Described herein are systems and methods for website or web based application monitoring and load testing. A server is configured to execute monitoring or load testing agents on various agent devices that are placed in various locations across a network. The agents receive a playback script from the server and execute the script to simulate a user session that is part of a website monitoring or load testing project. Execution of the playback script may cause the agent to send commands to a generic browser application that in turn carries out those commands. Alternatively, or in combination, execution of the script may cause the agent to simulate operating system commands such as mouse, keyboard, and voice commands. The results of the script execution by the agent are stored and sent back to the server for potential real time alerting notification and compilation into a related report. Methods for recording the playback scripts are also provided.