Top 48 Alternatives to New Relic Synthetics for Web/API Testing

Introduction

New Relic Synthetics arrived as part of New Relic’s broader observability platform, extending the company’s application performance monitoring roots into proactive, scriptable checks. It gave engineering and operations teams a way to automate browser and API transactions using JavaScript-based scripted checks, then run those checks from multiple locations to validate uptime, core flows, and SLAs. Over time, New Relic Synthetics earned adoption for its combination of ease, scale, and integration with CI/CD and New Relic’s APM, logs, and alerting.

Its strengths include broad test automation capabilities, support for modern workflows, and good CI/CD integration. However, like any synthetic or end-to-end solution, it can require setup and maintenance, and poorly structured tests may become flaky. As teams mature their testing strategy—adding performance, security, accessibility, visual testing, and richer device coverage—many look at complementary or alternative tools that can better fit specific needs, programming languages, or budgets.

This guide explores 48 credible alternatives and complements to New Relic Synthetics across web and API testing.

Overview: Top Alternatives Covered

Here are the top 48 alternatives for New Relic Synthetics:

• Artillery

• BackstopJS

• BlazeMeter

• BrowserStack Automate

• Burp Suite (Enterprise)

• Capybara

• Cucumber

• Cypress Cloud

• Cypress Component Testing

• Datadog Synthetic Tests

• Eggplant Test

• FitNesse

• Gatling

• Gauge

• Geb

• JMeter

• Katalon Platform (Studio)

• LambdaTest

• Lighthouse CI

• LoadRunner

• Locust

• Microsoft Playwright Testing

• NeoLoad

• Nightwatch.js

• OWASP ZAP

• Pa11y

• Percy

• Pingdom

• Playwright Component Testing

• Playwright Test

• QA Wolf

• Ranorex

• Robot Framework + SeleniumLibrary

• Sauce Labs

• Selene (Yashaka)

• Selenide

• Serenity BDD

• Squish

• Storybook Test Runner

• TestCafe

• TestCafe Studio

• TestComplete

• Testim

• Tricentis Tosca

• Watir

• axe-core / axe DevTools

• k6

• reg-suit

Why Look for New Relic Synthetics Alternatives?

• Cost and licensing: Commercial pricing and data retention tiers may not fit all budgets or environments at scale.

• Scope limitations: Focuses on web/API synthetics; native mobile app flows and desktop UI scenarios need other tools.

• Coding requirements: Scripted (JavaScript) checks can be powerful but add engineering overhead for teams preferring low-code approaches.

• Flakiness risk: If tests are not structured well (e.g., poor waits or unstable selectors), flakiness can undermine trust and signal-to-noise.

• Specialized needs: Performance/load, security (DAST), accessibility, or visual regression testing often require more specialized tooling.

• Vendor ecosystem alignment: Teams invested in other observability stacks (e.g., Datadog, Grafana) may prefer integrated options there.

Detailed Breakdown of Alternatives

Artillery

Artillery, built by Artillery.io, is a performance and load testing tool for web, API, and protocols with developer-friendly YAML/JS scenarios.

Strengths:

• Scalable distributed load generation

• JavaScript-first developer experience

• Integrates with monitoring dashboards

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Focuses on performance under load rather than uptime/transaction monitoring; a better fit for stress and capacity planning.

BackstopJS

BackstopJS is an open-source visual regression tool for web UIs using Headless Chrome to generate and diff screenshots.

Strengths:

• Fast detection of UI regressions

• Scenario-based config with rich selectors

• CI-friendly with baselines and thresholds

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Targets visual change detection, not synthetic uptime or scripted transactions.

BlazeMeter

BlazeMeter (by Perforce) is a commercial SaaS for performance/load testing with compatibility for JMeter, Gatling, and k6.

Strengths:

• Cloud-scale load tests with rich analytics

• Broad compatibility with open-source load tools

• CI/CD and collaboration features for teams

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Purpose-built for performance/load; complements or replaces synthetics when capacity testing is the goal.

