Test User Data (Fake Data)

Question

Where can I get, or how can I generate a large formatted collection of fake user data (names, email address, locations, etc.) that can be used for testing an application?

It can be clearly fake, this will be limited to the development server. But I'm sure anything would be better than what I could come up with.

electoral role might be available? what is it you want to test - field size large enough, data content handling, scalability? 10,000 smiths won't help the index on surname... — Greg Domjan, Jan 07 '09 at 07:48
See this SO thread: [Creating test data in a database](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16317/creating-test-data-in-a-database#157877) — Patrick Cuff, Jan 04 '09 at 15:46
Try using fake data generator like [fairyland](http://codearte.github.io/fairyland>) (java) — MariuszS, Nov 21 '13 at 14:50
A very constructive question which is directly related to the programming. — Oybek, May 04 '14 at 07:45
stackoverflow.com/questions/16317/creating-test-data-in-a-database — CloudyMarble, Feb 16 '15 at 05:05
This question is old but for future visitors: have a look at [randomuser.me](https://randomuser.me/). Not only is it free (for under about 10,000 users in one request) but it also provides pictures which I find extremely useful. — chRyNaN, Nov 05 '15 at 21:24
Please vote to reopen this question!!! http://www.convertcsv.com/generate-test-data.htm#keywords — Jeremy Thompson, Mar 08 '17 at 01:51

Lance Fisher · Answer 1 · 2015-11-04T06:43:57.910

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There are some tools built just for this. I've used http://www.generatedata.com/ before to generate data for MySql databases. RedGate has a nice tool to fill your SQL Server database with test data called SQL Data Generator. The RedGate tool costs about $300, but there is a free trial.

UPDATE: Faker.js is now available. It is a project built on node.js, and looks pretty comprehensive.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Mockaroo is great!

If you'd like an HTTP API of fake user data, check out Random User Generator

edited Nov 04 '15 at 06:43

answered Jan 04 '09 at 08:23

Lance Fisher

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I have made generatedata.com to work with sql server with just some basic string replacements since the basic insert format is the same. – corymathews Feb 01 '10 at 22:15
That's awesome, Cory. Thanks for a great tool! – Lance Fisher Jan 14 '11 at 03:50
Generatedata looks like a good tool, but only for US/Canadian addresses. For UK addresses it's not good unfortunately – Phil Hale Apr 21 '11 at 10:06
@corymathews what specifically should be changed on the install to make it work with sqlexpress? I'm having some trouble getting rid of errors – Ben Sewards Nov 08 '12 at 17:44
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Now there's also [databasetestdata](http://www.databasetestdata.com) which exports JSON/XML/CSV which is handy for Django fixtures etc – vascop Mar 31 '13 at 20:36
Looking for an API of fake users? Try https://randomuser.me – Lance Fisher Aug 26 '15 at 06:38

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 04 '09 at 08:23

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This is a open source tool for generating various types of test data. http://www.generatedata.com

answered Jan 04 '09 at 08:23

thetacom

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score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 01 '10 at 22:06

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http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/ is a good resource for creating test data with realistic looking users complete with SSN, email address, ... They have a bulk download option too.

answered Feb 01 '10 at 22:06

Ian Mercer

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Please vote to re-open this question. – Lance Fisher Jun 21 '16 at 16:11

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 04 '09 at 06:28

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Check out this list of "Funny Names" some of them are classic

http://www.ethanwiner.com/funnames.html

answered Jul 04 '09 at 06:28

Jon Erickson

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Please vote to re-open this question. – Lance Fisher Jun 21 '16 at 16:11

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 01 '10 at 22:13

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Another open source test generator tool is my own http://code.google.com/p/csvtest.

answered Feb 01 '10 at 22:13

It's now "404 Not Found". – James Moberg Aug 08 '17 at 14:03

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 28 '12 at 17:24

For anyone looking for an updated solution to this problem... I wrote a test data generator project for Data Synchronisation Studio. It can generate a large dataset ranging from 1 to 100s of millions of rows of realistic testing data (lots of OFs there :D) Anyway, here is a blog post all about it. http://www.simego.com/Blog/2012/02/Test-Data-Generator-Download-for-Data-Sync

Test User Data (Fake Data)

6 Answers6

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