---
title: "Understand the value of k6 performance testing | Grafana Labs"
description: "Learn why performance testing with k6 helps you identify potential issues before they occur in production."
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

# Understand the value of k6 performance testing

k6 performance testing helps you answer one practical question: how does a service behave when traffic is repeatable instead of guessed?

In this path, you create a small HTTP script against QuickPizza, run it locally, and send results to Grafana Cloud k6. That gives you three useful signals: response time, request rate, and errors.

Keep these outcomes in mind as you work:

- **Local feedback**: See terminal results immediately with `k6 run`.
- **Cloud history**: Open a stored run and dashboard in Grafana Cloud k6.
- **Reusable script**: Keep the same script as the foundation for later checks and thresholds.

Next, install k6 so you can get to the first run.