The article provides an extensive review of various open-source load testing tools, comparing their performance, developer user experience, and suitability for automated testing. It examines tools like ApacheBench, Artillery, Drill, Gatling, Hey, JMeter, k6, Locust, Siege, Tsung, Vegeta, and Wrk, highlighting features such as scripting capabilities, multithreading, and distributed load generation. The author, with a disclosed bias towards k6, details each tool's history, development status, and specific use cases while conducting performance benchmarks to assess their efficiency in generating traffic and measuring response times accurately. The review reveals significant performance variations among the tools, noting that while Wrk excels in raw traffic generation, k6 offers a balanced experience for developers with its strong scripting API. Additionally, it observes improvements in tools like Locust, which has enhanced its performance, while others like JMeter and Siege have seen a decline. The article concludes with personal preferences for different tools based on specific testing needs, such as simplicity, scripting language preference, and traffic generation capabilities.