What is the difference between load testing and stress testing?

Load testing determines the system's performance under expected load. The goal is to verify if the system meets response time, throughput, and resource utilization requirements during typical user traffic.

Stress testing pushes the system to its limits or beyond. The goal is to identify failure points, assess system resilience to peak loads, and recovery capabilities.

Characteristic	Load Testing	Stress Testing
Purpose	Evaluate performance under normal load	Find failure points and resilience under extreme load
Load level	Expected, typical	Limit, extreme, exceeding expected
What is measured	Response time, throughput, resource usage during normal operation	Failure points, system behavior under load, recovery ability
Problems identified	Low performance, bottlenecks under normal load	Failures, memory leaks, scalability issues, resource shortages under extreme load