The article discusses the methods for classifying processes for testing and processing metals by plastic deformation, based on the characteristics of their stress-strain state. The basic methods for determining the stress and strain states using fundamental scalar quantities representing the stress and strain tensors are discussed. Equations have been derived for the quantitative determination of the type of stress-strain state through a combination of principal stresses, represented as the strain rigidity of the deformation mode. A classification of deformation processes for testing and processing metals by plastic deformation is proposed, using the stress triaxiality parameter and the strain rigidity coefficient. Some 2D and 3D diagrams have been created based on simulation modeling of plastic deformation processes using virtual tools, allowing the grouping of processes according to the measured principal stresses and their combinations, which represent the stress triaxiality and strain rigidity of the deformation mode. By determining the type of grouping in these diagrams and the change in the stress-strain state with increasing strain levels, the characteristic features of the deformation processes used in materials testing and in the processing metals by plastic deformation of metals/alloys have been confirmed.