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Lighthouse vs Vegeta: open-source performance and load testing tools compared

Metrics as of , from the GitHub or GitLab API of each repository. Refreshed monthly.

Summary

Lighthouse: Web page auditing tool for performance, accessibility and SEO, run from Chrome DevTools, a Node CLI or module.

Vegeta: HTTP load testing CLI and Go library that sends requests at a constant rate with text, JSON and histogram reports.

Both are listed under Performance and load testing. The table gives repository metrics from the GitHub API with their fetch date, then the documented facts used for every comparison in this category, each linked to the README or docs page it comes from. A cell reads "not documented" when the fact was not found in the project's documentation (3 of 12 fact cells here); that does not mean the feature is absent.

Side by side

Lighthouse and Vegeta: metrics and documented facts, in the fixed row order used for performance and load testing comparisons.
FactLighthouseVegeta
Stars30,799125,2001
Forks9,76011,4211
Contributors3901841
Last release2026-09-1812025-10-311
Last commit2026-09-1812026-02-161
Commits in 90 days57101
LicenseApache-2.01MIT1
Primary languageJavaScript1Go1
Statusactive1slow1
Protocolsnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of HTTP, with HTTP/2 to servers that support it and h2c source: README
Test authoring formatConfig file via --config-path; custom audits and gatherers written as extensions source: READMECommand-line tool reading targets files (http or JSON format), or Go code using the library source: README
Distributed or parallel loadnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of Distributed attacks across several machines, each sending part of the rate (pdsh example) source: README
CI integrationLighthouse CI, listed as the official project for running Lighthouse on every commit source: READMEnot documentednot found in the project's documentation as of
Report formatsJSON, HTML, CSV (HTML by default) source: READMEText, JSON, histogram and HdrHistogram plot reports; HTML latency plot; CSV, gob and JSON encodings source: README
Install methodnpm (npm install -g lighthouse) or yarn; also a Chrome DevTools panel source: READMEPre-compiled executables; Homebrew (brew install vegeta), MacPorts, pacman, FreeBSD pkg source: README

1 Fetched from the GitHub or GitLab API on . Hover a value for its own date.

When each fits

Written from each project's documented scope, not from preference. Neither tool is ranked.

Lighthouse

Fits projects that analyze web apps and web pages; its README describes audit categories for accessibility, performance and SEO, among others. source: README

Vegeta

Fits projects that load test HTTP services at a constant request rate; its README describes use as a command line tool and as a Go library. source: README

More on these tools

Sources

  1. GitHub REST API: repository, read
  2. GitHub REST API: repository, read
  3. GitHub REST API: contributors, read
  4. GitHub REST API: contributors, read
  5. GitHub REST API: latest release, read
  6. GitHub REST API: latest release, read
  7. GitHub REST API: commits, read
  8. GitHub REST API: commits, read
  9. README, read
  10. README, read

Documented facts collected 2026-09-22. See the methodology for how metrics and facts are gathered.