reporting.

Monitor
A leading web support for load and stress testing
Validate performance of your most complex web applications and efficiently create comprehensive tests that reflect real world conditions and usage patterns.

Comprehensive mobile performance testing
Lower the cost and complexity of testing mobile web and mobile native applications at scale. Silk Performer provides a complete set of profiles for all popular mobile devices, application types, and connection speeds.

OpenText
 

Sample Customers

JetBlue, GOME, Australian Red Cross Blood Service, RMIT University, Virgin Media
University of Colorado, Medidata, Monash University
Buyer's Guide
Load Testing Tools
August 2025
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