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Apache JMeter vs IBM Rational Test Workbench comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

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

Apache JMeter
Ranking in Performance Testing Tools
1st
Ranking in API Testing Tools
1st
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
93
Ranking in other categories
Load Testing Tools (1st)
IBM Rational Test Workbench
Ranking in Performance Testing Tools
21st
Ranking in API Testing Tools
15th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Test Automation Tools (39th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Performance Testing Tools category, the mindshare of Apache JMeter is 21.6%, down from 25.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Rational Test Workbench is 0.7%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Performance Testing Tools
 

Featured Reviews

Sreenivasula Mukkamalla - PeerSpot reviewer
Leveraging cost-effective customization with powerful plugins but complexity reduction needed
Apache JMeter offers plugins for reporting and preparing test scenarios. It allows recording to customization, letting you download plugins to connect with databases or external systems. Despite being open source, it offers features comparable to paid tools, and its ability to customize and expand is particularly useful. Additionally, its open-source nature makes it cost-effective.
KashifJamil - PeerSpot reviewer
Good integration with other tools, stable, scales easily
There are a number of things that they can do to simplify the tools, but the most important thing that they need to do is simplify the installation. This includes the workbench as well as the other tools. In the future, I would like to see the other types of tests supported, that are not already covered in the DevOps approach. This would include, for example, penetration testing.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution offers a lot of plug-ins and a huge continuously developing community that is regularly offering new features and plug-ins."
"It gives accurate results and recommendations that we can implement to enhance the performance of websites."
"The performance of the solution is excellent."
"The reporting features are really good. There's a lot less latency than other solutions."
"I use all the tools, but one feature that stands out is JMeter's ability to test when services are sending a particular kind of request. We are using specific ports to send queries, and assess the performance based on the time it takes these queries to respond. You can use it with stuff other than the web performance."
"We find the load testing feature valuable."
"This solution is very user-friendly, and allows for a lot of data capture when testing."
"Any front-end technologies like Angular, React, or others might access the services. Therefore, you must ensure that using SAP with JMeter works fine. Unless you ensure this, the front-end team may not access the services properly."
"Reporting is pretty good. Its interface is also good. I'm overall pretty happy with the functionality and use of IBM Rational Test Workbench."
"This solution provides for API testing, functional UI testing, performance testing, and service virtualization."
 

Cons

"At present, if the number of virtual users increases beyond 10,000 when testing, then it results in a Java heap which causes the solution to crash."
"The UI could be better."
"The initial setup is complex and needs to be upgraded."
"It's not easy to get the data from one place or to do customizations."
"What needs improvement in Apache JMeter is the very high load requirements when you want to scale it beyond certain thresholds. For example, small to mid-range testing is very easily done with Apache JMeter, but if you scale and increase the load, then it would be a problem because the tool consumes a lot of resources, probably because Apache JMeter provides an enriched UI experience, so it consumes a lot of memory and requires high CPU usage. This means you have to manage your infrastructure, or else you'll have high overhead expenses. As Apache JMeter is a heavyweight tool, that is an area for improvement, though I'm unsure if Apache can do something about it because it could be a result of the way it's architected. What I'd like to see from Apache JMeter in the future is for it to transition to the cloud, as a lot of cloud technologies emerge around the globe, and a lot of people prefer cloud-based solutions or cloud-native tools. Even if a company has a legacy system, it's still possible to transition to the cloud. I've worked with a company that was an on-premise company that moved to the cloud and became cloud-native. If Apache JMeter could transition to the cloud, similar to k6, then it could help lessen the intense resource consumption that's currently happening in Apache JMeter."
"We would like some reporting and analysis tools to be added to this solution."
"The interface could be made more user-friendly."
"From an improvement perspective, consider a scenario where your application needs to retrieve data from PayPal and store it in an Excel file in an external network."
"There are a number of things that they can do to simplify the tools, but the most important thing that they need to do is simplify the installation."
"It should have more interfaces. In terms of interfaces or protocols, what you can do with Rational is far limited as compared to other products out there. What it does, it does great, but it only gives you limited types of protocols. It supports between 8 to 15 types of protocols, whereas other test tools give you 20 to 30 types of protocols with which you can do testing and convert to script. It records Javascript-based scripts, and you got to know a little bit of Java to basically be able to edit them, but the level of editing you got to do is very low. I like that, but the ability to edit the script is not as good as Parasoft or LoadRunner, which have C-Script."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Everything is included, and there are no additional costs."
"This is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs associated with it."
"It is free."
"Apache JMeter is a free, open-source solution."
"It is open source. There are no licensing costs associated. If you need enterprise support, you'll probably end up paying for a license. You would also factor in the infrastructure cost, but that's not significant."
"Since it is an open-source product, buying or paying for any license is unnecessary. One just needs to download it to be able to use it."
"The price of Apache JMeter is good. The selling rate is quite effective and the limited users with a multi-region-related execution."
"I was using the free version of the software."
"It doesn't really concern me. Licensing is on a yearly basis."
"The pricing is a little bit on the higher side, although it is really good."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does Postman compare with Apache JMeter?
Postman lets you easily define variables, which then get updated automatically. This is a huge time-saver and makes processes very efficient. We can also export the test cases we create and share t...
How does BlazeMeter compare with Apache JMeter?
Blazemeter is a continuous testing platform that provides scriptless test automation. It unifies functional and performance testing, enabling users to monitor and test public and private APIs. We ...
What do you like most about Apache JMeter?
I appreciate JMeter's simplicity and power for performance testing.
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Also Known As

JMeter
Rational Test Workbench, IBM Rational Performance Tester, IBM Functional Tester, IBM Rational Test Virtualization Server
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

AOL, Orbitz, Innopath Software, PrepMe, Sapient, Corporate Express Australia, CSIRO, Ephibian, Talis, DATACOM, ALALOOP, eFusion, Panter, Sourcepole, University of Western Cape
Financial Insurance Management Corp.
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache JMeter vs. IBM Rational Test Workbench and other solutions. Updated: May 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.