IBM Rational Performance Tester vs Visual Studio Test Professional comparison

IBM and Microsoft are both solutions in the Test Management Tools category. IBM is ranked #24, while Microsoft is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.5. IBM holds a 1.4% mindshare in TMT, compared to Microsoft’s 2.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Microsoft users who would recommend it.

IBM Rational Performance Te...

Read 17 IBM Rational Performance Tester reviews

110 Views
84 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Visual Studio Test Professi...

Read 52 Visual Studio Test Professional reviews

357 Views
292 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

IBM Rational Performance Te...

Visual Studio Test Professi...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

IBM Rational Performance Tester and Visual Studio Test Professional are competitors in the software testing market. Visual Studio Test Professional seems to have the upper hand due to better integration, customer service, and pricing.

Features:IBM Rational Performance Tester offers comprehensive load and performance testing, in-depth analysis tools, and detailed reporting. Visual Studio Test Professional provides robust test planning, tracking, and integrated continuous testing tools, along with superior integration within the Microsoft ecosystem.

Room for Improvement:IBM Rational Performance Tester has a complexity and steep learning curve, lacks an intuitive design, and needs smoother user experience. Visual Studio Test Professional occasionally experiences performance lags, needs enhanced cross-platform support, and requires optimization for faster operations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:IBM Rational Performance Tester's deployment is cumbersome and requires extensive support, but its customer service is positively recognized. Visual Studio Test Professional has smoother deployment experiences and benefits from extensive Microsoft support resources.

Pricing and ROI:IBM Rational Performance Tester is relatively expensive with a longer ROI period. Visual Studio Test Professional offers better value for money with quicker ROI and flexible pricing options.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Rational Performance Tester vs. Visual Studio Test Professional Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Rational Performance Tester vs. Visual Studio Test Professional

March 2025

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Helped 844,944 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM Rational Performance Te...

Ranking in Test Management Tools

24th

Average Rating

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Visual Studio Test Professi...

Ranking in Test Management Tools

5th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Functional Testing Tools (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Test Management Tools category, the mindshare of IBM Rational Performance Tester is 1.4%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Visual Studio Test Professional is 2.5%, down from 4.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Test Management Tools

Featured Reviews

it_user323943

Netcool Engineer with 10,001+ employees

We can edit captured transactions and organize them by those for which we require performance metrics, but it lacks a set of manuals or guides that would take out some guess work.

It is used to capture and generate HTTP tests. The capture process is very easy. After this, we edited the captured transactions to organize them into the sections or transactions we require performance metrics for (i.e. splash page, user authentication, main pageload, logout, etc.). This editing process is easy to perform with the interface provided in Rational Performance Tester Finally, Rational Performance Tester has an import/export feature that has been extremely useful. We have used it to export our complete test library and import it into another Rational Performance Tester server with no loss or issues. This allows for platform test migrations and backup.

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ALFONSO LORENZO-RODRÍGUEZ

Chief Product Officer at Gradiant

Provides extensive extensions and plugins for seamless AI product development

Our primary use case for Visual Studio Test Professional is as a development tool. We develop software primarily in Python, specifically for applications related to artificial intelligence. We use frameworks like PyTorch for training models and developing applications using these models. This tool…

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It can support both web applications and mobile applications, and in certain cases, it can also support testing of desktop applications or software-based applications. You can write web applications, mobile applications, and software-based applications."

"Technical support is very good. I'm very satisfied with the assistance we've received so far."

"It is a very common and strong product. A lot of support is available for this product."

"Searching is extensive and helpful."

"It is very easy to use. You can handle a lot of things together at once in one package, which is a good point for us."

"Visual Studio is highly powerful. It's probably the best software development tool on the market."

"The interface is easy to use."

"The stability has always been very good."

"Performance-wise, it is a great tool."

"I was satisfied with the support given by customer service."

More Visual Studio Test Professional pros

Cons

"The solution is not easily scalable. If you want to extend the solution, you need to purchase a different kind of license. You also have to work with the IBM team to assist in scaling."

"There are some features that Micro Focus LoadRunner provides, but they are not available in IBM Rational Performance Tester. They should include such features. It can also have more reports similar to what HP provides. It might also need some improvement in terms of the tools and support for other technology areas. Certain technologies are not supported by every tool. They need to support all sorts of technologies and platforms on which web applications and mobile applications are built. They need complete support for all sorts of technologies."

"The product must provide more automation."

"The documents on the Microsoft website are not very useful, and they ought to make it easier to find answers."

