This is k6

The story of how we got started on the journey to providing a load testing SaaS app

It all started with a game...

In the year 2000, with the Y2K crisis in the rear view mirror, the two founders were working on a MMORPG. With a goal to support hundreds of players simultaneously the need for some early load testing arose. They opted to open a consultancy to aid organizations in load testing. The most notable customer from this era was the European Space Agency where we got to test IP satellite networks.

...then we added some Alligators...

Meanwhile - one of the founders started to take on a new hobby. An interest in reptiles, specifically Spectacled Caiman alligators. Two of them soon moved into our Stockholm office, Bert and Ed. Bert proved to be mischievous, and escaped on a few occasions. They eventually moved out to go live in more appropriate accommodations - however Bert’s legacy lives on serving as our mascot.

…we then shifted from consultancy to a SaaS organization….

Fast-forwarding to the year 2008 after years of consulting, we shifted gears yet again. The concept of “cloud computing” was emerging and the possibility to bring the load testing tool we created to market became a viable business model. Initially the focus was on website testing - DevOps was still a fringe concept only recently being coined.

… we knew gaps still existed in the market …

In tandem with the growth of DevOps, we started to notice gaps emerging in the market that we knew we could address. Users were no longer testing things one-off. APIs were becoming more prevalent in usage and required testing. Users wanted to test continuously. For many companies, testing was moving into the responsibility of developers.

… we decided to build a new tool from the ground up …

In 2016, Bert and the LoadImpact crew started working on a new open-source load testing tool. A tool that developers could love in the 21st century.

Moving on to the present day, early adoption has been fantastic and the k6 community quickly grew. We have something special in our hands and look forward to building it with you.