Bombardier is a HTTP benchmarking tool written in Go that measures the performance of web services under load.
The tool addresses the need for fast, reliable HTTP load testing by leveraging the fasthttp library instead of Go's standard http package, which provides significantly faster performance for benchmarking workloads. It sends concurrent requests to a target server and collects metrics on response times, throughput, and latency distribution. The tool supports both HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 testing, with fasthttp as the default high-performance backend and an optional net/http client for RFC compliance or HTTP/2 testing when needed.
Bombardier suits developers and operators who need quick performance validation of web services on their local machines or in CI pipelines. It works across Linux, macOS, and Windows, making it accessible regardless of development environment. The tool is particularly valuable for teams already working in Go who want a lightweight, self-contained benchmarking solution without external dependencies. A known limitation exists around Host header handling with fasthttp; users requiring precise Host header control should use the net/http backend via command-line flags.
The project maintains active build status checks and receives regular updates to support newer Go versions and HTTP standards. Development activity shows responsiveness to compatibility requirements, as evidenced by the addition of HTTP/2 support alongside the original fasthttp implementation. The codebase remains focused on its core benchmarking purpose without scope creep into unrelated features.
