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Airtable vs Loader.io: What are the differences?
What is Airtable? *Real-time spreadsheet-database hybrid *. Working with Airtable is as fast and easy as editing a spreadsheet. But only Airtable is backed by the power of a full database, giving you rich features far beyond what a spreadsheet can offer.
What is Loader.io? Simple Cloud-based Load Testing. Loader.io is a free load testing service that allows you to stress test your web-apps/apis with thousands of concurrent connections.
Airtable belongs to "Spreadsheets as a Backend" category of the tech stack, while Loader.io can be primarily classified under "Load and Performance Testing".
"Powerful and easy to use" is the top reason why over 9 developers like Airtable, while over 5 developers mention "Easy to use" as the leading cause for choosing Loader.io.
Zenefits, Hazeorid, and Cookly are some of the popular companies that use Airtable, whereas Loader.io is used by OpenLabel, DocEngage, and CybrHome. Airtable has a broader approval, being mentioned in 40 company stacks & 20 developers stacks; compared to Loader.io, which is listed in 14 company stacks and 8 developer stacks.
I have a team that is not heavy on programming skills. I am looking for a load testing tool that is easy to use. Preferably, the tool should be a record and playback tool without much programming. Also, the tool should be able to test APIs apart from web-based applications. What tool should I opt for?
My choice would be Apache JMeter, It's free and opensource plus it comes with lots of plugins and extendability. Apache JMeter needs a small amount of a learning curve and a basic understanding of Network, Protocols (TCP/IP ports, HTTP(S) and REST/SOAP, etc.) for initial setup. But it doesn't require programming skills. it has a nice record and playback option. You can still carry on without the developer skillset if you follow these steps. 1. Take backup. 2. Start recording and interact with the application. 3. stop recording and save the test case. This will give you your test-bed, after this, after these steps, every time just do Restore from backup and then Playback and observer results.
If you have longer recordings then an understanding of how to modify the recorded scripts will come handy.
For some of the advanced features such as Configuring variables, implementing loops, throttling adding think time, and automating test scaling to the number of users will require good planning of test scenarios and a Developer experience but this is true for any tool (even loader.io)
Disclaimer: I work at k6, and I recommend you try our tool.
It might require some coding skills, but we support a few options to record a user session to autogenerate the load test. Read How to record a browser session with k6 OSS.
The k6 Cloud also supports recording a user session with a Browser Extension. Additionally, it provides a Test Builder UI to generate a load test for testing APIs.
If you have questions or need help, you can ask on Slack and the Community forum.
I'm trying to set up an ideally "no- code" way to have a backend of 3 different tables and be able to find a value in table #3 (contains businesses & cities) by first finding a record in table #1 (7,000+ zip codes) that corresponds to a city (table #2 has the unique cities), and then finding which businesses are located in these cities ( in this specific, original zipcode lookup). And return the business and a description via an API to a front-end results page, which happens to be a WordPress page - but doesn't need to be. I've tried Airtable's API, AirPress (a finicky WordPress plugin for Airtable's API), and I've looked at Sheetsu and a similar spreadsheet as backend and a simple API. I run into the issue where they work fine when you just need to query 1 table, but when you need to use the result from that query in another query to a different table. I'm back in SQL land - where sure it could be done with SQLite - needing to probably create an intersection table or a JOIN and build an API off of that. Is there a way to accomplish what I want without going back to SQL queries and some API?
You're right that there isn't a great way to join tables with Airtable's API. The closest you can get is to use a linked record field, which acts as a pointer to another record. You still end up with the problem you mentioned of having to run another query on the second table separately.
Your best bet is to stick with an actual SQL database. Using an ORM should make your life significantly easier so you don't actually have to write raw SQL. If you still want a graphical interface to your data, BaseDash lets you view and edit SQL databases just like Airtable. A full API with join support is coming soon, so that could be your perfect solution to this problem.
Let me introduce you to integromat. It connects these services without you having to work any code. And it even has a decent database built inside it.
It makes is an easy process to develop multistep workflows with multiple services and it’s free tier is surprisingly functional.
Pros of Airtable
- Powerful and easy to use19
- Robust and dynamic8
- Quick UI Layer6
- Practical built in views4
- Robust API documentation3
- Great flexibility0
Pros of Loader.io
- Easy to use9
- Free tier6
- Heroku add-on3