What is the difference between stress testing and load testing?

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What is the difference between stress testing and load testing?

Stress testing and load testing are both types of performance testing, but they focus on different aspects of a system's performance.

Stress testing is conducted to evaluate the system's behavior under extreme conditions, such as high traffic, heavy load, or limited resources. The goal is to identify the system's breaking point or to determine how it handles unexpected situations. Stress testing pushes the system beyond its normal operating limits to assess its stability, reliability, and robustness.

On the other hand, load testing is performed to assess the system's performance under normal and expected conditions. It involves simulating realistic user loads and interactions to measure the system's response time, throughput, and resource utilization. Load testing helps identify performance bottlenecks, scalability issues, and determine if the system can handle the expected user load without degradation.

In summary, stress testing focuses on extreme conditions and evaluates system behavior under those conditions, while load testing assesses system performance under normal and expected conditions.