Say it like this
- We need to double our throughput to meet the SLA.
- High throughput is essential for this API endpoint.
- The system is running at maximum throughput.
Use it at work
Performance
- Throughput dropped to 500 requests per second.
- Let's increase throughput with more workers.
Teams
- Team throughput went up after we cut meetings.
- Our throughput is about ten tickets a week.
Design
- Is this optimized for throughput or latency?
- Batching will improve throughput.
Don't say this
Throughput is about volume, not speed. High throughput does not guarantee low latency.
Don't mix it up
| Term | What it is | Who writes or uses it | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| throughput | Work done per unit of time | Engineers | Capacity |
| latency | Delay for one request | Engineers | Speed per request |
| velocity | Work done per sprint | Scrum teams | Planning |
Practice
Try it
4 quick exercises
1. You want to say the system handles many requests per second. Which is most natural?
2. We need to _______ by caching results and optimizing our database queries.
3. Which sentence uses throughput incorrectly?
4. Rewrite this using throughput: The team wants to know how many transactions the payment system can process every second.
Say it out loud
Phrase 1 of 3
"We need to double our throughput to meet the SLA."
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More about throughput
Real examples(3)
- in a standup
"Yesterday we optimized the message queue, and our throughput increased by 40 percent."
- in a code review
"Using batch processing here will significantly improve throughput without sacrificing accuracy."
- in a team meeting
"Our current database can handle 10,000 requests per second, but we need 50,000 to meet demand, so throughput is our main blocker."
More mistakes(2)
Handle with care. Often confused with latency or speed. Throughput measures quantity of data processed per unit time, not how fast individual requests complete.
- ✕We improved the throughput by reducing latency.✓We improved the throughput by optimizing the database query and adding caching.
Latency and throughput are different metrics. You optimize them with different techniques.
- ✕The throughput of this function is slow.✓The throughput of this function is low, or this function is slow to execute.
Throughput is measured in quantity (high or low), not in speed (fast or slow).
Other forms(2)
- throughput noun
"The system achieved 500 requests per second throughput."
- throughputs noun (countable in plural contexts)
"We compared the throughputs of three different architectures."
Often used with(6)
- increase throughput · To make a system process more work per unit time
- high throughput · System that processes large amounts of data or requests
- maximum throughput · The peak capacity a system can handle
- low throughput · System processing small amounts of data per unit time
- throughput bottleneck · A part of the system that limits overall throughput
- throughput optimization · The process of improving how much a system can process
Similar words(3)
- bandwidth · Often used interchangeably but bandwidth specifically refers to data transmission capacity
- processing capacity · More general term for how much work a system can handle
- output rate · Similar concept but less commonly used in tech engineering
Opposites(3)
- bottleneck
- latency
- congestion
Questions(5)
- What does throughput mean in software engineering?
- Throughput is the amount of work, data, or requests your system can process in a given time period, usually measured per second. For example, a web server with throughput of 1000 requests per second can handle 1000 requests every second.
- How do you use throughput in a sentence at work?
- You typically use it when discussing system performance or capacity: We need to improve throughput to handle peak traffic, or The database throughput is 5000 queries per second.
- Is throughput formal or informal?
- Throughput is neutral in formality. It is used in both casual team conversations and formal technical documentation. It is appropriate in meetings, code reviews, and written reports.
- How does throughput differ from latency?
- Latency measures how long a single request takes to complete, while throughput measures how many requests the system processes per unit time. You can have low latency but low throughput, or high throughput but high latency.
- What is a real-world example of throughput?
- A checkout page that processes 500 orders per minute has a throughput of about 8.3 orders per second. A message queue that handles 100,000 messages per second has very high throughput.
