This article explores the best alternatives to traffic shadowing for conducting efficient load testing and refactoring. Traffic shadowing has been a popular technique, however, it's not without its challenges and limitations. We delve into several innovative methods that promise to provide deeper insights, improved accuracy, and greater efficiency. These alternatives are designed to help developers ensure their applications can handle traffic at scale while maintaining a high-quality user experience, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to help you make informed decisions in your testing strategy.