"The vendor must release a lightweight version of the solution."

"Sometimes, the product is too complex to use."

"The documentation is limited."

"Visual Studio Test Professional could improve by having better integration with external databases."

"The tool crashes and has high memory consumption."

"It is not good in terms of performance. When you open Visual Studio, you have to wait for a while to process your code. It uses a lot of resources and has a lot of features. If we could disable some of the features, it would be lighter and faster to use. Nowadays, for some of the projects, we use VS Code for JavaScript or Python. VS Code is very light and easy to use, whereas, in Visual Studio, we have to wait because it takes time to compile or run a project. It has a lot of competitors in terms of performance, such as Intelligent ID. Intelligent ID is very easy to use. It has many features, and it is lighter to use than Visual Studio. In terms of error handling, sometimes, it shows an error before you finish your code, which can be improved. It would be good if it has a version for Linux. I use VS Code on Linux, but I am not sure if Visual Studio has a version for Linux."

More Visual Studio Test Professional cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is much cheaper than Micro Focus LoadRunner. We need perpetual licenses. Support is included in the first sale. After that, you need to renew support every year."

"Visual Studio Test Professional is a very expensive solution."

"There are two versions of Visual Studio Test Professional: Community and Professional. We are currently using the Community version, but if we start working on a commercial product, we will consider upgrading to the Professional version. We need to identify how we will proceed with our projects, and based on that, we will decide on our licensing."

"We pay a yearly licensing fee for Visual Studio Test Professional, which is expensive."

"There is a paid version of the solution as well as a community version that is free."

"The tool is affordable."

"The product is very expensive."

"For the cloud services option, you buy a subscription per account or per user. This costs around $52 a month per person."

"Users have to pay a licensing fee for Visual Studio Test Professional."

More Visual Studio Test Professional pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

30%

Computer Software Company

20%

Government

13%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

Real Estate/Law Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about Visual Studio Test Professional?

The most valuable features of the solution are its ease of use and availability.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Visual Studio Test Professional?

The tool is free, resulting in no costs associated with its use. The absence of price makes it cost-effective.

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What needs improvement with Visual Studio Test Professional?

The product needs contextual help integrated within its interface. Currently, I need to search online to find out how to use certain functions. This feature would save time by providing direct assi...

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Comparisons

Apache JMeter vs IBM Rational Performance Tester

Compared 63% of the time

OpenText LoadRunner Professional vs IBM Rational Performance Tester

Compared 24% of the time

Tricentis NeoLoad vs IBM Rational Performance Tester

Compared 14% of the time

More IBM Rational Performance Tester Competitors

Apache JMeter vs Visual Studio Test Professional

Compared 29% of the time

SmartBear TestComplete vs Visual Studio Test Professional

Compared 18% of the time

TFS vs Visual Studio Test Professional

Compared 14% of the time

OpenText UFT One vs Visual Studio Test Professional

Compared 13% of the time

Qt Squish vs Visual Studio Test Professional

Compared 13% of the time

More Visual Studio Test Professional Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Rational Performance Tester

March 2025

Download IBM Rational Performance Tester product report

Buyer's Guide

Visual Studio Test Professional

March 2025

Download Visual Studio Test Professional product report

Also Known As

Rational Performance Tester

No data available

Overview

IBM Rational Performance Tester is a performance testing solution that validates the scalability of web and server applications. Rational Performance Tester identifies the presence and cause of system performance bottlenecks and reduces load testing complexity.

IBM

Visual Studio Professional Edition provides an IDE for all supported development languages. As of Visual Studio 2010, the Standard edition was dropped. MSDN support is available as MSDN Essentials or the full MSDN library depending on licensing. It supports XML and XSLT editing, and can create deployment packages that only use ClickOnce and MSI. It includes tools like Server Explorer and integration with Microsoft SQL Server also. Windows Mobile development support was included in Visual Studio 2005 Standard, however, with Visual Studio 2008, it is only available in Professional and higher editions. Windows Phone 7 development support was added to all editions in Visual Studio 2010. Development for Windows Mobile is no longer supported in Visual Studio 2010; it is superseded by Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

andagon, Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon

Transport for Greater Manchester, Ordina, Bluegarden A/S, CLEAResult, Jet.com, OSIsoft, Australian Taxation Office, BookedOut, Tracasa

Buyer's Guide

IBM Rational Performance Tester vs. Visual Studio Test Professional

March 2025

Free Report: IBM Rational Performance Tester vs. Visual Studio Test Professional

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Rational Performance Tester vs. Visual Studio Test Professional and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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