r/softwaretesting

I’m working on a load test for a SaaS application and I’m trying to figure out how to turn expected traffic into a realistic number of concurrent users.

The customer has a large user base, but obviously that doesn’t mean everyone will be using the application at the same time. I’m not sure whether I should be looking at average traffic, peak traffic, active sessions, or some combination of those when setting the test target.

I’ve gotten a few different answers so far, so I’m curious how other teams usually approach this. Is there a standard way to estimate concurrent users when you don’t have much historical data to work with?

I’m weighing whether we should bring on three manual QAs or three QA automation engineers. While our long-term goal is to automate as much as possible, dedicated manual testers bring distinct value in my book, especially for applications with large, poorly defined requirements. That said; we are using agentic workflows and that is the trend.

Who would you hire?