BrowserStack Automate

BrowserStack Automate provides a large, managed cloud of real devices and browsers for Selenium, Appium, Playwright, and Cypress tests.

Strengths:

• Extensive device/browser coverage

• Parallelization for faster feedback

• Rich debugging artifacts (video, logs, network)

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Executes your own test suites at scale; not a synthetic monitoring scheduler by default.

Burp Suite (Enterprise)

Burp Suite Enterprise (by PortSwigger) is an automated DAST platform for web and API security scanning.

Strengths:

• Comprehensive vulnerability coverage

• Scheduled scans and CI integrations

• Centralized enterprise reporting and remediation workflows

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Security-focused; complements functional synthetics with automated security validation.

Capybara

Capybara is an open-source Ruby framework for web end-to-end testing, typically paired with RSpec or Cucumber.

Strengths:

• Readable Ruby DSL with intuitive selectors

• Multiple drivers (Selenium, WebKit, etc.)

• Built-in waiting for stable tests

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Developer-centric E2E test authoring versus hosted synthetic monitors.

Cucumber

Cucumber is an open-source BDD tool using Gherkin to write human-readable scenarios across multiple languages and runners.

Strengths:

• Shared language for QA, dev, and business

• Rich ecosystem of runners and plugins

• Living documentation of behavior

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Improves collaboration and specification; not a monitoring product.

Cypress Cloud

Cypress Cloud is a commercial SaaS for Cypress test runs, parallelization, flake detection, and insights.

Strengths:

• Parallel execution at scale

• Flake analysis with run analytics

• Videos, screenshots, and dashboards

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Optimizes Cypress pipelines; doesn’t itself schedule synthetic checks.

Cypress Component Testing

Cypress Component Testing runs framework components in a real browser for fast, isolated feedback.

Strengths:

• Fast component-level tests

• Deep integration with front-end frameworks

• Time-travel debugging

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Validates component behavior during development, not production synthetics.

Datadog Synthetic Tests

Datadog Synthetic Tests offer browser and API checks integrated with Datadog’s APM, logs, and infrastructure monitoring.

Strengths:

• Codeless recorder plus code options

• Multi-step browser and API checks

• Private locations and CI/CD integrations

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: A close alternative with similar capabilities; selection often depends on whether your observability stack centers on Datadog or New Relic.

Eggplant Test

Eggplant Test (by Keysight) is a model-based testing platform using AI and image recognition across desktop, web, and mobile.

Strengths:

• Model-based authoring reduces maintenance

• Image recognition for tech-agnostic automation

• Cross-platform coverage with analytics

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Expands beyond browsers into desktop and mobile UIs; suited for enterprise-scale functional automation.

FitNesse

FitNesse is an open-source acceptance testing and ATDD framework using a wiki and fixtures.

Strengths:

• Executable specifications via a collaborative wiki

• Fixture-based approach for reuse

• CI-friendly and version-controlled

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Acceptance-level testing and documentation rather than synthetic monitoring.

Gatling

Gatling (by Gatling Corp) is a high-performance load and stress testing tool with a Scala-based DSL.

Strengths:

• Efficient engine for large-scale load

• Code-as-tests with a concise DSL

• Real-time metrics and detailed reports

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Load testing tool, not an uptime/transaction monitor.

Gauge

Gauge (by ThoughtWorks) is an open-source test automation framework with readable specs and multi-language support.

Strengths:

• Markdown specs for clarity

• Works with Java, C#, JavaScript, and more

• Plugin ecosystem and parallel execution

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Test specification and automation platform, not a hosted synthetics solution.

Geb

Geb is a Groovy-based web automation framework built on Selenium with a concise DSL.

Strengths:

• Groovy DSL with page objects

• Tight Spock (BDD) integration

• Built-in smart waits

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Developer-centric E2E framework instead of a monitoring service.

JMeter

Apache JMeter is a mature open-source performance/load testing tool for web, APIs, and protocols.

Strengths:

• GUI and CLI modes for flexibility

• Large plugin ecosystem

• Distributed and extensible test execution

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Load and protocol testing rather than synthetic transaction monitoring.

