Testground
Testground is a free tool for testing, benchmarking, and simulating distributed and peer-to-peer systems at scale.
What Testground is
Testground is a free tool for testing, benchmarking, and simulating distributed and peer-to-peer systems at scale. It is designed for runs from 2 to 10,000 instances, with local runners suited to 2–300 and Kubernetes runners to 300–10,000. Test plans may be written in Go, JavaScript, C, or shell, while the listed builders are for Go. A Redis-backed coordination API supplies synchronization primitives for distributed workloads. During tests, users can shape connectedness, latency, jitter, bandwidth, duplication, and packet corruption. Metrics go to InfluxDB in real time, with results sent in batches after a plan finishes. Runs can collect logs, assets, event trails, and participant events. Testground is available through API and self-hosted platforms with hybrid deployment, and uses active test methods. Installation requires building from source because binaries are not distributed; the README requires Go 1.16 or later and a running Docker daemon. The project is dual-licensed under MIT and Apache Software License v2.
Good
- Supports 2 to 10,000 instances
- Several test-plan languages
- Configurable network conditions
- Real-time InfluxDB metrics
- Collects logs and run events
Watch out
- No distributed binaries
- Requires Go 1.16 or newer
- Requires a running Docker daemon
- Kubernetes is suited to larger runs
Who it suits
Testground suits developers working on experimental protocols, debugging, comparative testing, or compatibility testing for distributed and peer-to-peer systems. It fits teams able to build from source and operate Docker-based runners.
Verdict
Testground offers broad distributed-test simulation, network shaping, coordination, and result collection. Its source-build installation and Docker requirement add setup work before running experiments.
The facts
Each one read from Testground's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Audience
- The project describes use for experimental protocol development, debugging, comparative testing, and backward- and forward-compatibility testing.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Builders and runners
- Go builders and local executable, local Docker, and Kubernetes runners are listed; local runs suit 2–300 instances and Kubernetes runs suit 300–10,000.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Coordination
- A Redis-backed coordination API provides synchronization primitives for distributed test workloads.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Current workflow limits
- The README marks continuous integration and interoperability testing as planned workflows.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Installation
- The README says binaries are not distributed and installation requires building from source, with Go 1.16 or newer and a running Docker daemon.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Installation limit
- The README says binaries are not distributed and users must build from source, with Go 1.16 or later and a running Docker daemon required.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The README points to Kubernetes, AWS cluster setup instructions, and InfluxDB metrics and results; it describes Jupyter integration as upcoming.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Language support
- Test plans may be written in Go, JavaScript, C, or shell, while the project says its available builders are for Go and TypeScript builders were in progress.checked 9 Oct 2026
- License
- The project is dual licensed under MIT and Apache License 2.0.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Metrics
- For Go test plans, the project describes automatic pprof diagnostics and real-time metrics sent to InfluxDB.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Metrics and results
- Testground emits metrics to InfluxDB in real time and pushes results there in batches after a test plan concludes.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Network simulation
- Test instances can shape connectedness, latency, jitter, bandwidth, duplication, and packet corruption.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Outputs
- Users can collect logs, assets, event trails, and run events from participants in a test run.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Testground tests, benchmarks, and simulates distributed and peer-to-peer systems at scale.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Scale
- The project says it can scale from 2 to 10,000 test instances.checked 9 Oct 2026
- Security controls
- A v0.5.3 release note says traffic routing defaults to DenyAll and the daemon supports basic authentication with configured tokens.checked 4 Oct 2026
Money
- Test plans
- Test plans coordinate distributed workloads using synchronization primitives such as signals and barriers.checked 9 Oct 2026
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