# wrk2 alternatives

> wrk2 is an open source, self-hosted micro-benchmark CLI from Gil Tene / community, scripted in C, Lua. Teams look for wrk2 alternatives when the operating burden, the authoring language, or protocol coverage stops fitting. The closest recorded substitutes are wrk, Vegeta, hey, ApacheBench (ab), plus 8 more below — ranked here on license, deployment, scripting and protocols rather than on popularity.

- Canonical: https://perf.jmeter.ai/alternatives/wrk2/
- Baseline: [wrk2](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/wrk2/)

## Stay with wrk2 when
- Quick HTTP or protocol micro-benchmarks from a single machine.
- Teams that prefer open-source licensing and self-hosting options.
- Groups comfortable scripting in C, Lua.

## Switch when
- Full multi-protocol enterprise journeys and rich business-flow reporting.
- Teams unwilling to operate generators, results storage, and scaling.
- Your protocol list runs past wrk2: Apache JMeter also records JDBC, JMS, FTP.
- The team would rather author in Go: that is Vegeta.

## Alternatives
- [wrk](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/wrk/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Micro-benchmark CLI; Free; Apache License 2.0.
- [Vegeta](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/vegeta/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Micro-benchmark CLI; Free; MIT License.
- [hey](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/hey/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Micro-benchmark CLI; Free; MIT License.
- [ApacheBench (ab)](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/apachebench/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Micro-benchmark CLI; Free; Apache License 2.0.
- [Autocannon](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/autocannon/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Micro-benchmark CLI; Free; MIT License.
- [Bombardier](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/bombardier/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Micro-benchmark CLI; Free; MIT License.
- [Siege](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/siege/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Micro-benchmark CLI; Free; GPL-3.0 license.
- [oha](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/oha/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Micro-benchmark CLI; Free; MIT License.
- [Apache JMeter](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/apache-jmeter/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Load Testing; Free; Apache License 2.0.
- [Grafana k6](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/grafana-k6/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Load Testing; Free; AGPL-3.0 license.
- [Gatling](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/gatling/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Load Testing; Free open-source core; commercial platform available.
- [Locust](https://perf.jmeter.ai/tools/locust/) — Open Source, Self-hosted, Load Testing; Free; MIT License.

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Curated by NaveenKumar Namachivayam (QAInsights) · methodology: https://perf.jmeter.ai/about/#methodology · corrections: https://github.com/QAInsights/Performance-Testing-Tools/issues/new?title=Tool%20submission%3A%20&body=Tool%20name%3A%20%0AOfficial%20URL%3A%20%0AWhat%20should%20be%20added%20or%20corrected%3F%20%0A