Free; MIT license. You pay AWS for the EC2 instances used.
First released
2010
Last verified
Answer
Bees with Machine Guns is a Python command-line utility from the Chicago Tribune news apps team that turns short-lived EC2 instances into distributed load generators. The workflow is three commands: "bees up" launches a fleet in your own AWS account using an EC2 keypair and security group you supply, "bees attack" runs ApacheBench (or optionally. Status: discontinued.
About
Bees with Machine Guns is a Python command-line utility from the Chicago Tribune news apps team that turns short-lived EC2 instances into distributed load generators. The workflow is three commands: "bees up" launches a fleet in your own AWS account using an EC2 keypair and security group you supply, "bees attack" runs ApacheBench (or optionally hurl) on every instance with a shared request and concurrency budget and aggregates the per-instance summaries, and "bees down" terminates them — nothing is torn down automatically, so a forgotten fleet keeps billing. Later contributions added multi-region fleets driven by a bundled regions.json of AMIs, POST payload files and content types, custom instance tags, and cipher-suite selection. Because load comes from many source IPs it sidesteps the single-generator bottleneck and per-IP rate limits, but the model inherits ApacheBench limits: single URLs and flat request bursts rather than scripted user journeys, and no live results while a run is in flight. The MIT-licensed repository targets Python 2.6 through 3.6 with boto and paramiko and has seen no commits since December 2017, so expect stale AMIs and boto2-era AWS APIs.
Best for
Load Testing scenarios across typical web and service stacks
Teams that prefer open-source licensing and self-hosting options
Groups comfortable scripting in Python
Not the best fit when
New greenfield programs (prefer an active successor or alternative)
Architecture and concurrency
Bees with Machine Guns is commonly operated as hybrid software with scenario authoring in Python. Concurrency and distribution depend on how you size workers or injectors.
Specs
Scripting
Python
Protocols
HTTPHTTPS
Operating systems
macOSLinux
Tags
pythoncliawsdistributed
CATALOG LAST VERIFIED · 2026-08-12
Frequently asked
ANSWER-SHAPED
Who is Bees with Machine Guns for?
Bees with Machine Guns is best for engineers designing load, stress, and performance tests for web and service systems. It is open source, so teams can self-host and extend it. Vendor: Chicago Tribune News Applications team. Deployment model: hybrid. Free; MIT license. You pay AWS for the EC2 instances used.
How does Bees with Machine Guns differ from Apache JMeter?
Compared with Apache JMeter, deployment is hybrid versus self-hosted for Apache JMeter; scripting centers on Python rather than Java, Groovy. Bees with Machine Guns lists protocols HTTP, HTTPS; Apache JMeter lists HTTP, HTTPS, JDBC, JMS, FTP, TCP. Status is discontinued versus active. Use the Test Rig to compare full specs side by side before a proof-of-concept.
What scripting language and concurrency model does Bees with Machine Guns use?
Bees with Machine Guns uses Python for scripting or scenario definition. Runtime model: code-first scenarios where virtual users execute scripted behavior under load. OS support: macOS, Linux. Protocols: HTTP, HTTPS. Match these to how your team already authors tests and which systems you must drive under load.
What is the cloud or enterprise path for Bees with Machine Guns?
Bees with Machine Guns supports a hybrid path that can combine self-hosted controllers or agents with cloud or distributed load as the product allows. Teams often keep sensitive assets private while bursting generators into the cloud. As open source, commercial support or hosted siblings may exist separately. Check the official site. Pricing note: Free; MIT license. You pay AWS for the EC2 instances used.
What are known limitations of Bees with Machine Guns?
Bees with Machine Guns appears as discontinued in this directory. Prefer an actively maintained alternative for new work. Historical references remain so older docs and diagrams still resolve. Verify any remaining commercial support directly with the vendor before depending on it.