# grafana/k6

A modern load testing tool, using Go and JavaScript

Repository: https://github.com/grafana/k6
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/k6
Homepage: https://grafana.com/oss/k6/
Language: Go
License: AGPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: golang, load-testing, load-generator, javascript, es6, performance, go, hacktoberfest, k6
Last push: 2026-08-26T14:01:33+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 97, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3817, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 21, "gap_med": 27, "n_releases_24m": 30}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 31327, forks 1613 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:56.718775+00:00)

## What it is
Grafana k6 is an open-source load and performance testing tool with a Go-based engine and tests written in JavaScript or TypeScript. It supports HTTP, WebSockets, gRPC, and browser testing, with extensible outputs to observability backends and CI/CD integration.

## Use cases
- load test my api before launch
- run stress and soak tests on a web service
- automate performance tests in ci/cd
- test websocket and grpc endpoints under load
- run browser performance tests and collect browser metrics
- simulate traffic spikes to find reliability issues
- export load test results to prometheus or grafana

## When to choose
- you want scriptable, code-based load tests in JavaScript or TypeScript
- you need high load generation with minimal resource consumption
- you want to integrate performance testing into CI/CD pipelines
- you need multi-protocol support including HTTP, WebSockets, gRPC, and browsers
- you want to stream test metrics to observability backends like Prometheus or Grafana

## When to avoid
- you need a no-code GUI-only load testing tool
- you require a permissive license - k6 is AGPL-3.0
- you need to test protocols not covered by k6 or its extensions
- you want a fully managed SaaS-only solution without local execution

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: stable
- function: load-testing, testing, benchmarking, cli, http-client, websocket, rpc
- domain: testing, performance, developer-tools
- platform: windows, cli, cross-platform, go
- tags: load-testing, performance-testing, javascript-scripting, stress-testing, soak-testing, spike-testing, browser-testing, ci-cd-integration, grafana, es6, typescript, grpc, extensible, devops, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- grafana/k6 (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:56.718775+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T16:52:18.124933+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/grafana/k6 (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:56.718775+00:00, sha 864576881337)
  - homepage: https://grafana.com/oss/k6/ (fetched 2026-08-29T07:49:31.871332+00:00, sha 5110a5e2ff60)
  - site_page: https://grafana.com/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T07:49:31.878150+00:00, sha 882a3fe34bf0)
  - site_page: https://grafana.com/docs/k6/latest?pg=oss-k6&plcmt=hero-btn-3 (fetched 2026-08-29T07:49:31.880179+00:00, sha 89e1ef73122f)
  - site_page: https://grafana.com/docs/k6/latest/k6-studio (fetched 2026-08-29T07:49:31.881889+00:00, sha 0b75e86ba9eb)
  - site_page: https://grafana.com/docs/k6/latest/results-output/web-dashboard (fetched 2026-08-29T07:49:31.883617+00:00, sha 7d59600a54b7)
  - site_page: https://grafana.com/docs/k6/latest/results-output/grafana-dashboards (fetched 2026-08-29T07:49:31.886076+00:00, sha 1f43326849f4)
  - site_page: https://grafana.com/docs/k6/latest/get-started/installation?pg=oss-k6&plcmt=deploy-box-1 (fetched 2026-08-29T07:49:31.888665+00:00, sha d93945550d0c)
  - site_page: https://grafana.com/pricing (fetched 2026-08-29T07:49:31.874327+00:00, sha 6097ce127c08)
  - site_page: https://grafana.com/pricing?pg=oss-k6&plcmt=pricing-details (fetched 2026-08-29T07:49:31.890651+00:00, sha da775b0b73fc)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.