Robi makes stuffBloat
236/500Where it landed on the scale
0
300
400
Summary
LoadCell is a real, working, cross-platform desktop tool with several releases and an outside contributor, shipped in a burst in June with one later update in August. It is free and GPL-licensed with only a sponsor link, so there is no revenue model, and it competes with established free tools like k6 and vegeta. It is a solid dev tool but not yet a business or a defensible product.
Bloat · Not much here works or looks likely to last, yet.
Breakdown
Five measures, 100 points each. Open the receipts under any of them to see the posts and pages behind the points.
Viability
Is there a real problem, someone who would pay, and a market this builder can actually reach?
The problem is real (paying for hosted load testing), but the product is free and GPL with only a sponsor ask, so there is no path to paying customers yet. Its main users are developers who already have free alternatives.
30/100
Rubric 21–40A real problem, but no plausible path to anyone paying, or a market well out of this builder's reach.
Receipts (3)
Frames the problem as not wanting to pay $9/month for load testing, then offers a free alternative rather than a paid product.
“I don't think we should be paying 9$/m for load testing using machines we own. so i built loadcell (FOSS), run http requests, save them as a load testing profile, draw ramp up curves and run them concurrently with go. github.com/robimez/loadcell @rb_wk & @robi_makes_stuff”
Post · @Robi_makes_stuff · 3 Jun 2026 · open on Telegram (opens in a new tab)
The site presents a free, local-only, open-source app with a 'Sponsor' link as the only monetisation.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · getloadcell.com (opens in a new tab)
The crawler found no payments, pricing or accounts, so there is no charging mechanism.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · getloadcell.com (opens in a new tab)
Moat
What stops someone copying it?
A Go engine with a Svelte/Wails UI is something other developers could rebuild quickly, and free tools like k6 and vegeta already cover the space. There is no proprietary data, network effect or local-market depth, and the GPL license lets anyone fork it.
14/100
Rubric 0–20A thin wrapper or a clone that anyone here could rebuild in a weekend.
Receipts (3)
Features (constant/ramp/curve load, saved requests, percentiles) are standard load-testing capabilities presented in a desktop shell.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · getloadcell.com (opens in a new tab)
GPL-3.0 open source, so the code is freely forkable.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · github.com/robimez/loadcell (opens in a new tab)
The first contribution imports K6 and vegeta results, which shows it sits alongside existing tools rather than being differentiated from them.
“https://github.com/jossephus added a new feature to loadcell , the ability to import K6 and vegeta results https://github.com/RobiMez/loadcell/pull/2 lovely first contribution”
Post · @Robi_makes_stuff · 7 Jun 2026 · open on Telegram (opens in a new tab)
Momentum
Did the updates keep coming?
Shipped intensely for the first week of June (four releases, commits on six days), then only one further commit day in late August, so activity covers three months but is uneven.
56/100
- Sustained shipping29/60
Worked on across 3 months.
- Consistency27/40
Updates in 2 of 3 months.
Receipts (2)
Earliest post about it.
“getloadcell.com soon”
Post · @Robi_makes_stuff · 2 Jun 2026 · open on Telegram (opens in a new tab)
Most recent post about it.
“100 downloads for getloadcell.com 🎉”
Post · @Robi_makes_stuff · 10 Jun 2026 · open on Telegram (opens in a new tab)
Infrastructure
Does a real, working product exist?
A full, working cross-platform desktop app exists with live metrics, ramp curves, flows and dynamic variables, built through a release pipeline and a live site. Operations stay light by design (no accounts, docs or status page).
93/100
- It's live20/20
https://github.com/robimez/loadcell responded when checked.
- HTTPS5/5
Hosted on a platform (store, GitHub or Telegram) — HTTPS is the platform's.
- Real product35/35
A full working product: a native desktop app with prebuilt binaries for macOS, Windows and Linux, live metrics, ramp and custom curves, saved requests, sequential flows and dynamic variables, and multiple tagged releases.
- Own home10/10
Lives on its own domain (getloadcell.com).
- Maintained15/15
Last sign of shipping 2026-08-29.
- Operations8/15
It has a GitHub Actions release workflow, multi-platform builds, a landing site with a download page, and an accepted outside PR. There are no docs site, API, status page or accounts, and the app is deliberately local-only.
Receipts (5)
https://github.com/robimez/loadcell responded when checked.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · github.com/robimez/loadcell (opens in a new tab)
Describes live p50/p95/p99, RPS and error breakdowns, with downloads for three platforms.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · getloadcell.com (opens in a new tab)
Four releases between June 2 and June 7 show a distributable build.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · github.com/robimez/loadcell (opens in a new tab)
Sequential flows and dynamic variables were added, with a demo video of the features.
“added sequential flows & dynamic variables to getloadcell.com and recorded this fun little demo video to show you how to use the fun features like the ramp up curve & noise mode. recording made by recordly @rb_wk and @robi_makes_stuff”
Post · @Robi_makes_stuff · 5 Jun 2026 · open on Telegram (opens in a new tab)
Prebuilt binaries are cut from a GitHub Actions release workflow for macOS, Windows and Linux.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · getloadcell.com (opens in a new tab)
Sustainability
Is it being set up to last?
It is free, GPL-licensed and local-only, with a sponsor link as the sole funding and no revenue, so nothing yet sustains it beyond the maintainer's time. The site has no privacy, terms or support contact, and the roadmap has stalled since the June burst.
43/100
- Distribution25/30
A web app on its own domain.
- Payments0/15
No payment provider found.
- Pricing10/10
Prices stated in the creator's posts.
- Revenue0/5
There is no mention of paying customers or revenue, only a sponsor link, and the download count is not treated as revenue.
- Privacy policy0/7
No privacy policy found.
- Terms0/5
No terms of service found.
- Support0/8
No support contact found.
- Commitment8/20
The project has a dedicated site, a public roadmap in weekly logs, and an outside contributor, but it is a solo effort with no dedicated community channel. Activity dropped to a single commit day after June 10, and the roadmap items (sockets, webhooks, CI integrations) have no visible progress.
Receipts (5)
A web app on its own domain.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · getloadcell.com (opens in a new tab)
Only a 'Sponsor a few hours of build time' ask and no pricing or payments.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · getloadcell.com (opens in a new tab)
Open items such as sockets, webhooks, monitoring integrations and Playwright integration were listed on the roadmap.
“@robi · Week 23 of 2026 (Jun 1 – Jun 7) Shipped (21) • Life dashboard Tokens spent today , messages with claude Mac's live performance Sleep , h… • experiment with identicons #odit • Raycast extension now live for #wip • Make a network load testing tool like postman. but in rust ? or go ? • #sma flip dark and light icons on theme toggle. • add multi endpoint load tests to #loadcell • set up scree”
Post · @Robi_makes_stuff · 8 Jun 2026 · open on Telegram (opens in a new tab)
Commits fall on 7 days, six in June and one on Aug 29, so the early burst was not sustained.
Checked 7 Oct 2026 · github.com/robimez/loadcell (opens in a new tab)
A first outside contribution was merged.
“https://github.com/jossephus added a new feature to loadcell , the ability to import K6 and vegeta results https://github.com/RobiMez/loadcell/pull/2 lovely first contribution”
Post · @Robi_makes_stuff · 7 Jun 2026 · open on Telegram (opens in a new tab)