Katalon Platform (Studio)

Katalon Platform combines low-code and scripted automation across web, mobile, API, and desktop.

Strengths:

• Recorder, object spy, and analytics

• Cross-platform support in one suite

• CI/CD and reporting integrations

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Broad test authoring and execution; not a dedicated synthetic uptime tool, though scheduling is supported via Katalon’s ecosystem.

LambdaTest

LambdaTest is a cross-browser and mobile testing cloud supporting Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, and Appium.

Strengths:

• Wide browser/device matrix

• Smart parallelization and insights

• Debugging artifacts and network logs

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Cloud execution for your tests; synthetics require separate orchestration.

Lighthouse CI

Lighthouse CI (by the Chrome team) automates web audits for performance, accessibility, and best practices.

Strengths:

• Enforces performance and a11y budgets

• CI gating with historical trends

• Trusted checks aligned with Chrome tooling

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Audits quality metrics, not synthetic transaction uptime or multi-step flows.

LoadRunner

LoadRunner (from OpenText) is an enterprise performance/load testing suite with broad protocol support.

Strengths:

• High-scale, protocol-level load

• Advanced correlation and analysis

• Enterprise integrations and governance

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Performance engineering suite rather than synthetic monitoring.

Locust

Locust is an open-source Python load testing tool modeling user behavior with simple code.

Strengths:

• Python-first, readable test scripts

• Distributed workers for scale

• Web UI and extensibility

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Load generation and performance validation, not uptime monitoring.

Microsoft Playwright Testing

Microsoft Playwright Testing is a managed cloud service to run Playwright tests at scale.

Strengths:

• Scalable, parallel cloud execution

• Artifacts (videos, traces) retained

• Tight integration with Playwright tooling

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Executes your Playwright suite; not a synthetic scheduler by itself.

NeoLoad

NeoLoad (by Tricentis) is an enterprise load and performance testing platform.

Strengths:

• Advanced correlation and dynamic data

• Support for complex enterprise apps (e.g., SAP)

• Real-time analytics and integrations

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Focused on performance; complements synthetics for production readiness under load.

Nightwatch.js

Nightwatch.js is an open-source end-to-end testing framework for web with WebDriver and DevTools support.

Strengths:

• All-in-one runner, assertions, and utilities

• Parallel execution and TypeScript support

• Works with Selenium and native DevTools

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Developer framework for E2E; monitoring requires separate orchestration.

OWASP ZAP

OWASP ZAP is an open-source DAST scanner for web and APIs maintained by the OWASP community.

Strengths:

• Active and passive security scans

• Automation framework and CI integration

• Strong community and rule updates

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Security scanning instead of functional uptime monitoring.

Pa11y

Pa11y is an open-source accessibility auditing CLI for web pages.

Strengths:

• Easy CI integration for a11y checks

• WCAG rule coverage

• Simple reporting

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Accessibility validation rather than synthetic monitoring.

Percy

Percy (by BrowserStack) is a visual testing platform that captures and diffs snapshots.

Strengths:

• Visual diffs with review workflows

• Parallelization and CI integrations

• SDKs for major frameworks

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Visual regression detection; not a transactional synthetic monitor.

Pingdom

Pingdom (by SolarWinds) delivers uptime and transactional synthetic monitoring for web and APIs.

Strengths:

• Simple uptime and multi-step transaction checks

• Global locations and alerting

• Real user monitoring add-ons

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Very close in scope; typically simpler setup but less deep integration with APM.

Playwright Component Testing

Playwright Component Testing runs front-end components in real browsers with Playwright.

Strengths:

• Cross-framework component execution

• Real browser environment and fixtures

• Fast, isolated feedback loops

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Development-time component validation, not production synthetic checks.

Playwright Test

Playwright Test (by Microsoft) is a first-class test runner for web with powerful tracing and reporters.

Strengths:

• Auto-waiting and robust selectors

• Traces, screenshots, and videos

• Cross-browser and parallel by default

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Code-first E2E testing; doesn’t provide hosted synthetic scheduling out of the box.

