Karate framework vs Jmeter

Question

** I'm evaluating testing frameworks and trying to decide between Karate and JMeter. What are the specific advantages of Karate over JMeter? **

Answer 1

1. Much easier to write API assertions in Karate. In JMeter teams typically do a "200 OK" and move on. That is not testing.

2. Karate tests are more readable as code and more maintainable.

3. Because Karate is just code, it plays well in your version-control system. You check-in your test-scripts into Git and you get the benefit of history and version control. JMeter scripts (*.jmx) are a very verbose XML that is not designed for version-control

4. Much easier to re-use tests in Karate than JMeter

5. Conditional logic is easier in Karate

6. Karate delegates to Gatling, so all the power of Gatling is available

7. Karate is slightly easier to set up within your build tool (Maven / Gradle) and run in CI/CD

The advantage of JMeter is that it could be easier for those who don't know programming.

Disclaimer: dev of Karate.

Answer 2

Karate uses Gatling under the hood hence you need to compare Gatling versus JMeter, not Karate versus JMeter and the questions you need to answer are:

1. Network protocols supported. JMeter out of the box supports more and even more protocols are available via JMeter Plugins project
2. Distributed execution mode. In JMeter it comes out of the box and for Gatling you will need to come up with your own implementation
3. Programming language knowledge required. JMeter allows you to create tests using GUI and provides recording capabilities. With Gatling you will need to write test logic in Scala, Java or Kotlin.

More information and criteria: Gatling vs. JMeter: The Ultimate Comparison