What does Spike Testing help identify?

Spike Testing is a performance testing technique used to evaluate how a system behaves under sudden and extreme increases in user load. This approach involves introducing a sudden spike in the number of users or transactions to determine how the application responds to such a load. The primary goal is to identify how the application copes with unexpected surges in traffic, which can occur during events like promotional sales or product launches.

By performing spike testing, developers can observe the application’s stability, responsiveness, and resilience in handling unusually high traffic levels. It helps in identifying potential bottlenecks, resource saturation, and overall system performance, allowing teams to preemptively address issues that might arise from sudden demand.

The focus of the testing is not just on how many concurrent users the system can handle in general, nor on measuring average load requirements. Instead, it seeks to explore the impact that quick increases in load have on the application, making sure that it can maintain functionality and performance standards during periods of significant demand variability.