QA Wolf

QA Wolf is a service plus open-source tooling that delivers end-to-end test creation and maintenance as a service.

Strengths:

• Done-for-you E2E coverage and upkeep

• SLAs and 24/7 triage options

• Playwright-based, developer-friendly artifacts

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Outsourced test authoring/maintenance versus a self-managed synthetic solution.

Ranorex

Ranorex is a commercial UI test automation platform for desktop, web, and mobile.

Strengths:

• Codeless + scripted with C#/.NET

• Object repository and strong recorder

• Cross-platform with rich reporting

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Broader UI automation across platforms; not a synthetic monitoring product.

Robot Framework + SeleniumLibrary

Robot Framework is an open-source, keyword-driven framework with a rich ecosystem, often paired with SeleniumLibrary for web.

Strengths:

• Human-readable keyword syntax

• Large library ecosystem and reuse

• Good reporting and CI integration

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Versatile test automation platform; separate from synthetic uptime checks.

Sauce Labs

Sauce Labs offers a large cloud of real devices and browsers for Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, and Appium.

Strengths:

• Massive device/browser coverage

• Analytics and stability tooling

• Video, logs, and network capture

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Executes your tests at scale; not primarily a synthetic scheduler.

Selene (Yashaka)

Selene is a Python wrapper over Selenium inspired by Selenide, providing a concise, wait-savvy API.

Strengths:

• Readable, fluent Python API

• Smart waits reduce flakiness

• Integrates with popular Python test runners

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Developer framework for E2E; monitoring requires separate tooling.

Selenide

Selenide is a Java library that wraps Selenium with a fluent API and implicit waits.

Strengths:

• Stable tests with built-in waits

• Concise, expressive Java code

• Page objects and good error diagnostics

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Code-centric E2E testing versus hosted synthetics.

Serenity BDD

Serenity BDD is an open-source framework for BDD-style tests with rich reports and the Screenplay pattern.

Strengths:

• Living documentation and dashboards

• Screenplay pattern for maintainability

• Works with JUnit and Cucumber

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: BDD-focused authoring and reporting; not a monitoring platform.

Squish

Squish (by the Qt Company, formerly froglogic) is a GUI test tool for Qt/QML, embedded, desktop, and web.

Strengths:

• Strong Qt, QML, and embedded support

• Object-level and image-based recognition

• Multi-language scripting options

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Covers desktop/embedded UIs beyond web; not synthetic monitoring.

Storybook Test Runner

Storybook Test Runner executes Storybook stories as tests using Playwright under the hood.

Strengths:

• Reuse design system stories for tests

• Fast component-level feedback

• CI-friendly with visual tooling complements

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Component-level verification during development; not production synthetics.

TestCafe

TestCafe (by DevExpress) is a web E2E testing framework that runs without WebDriver.

Strengths:

• No WebDriver; stable isolation

• Auto-waits and good selector strategy

• Cross-browser with parallel runs

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Local/cloud E2E testing; synthetic scheduling requires other services.

TestCafe Studio

TestCafe Studio is a commercial, codeless IDE variant of TestCafe for building and running web tests.

Strengths:

• Recorder and visual editor

• Built-in debugging and assertion tools

• Works with the TestCafe engine

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Codeless E2E authoring; not a synthetic monitoring product.

TestComplete

TestComplete (by SmartBear) is a codeless/scripted platform for desktop, web, and mobile UI testing.

Strengths:

• Record/playback plus multiple scripting languages

• Object recognition and keyword tests

• CI/CD and reporting features

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Broad UI automation suite, not focused on synthetic uptime checks.

Testim

Testim (by SmartBear) is an AI-assisted web E2E platform with self-healing locators.

Strengths:

• Low-code authoring with ML-based stability

• Parallel runs and robust reporting

• CI integrations and maintenance tooling

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Faster authoring and resilient locators; not a native synthetic monitoring solution.

Tricentis Tosca

Tricentis Tosca is an enterprise, model-based test automation suite for web, mobile, desktop, and SAP.

