ControlUp · /// Alternative
ControlUp does real-user DEM. LoadGen also does load and API testing.
ControlUp focuses on real-user digital experience monitoring. LoadGen ships SessionSight DEM (heatmaps, replay, journeys, visitor tracking) plus the load testing and API testing ControlUp doesn’t. One platform, transparent pricing, one vendor.
Testing + Monitoring + AnalyticsTransparent pricingOne vendor, one cockpit
Side-by-side capability matrix. Autoplay highlights every row.
The Fair Version
ControlUp is good at what it does.
No straw-man comparisons. ControlUp is a credible name in real-user DEM. These are the strengths a fair-minded buyer should know before deciding.
Real-user DEM focus
ControlUp has spent years building real-user digital experience monitoring, mature analytics, polished dashboards, and a deep ecosystem.
DEX analytics depth
Years of investment in user-experience metrics, score-cards, and historical trend analysis across the VDI fleet.
Established install base
Sits in many enterprise stacks already. Operations teams know the dashboards by heart. Familiarity has value.
Why teams add LoadGen
The gap ControlUp leaves open.
Teams running ControlUp typically hit the same three walls: no load simulation, no API testing, and a separate pricing conversation. LoadGen fills the gap without ripping out the DEM investment.
Load simulation that ControlUp doesn’t do
Stress, soak, and capacity planning fired from Full agents with live cockpit visibility. License tiers from 50 to 25,000 vUsers; 25,000+ users tested by LoadGen. ControlUp monitors what runs. LoadGen also models what hasn’t run yet.
API testing inside the same platform
Visual flow editor with a 28-node palette and 21 executable nodes (Scriban-based built-in transformation). OpenAPI / Swagger import. End-to-end service validation that EUC tools (including ControlUp) typically don’t ship.
Transparent, published pricing
From €899 / Agent / month for End-to-End Monitoring. From €1,099 / week (50 vUsers) for Load & Performance Testing. Annual subs include two months free. SessionSight DEM is contact-us. The line items are on the pricing page.
SessionSight DEM
DEM parity, on a platform that also tests.
ControlUp built its reputation on real-user DEM. SessionSight delivers the same surface, heatmaps, replay, journeys, visitor tracking, and adds load testing and API testing on the same vendor.
- Heatmaps (click + scroll) with viewport-aware thresholds (desktop, tablet, mobile).
- DOM masking with Strict, Balanced (default), and Relaxed modes. Fail-closed by default, with per-element overrides applied at capture time.
- Session replay (image and DOM) from 0.25× to 12× (fixed 8-value dropdown), with event log.
- Deep-filter by country, browser, OS, device, and UTM. Correlated on the same timeline as synthetic checks and uptime events.
SessionSight heatmaps. Modes and viewports.
Testing + Monitoring on one platform
What ControlUp doesn’t do, and you also need.
Monitoring tells you what happened. Load testing tells you what will happen. LoadGen ships both. The cockpit looks the same whether you’re simulating tomorrow’s peak or watching today’s production.
- Same scenario engine drives synthetic monitoring AND load tests. Author once, replay both modes.
- Live cockpit during execution: per-step generic p95 latency, sessions table, error hotspots.
- Multi-test overlay. Compare up to 5 runs against the same scenario shape.
- Transparent published pricing. Load & Performance Testing from €1,099 / week (50 vUsers); End-to-End Monitoring from €899 / Agent / month.
Live monitoring and testing cockpit. Same UI, two modes.
What changes when you add LoadGen
Three buying-decision deltas.
Before
Real-user DEM only
After
Testing + Monitoring + DEM + API
Before
Contact sales
After
Published rates
Before
Author per tool
After
One `.lgs` scenario · two modes
Before
Multi-tool stack
After
One platform · one cockpit
How teams move
Three ways teams add LoadGen alongside ControlUp.
Complement on testing
Keep ControlUp on real-user DEM. Add LoadGen for load testing, API testing, and the SessionSight DEM that overlaps. Single-vendor consolidation comes later.
See use caseReplace on DEM
SessionSight overlaps ControlUp on the DEM surface, heatmaps, replay, journeys, and visitor tracking. Pricing transparency and the testing + API layer become the deciding signals for teams already over budget.
See use caseConsolidate the stack
Testing, monitoring, and analytics on one vendor, one cockpit, and one agent architecture. The shape teams adopt when the multi-tool renewal cost story stops working.
See use caseSee LoadGen alongside ControlUp on your own stack.
We’ll spin up SessionSight DEM, a synthetic Citrix or AVD load test, and an API flow against your environment, on a call. No multi-week RFP cycle.
Questions
Frequently asked.
Does LoadGen replace ControlUp, or run alongside it?
Both are common patterns. Teams initially add LoadGen for the load testing and API testing capabilities ControlUp doesn’t ship, then evaluate SessionSight DEM against ControlUp’s real-user DEM over a renewal cycle. Some consolidate. Some keep both.
How does SessionSight compare to ControlUp’s DEM?
SessionSight ships heatmaps (click + scroll), DOM masking (Strict / Balanced / Relaxed modes with fail-closed defaults and per-element overrides), session replay (image and DOM) from 0.25× to 12×, journey analysis, and visitor tracking. It covers the DEM surface a ControlUp buyer expects, on a published per-Agent pricing model.
What about Citrix-specific monitoring depth?
LoadGen runs Citrix-native synthetic users via the 7-step Citrix wizard. Basic (ICA) and Enhanced (HDX), with StoreFront, Gateway, PNAgent, and External Login as wizard auth-flow steps. SUT Monitoring binds generic Windows performance counters. The same engine that runs your load test runs the synthetic user.
What does it cost compared to ControlUp?
LoadGen publishes €899 per Agent per month for End-to-End Monitoring (annual subs include two months free) and €1,099 per week for Load & Performance Testing at the 50-vUser license tier. SessionSight DEM is contact-us. Multi-module bundles are quoted on a call. ControlUp pricing isn’t something we publish on your behalf, get current numbers from them.
Can we test LoadGen alongside our ControlUp deployment in PoC?
Yes. The PoC runs against your own Citrix or AVD environment over a timeline agreed on the discovery call. LoadGen agents deploy on-prem, in cloud, or in remote-office locations. ControlUp keeps running unchanged. The comparison happens on real data.
What’s the migration story if we decide to consolidate?
Teams typically retain ControlUp for one renewal cycle while LoadGen takes load testing, API testing, and SessionSight DEM. At the next renewal, the question becomes whether ControlUp’s incremental DEM features justify the multi-tool cost. The decision is yours. We’ll show the numbers honestly.
