Flexible, usage-based pricing. Loadster scales with your testing.
Loadster Fuel powers your load testing and site monitoring. You burn it as duration × launched bots × bot type. Every account starts with 50 free units. No credit card required.
Monthly Fuel Plans
Subscribe to a monthly plan to automatically add fuel every month at a discount. Any unused fuel rolls over as long as you keep the plan. Even if you don't use fuel every month, it will accumulate for when you need it.
Pay-As-You-Go Fuel
Prefer to pay as you go? Simply add fuel when you need it, with no subscription or commitment. Fuel that you purchase on a pay-as-you-go basis does not expire and remains in your account until you use it.
Other Plan Types
In addition to Loadster Fuel, we offer several other flexible plan types to fit your needs.
Monitoring plans
Monitoring plans start at $29/month, which covers thousands of fuel-free monitoring cycles each month plus extra phone notifications (SMS/Robocall).
Bring your own cloud
Run load tests from your own AWS account instead of burning fuel. Your Loadster costs are lower since you only pay us for the platform, not the infrastructure.
Custom and annual plans
Need more? Enterprise plans offer SAML2 SSO and extra user seats. Pay annually for a discount, or buy fuel at bulk prices to save on high-volume load testing.
How Loadster Fuel works
Loadster Fuel is the usage currency for load testing and monitoring. Think of it as gas in the tank, not a seat license: you burn it when bots actually run, not when teammates edit scripts or read reports.
The fuel formula
fuel ≈ duration × launched bots × bot type
How long the load test (or monitor cycle) runs.
How many bots you launch. One bot is one simulated user.
Protocol Bots burn 1×. Browser Bots and Playwright scripts burn 4×.
A worked example
100 Protocol Bots running for 30 minutes use 50 units of fuel. That's the same amount every new account gets free.
The same test with Browser Bots uses 200 units of fuel, because real browsers cost 4× to run.
If you know VU-hours
One unit of fuel is one Protocol Bot running for one hour, the same idea as a VU-hour (virtual user hour). Browser Bots and Playwright scripts use 4 units of fuel per bot-hour.
More about Loadster Fuel, VU-hours, and the free starter amount
Fuel Calculator
fuel ≈ duration × launched bots × bot type
Mode
Bot Type
Concurrent Bots
Test Duration
1,000 Units
Duration × launched bots × bot type
How much fuel does it take?
fuel ≈ duration × launched bots × bot type.
A Protocol Bot burns 1 unit of fuel per hour. Browser Bots and Playwright scripts burn 4 units of fuel per hour, because they run a real browser. Editing scripts, designing scenarios, and reading reports don't burn fuel. Only load tests and monitor cycles do.
What is Loadster Fuel, and how do VU-hours compare?
Prefer to pay as you go?
If you don't want a subscription, you can purchase fuel as needed. Pay-as-you-go fuel never expires.
Pricing FAQs
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What is Loadster Fuel?
Loadster Fuel is the usage currency for load testing and monitoring. Bots burn it while they run. Editing scripts, designing scenarios, and reading reports don't cost fuel. See how Loadster Fuel works for the formula, VU-hours, and the free starter amount.
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How is fuel usage calculated?
Usage is duration × launched bots × bot type. Protocol Bots burn 1 unit of fuel per bot-hour. Browser Bots and Playwright scripts burn 4 units of fuel per bot-hour. If you're used to VU-hours (virtual user hours), 1 unit of fuel is 1 Protocol Bot-hour.
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Why do Browser Bots and Playwright scripts cost more?
Each one drives a real Chrome browser, which takes more cloud compute than Protocol Bots sending HTTP requests. The 4× multiplier tracks that infrastructure cost. Protocol Bots are the economical choice for APIs and high-volume HTTP; real browsers are for JavaScript, page resources, and front-end timing.
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How does the 50 free units of fuel work?
Every new account starts with 50 units. That's enough for a handful of tests, such as 100 Protocol Bots for 30 minutes. No credit card required. The 50 units are a starter amount, not a monthly refill. When they run out you can subscribe or buy pay-as-you-go fuel; your scripts and reports stay put.
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Why is there both Monthly Fuel Plans and Pay-As-You-Go pricing?
Monthly fuel plans offer predictable discount pricing for longer-term load testing and monitoring, with fuel that automatically replenishes each month and rolls over as long as you maintain the subscription. Pay-as-you-go fuel is ideal for infrequent or short-term testing, with no subscription required and fuel that never expires.
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Can I upgrade, downgrade, or cancel at any time?
Of course. Upgrades from one plan to a higher plan take effect immediately, and you'll receive a prorated credit for unused time on your current plan towards the new plan. Downgrades take effect at the end of the current billing period. You can cancel your subscription and stop billing at any time.
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Can I have both a monthly plan and pay-as-you-go fuel?
Sure. If you have fuel from both sources the monthly plan fuel will be used first, then any pay-as-you-go fuel you've purchased. Some customers like to keep a monthly plan to cover routine load tests, and add extra pay-as-you-go fuel for the occasional big test.
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What exactly do you mean by all-inclusive pricing?
Some other load testing tools require your AWS or DigitalOcean cloud tokens and then run the load test from your cloud provider, who bills you separately. Loadster runs the tests from our cloud, so the price you pay includes these cloud fees. That said, if you actually want to run from your own cloud, we'll design a custom plan for you.
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What's the advantage of a monthly fuel plan?
Monthly fuel plans offer a lower cost per fuel unit compared to pay-as-you-go pricing, plus the convenience of automatic monthly replenishment. Your fuel rolls over from month to month as long as you keep the subscription, so fuel accumulates even if you have less busy periods and is available when you need it for bigger tests.
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Does unused fuel ever expire?
Pay-as-you-go fuel does not expire, and will remain in your account indefinitely until you use it. Monthly plan fuel rolls over from month to month as long as you maintain the subscription, but if you cancel the subscription any unused fuel from that plan expires when the subscription ends (but you'll have until the subscription end date to use it).
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Who do I ask about a custom plan or bulk fuel pricing?
Custom plans, enterprise plans, annual/semiannual/quarterly pricing, and bulk fuel pricing are available. We'll be happy to try to work something out for you. Please contact sales@loadster.com and let us know what you're looking for.
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What happens to my data if I cancel a plan or run out of fuel?
Even if you run out of fuel or cancel your subscription, you'll still have your scripts, scenarios, datasets, and load test reports. Don't need to load test for a while? No worries, your Loadster account data will be here when you need it.