Strengths:

• Codeless, model-based authoring

• Risk-based testing and analytics

• Strong SAP and enterprise app support

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Enterprise MBTA across platforms; not a synthetics/uptime product.

Watir

Watir is an open-source Ruby library for web automation with a simple, readable API.

Strengths:

• Clear, Ruby-friendly DSL

• Built on Selenium with stable wrappers

• Active community and good practices

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Code-first E2E testing; no built-in synthetic scheduling.

axe-core / axe DevTools

axe-core and axe DevTools (by Deque) provide automated web accessibility testing.

Strengths:

• Reliable a11y engine with WCAG coverage

• Browser and CI integrations

• Guided remediation workflows (DevTools)

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Accessibility scanning, not functional synthetics.

k6

k6 (by Grafana) is a developer-centric load testing tool with a JavaScript scripting model and optional cloud service.

Strengths:

• JS scripting with modern DX

• Powerful thresholds and checks

• Great metrics and Grafana integrations

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Performance/load testing; complements synthetics for SLOs under load.

reg-suit

reg-suit is an open-source, CI-friendly visual regression tool for web.

Strengths:

• Visual diffs integrated in CI

• Pluggable storage and approval flows

• Lightweight configuration

Compared to New Relic Synthetics: Detects UI visual changes; not synthetic transaction monitoring.

Things to Consider Before Choosing a New Relic Synthetics Alternative

• Project scope and test types: Do you need functional synthetics, load/performance, security, accessibility, or visual testing? Pick tools aligned to your testing goals.

• Language and ecosystem fit: Choose frameworks that match your team’s primary languages (JS/TS, Java, Python, Ruby, Groovy, C#) and IDEs.

• Ease of setup and maintenance: Consider authoring model (code vs low-code), locator stability, waits, and long-term maintainability.

• Execution model and speed: Local vs cloud, parallelization, geo-distributed runs, and how fast you get actionable results.

• CI/CD integration: Native plugins, easy CLI, artifacts (videos, traces), flake detection, and gating policies.

• Debugging and observability: Traces, screenshots, HARs, console/network logs, and integration with APM/logs to speed root cause analysis.

• Scalability and reliability: Can the tool handle your organization’s concurrency, scheduled cadences, and global coverage?

• Reporting and governance: Dashboards, trend analysis, flake insights, role-based access, and audit/compliance needs.

• Cost and licensing: Open source vs commercial vs SaaS; consider total cost of ownership (infrastructure, maintenance, and vendor pricing).

• Vendor alignment: If your organization standardizes on a particular observability stack, prefer tools that integrate natively.

Conclusion

New Relic Synthetics remains a strong option for scripted browser and API checks, especially if your organization already uses New Relic for APM, logs, alerts, and dashboards. Still, testing needs vary. Performance and load tools like k6, Gatling, JMeter, BlazeMeter, NeoLoad, and LoadRunner shine for capacity and reliability under stress. Security teams benefit from OWASP ZAP and Burp Suite Enterprise. Accessibility and visual quality are better covered by Lighthouse CI, Pa11y, axe, Percy, BackstopJS, and reg-suit. For broad E2E authoring, frameworks such as Playwright Test, Cypress, TestCafe, Capybara, Selenide, and Robot Framework—run on clouds like BrowserStack, Sauce Labs, LambdaTest, or Microsoft Playwright Testing—can increase coverage across browsers and devices. Datadog Synthetic Tests and Pingdom provide particularly close alternatives for ongoing synthetic monitoring.

In short:

• Choose a close alternative (e.g., Datadog Synthetic Tests, Pingdom) if you want similar synthetic capabilities and ecosystem alignment.

• Choose an E2E framework plus a cloud grid (e.g., Playwright Test with BrowserStack or Sauce Labs) if you prefer owning test code with scalable execution.

• Choose performance, security, accessibility, or visual tools to expand beyond uptime and transactions into specialized quality dimensions.

The best fit depends on your stack, team skills, and quality goals. Many teams combine a synthetic monitoring solution with dedicated tools for load, security, accessibility, and visual regression to achieve comprehensive coverage.