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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 #3 with an average rating of 8.6, while OpenText Silk Performer is ranked #18. OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) holds a 13.3% mindshare in LTT, compared to OpenText Silk Performer’s 1.0% 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
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 21, 2025

OpenText Professional Performance Engineering and OpenText Silk Performer are tools in the performance testing category. Users generally prefer LoadRunner for pricing and support, while Silk Performer is recognized for its robust features.

Features: LoadRunner Professional is strong in simulating real-world loads, providing robust data analysis, and covering a wide range of protocols. Silk Performer is known for supporting cloud environments, ease of test management, and its user-friendly interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Silk Performer offers simplified deployment with numerous integration options and strong customer service. LoadRunner is comprehensive but may require more resources for setup, leading to a steeper learning curve.

Pricing and ROI: LoadRunner Professional has a higher initial cost, potentially impacting ROI unless fully utilized. It offers significant returns for complex testing scenarios. Silk Performer, although expensive, is seen as delivering value due to efficient management and scalability.

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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
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
Performance Testing Tools (4th)
OpenText Silk Performer
Ranking in Load Testing Tools
18th
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 October 2025, in the Load Testing Tools category, the mindshare of OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) is 13.3%, up from 11.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of OpenText Silk Performer is 1.0%, 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)13.3%
OpenText Silk Performer1.0%
Other85.7%
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

"I think that analytics is very good and that the analytics features are very powerful."
"The most valuable features of Micro Focus LoadRunner Professional are the separate module for scripting, execution analysis, and integration with a lot of new things pipeline areas. They keep updating their releases. Recently, they have released different versions, such as the professional and enterprise. They're coming up with new features which are good."
"The initial setup and installation of the software were very easy and straightforward."
"I like the user interface. I like the way we can divide our scenarios and can tune them. The integration with the quality center is great. These features are really good."
"The solution helps my clients save time. It is easier to capture reports and improves product quality. The product helps to identify customer defects during performance tests and reduces workloads. The product has improved my client's user interaction. It has reduced peak load times."
"The load testing, reporting, and scripting features are all valuable features."
"The implementation was very straightforward and not an issue."
"The most useful aspect of the solution is that it provides agents in different geographic locations."
More OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) pros
"A good monitoring tool, simple to script and easy to configure."
 

Cons

"I guess scalability becomes a problem when you use things like TruClients."
"I would like the solution to include monitoring capacity."
"The monitoring technology in LoadRunner could be improved. It depends on another tool called SiteScope, but they only took a part of the features of SiteScope. They need to improve on that."
"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."
"Sometimes when we were migrating from one version to another, some of our scripts started failing."
"I would like them to lower the licensing cost and provide better support."
"Technical support needs to be faster, and the pricing should be more competitive."
"I would like to see better-licensing costs."
More OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) cons
"If you have a large amount of data, the solution can struggle."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There is a licensing cost that is expensive."
"LoadRunner Professional is an expensive product."
"LoadRunner is more expensive than some competing products."
"The licensing is on a yearly basis and is relatively expensive."
"The price is a bit on the high side, but it is still affordable."
"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."
"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."
"It is a high-cost investment, particularly for companies with small budgets or limited testing needs."
More OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) pricing and cost advice
Information not available
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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
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise66
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 have mentioned many advantages about this product, but to discuss disadvantages or areas that could be improved, I would need to consult with my engineers who are working on it. So far I have not...
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Comparisons

Tricentis NeoLoad vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional) Logo
Tricentis NeoLoad vs OpenText Professional Performance Engineering (LoadRunner Professional)
Compared 19% 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 12% 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 7% 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 43% of the time
Apache JMeter vs OpenText Silk Performer Logo
Apache JMeter vs OpenText Silk Performer
Compared 26% of the time
More OpenText Silk Performer Competitors
 

Product Reports

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