# Alternatives to HTTPie

Human-friendly HTTP CLI and desktop app.

HTTPie ranks #6 of 6 in API clients, with an Alt Score of 55. It is licensed under BSD-3-Clause, freemium from Free and available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Web. 12 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/httpie/
Category: API clients

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Developers and API testers who want a faster, more readable alternative to curl for exploring and debugging HTTP APIs from the terminal.
- **What you get**: A command-line HTTP client with simple, expressive syntax for building requests. It formats and colorizes JSON and other responses automatically, supports sessions, authentication, file uploads, and plugins. A desktop and web app companion (HTTPie for Web/Desktop) mirrors the CLI's usability in a GUI.
- **How it works**: You compose requests using short, readable command-line arguments (e.g. http method key=value), and HTTPie sends the HTTP request and pretty-prints the response with syntax highlighting.

## Profile

- **License**: BSD-3-Clause (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, Web
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-08)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Bruno](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/bruno.md) | 100 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 2 | [Insomnia](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/insomnia.md) | 100 | Apache-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 3 | [Yaak](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/yaak.md) | 96 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 4 | [Hoppscotch](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/hoppscotch.md) | 85 | MIT | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 5 | [Postman](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/postman.md) | 78 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| API clients checklist | HTTPie | Bruno | Insomnia | Yaak | Hoppscotch | Postman |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | OSS + paid hosting | Freemium |
| Starts at | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free | $9/month |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT | Apache-2.0 | MIT | MIT | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
| Collections & environments | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first storage (no forced cloud) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | No |
| Git-friendly formats | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| GraphQL support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| gRPC support | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
| WebSocket support | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scripting / pre-request hooks | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CLI runner | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Team collaboration | No | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| OpenAPI import | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Offline use | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |

## Sources

Sources for HTTPie. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: BSD-3-Clause — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/httpie/cli/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Copyright © 2012-2022 Jakub Roztocil <jakub@roztocil.co>

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted”
- **Pricing model**: Freemium — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/getting-started> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: CLI fully free OSS; Desktop/Web freemium.
  - Quote: “you can create an HTTPie account to unlock various benefits like: Unlimited spaces, Secure cloud backup of your data, Real-time sync across your devices”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/getting-started> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “you can create an HTTPie account to unlock various benefits”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, Web — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “HTTPie is the first API testing platform with clients for the Web, Desktop, and Terminal.”
- **Status**: active — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/getting-started> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “HTTPie continuously improves the app and releases frequent updates with new features and bug fixes.”
- **Collections & environments**: Yes — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/collections> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Desktop app; CLI has no collections.
  - Quote: “Collections are folders with ever-growing superpowers where you can store requests.”
- **Local-first storage (no forced cloud)**: Yes — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/data-storage> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “HTTPie always persists your data in local storage, which allows you to work offline and incognito.”
- **Git-friendly formats**: No — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/data-storage> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Single JSON blob, not per-request flat files.
  - Quote: “The format is versioned and comes with a JSON schema and TypeScript types.”
- **GraphQL support**: Yes — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/graphql> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “HTTPie has built-in support for crafting GraphQL requests”
- **gRPC support**: No — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Listed as unsupported.
  - Quote: “gRPC requests ✘”
- **WebSocket support**: No — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Listed as unsupported.
  - Quote: “WebSockets ✘”
- **Scripting / pre-request hooks**: No — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: No native pre/post-request scripting.
  - Quote: “Scripting ✘”
- **CLI runner**: Yes — <https://httpie.io/docs/cli/main-features> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: HTTPie CLI is the canonical terminal HTTP client.
  - Quote: “Expressive and intuitive syntax”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/httpie/cli/master/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: CLI BSD-3-Clause; Desktop/Web app is not open source.
  - Quote: “Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted”
- **Team collaboration**: No — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/spaces> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Real-time collaboration described as a future direction.
  - Quote: “The importance of drafts will grow as HTTPie grows into a collaboration tool”
- **OpenAPI import**: No — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/import> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Import supports cURL/Postman/Insomnia/HTTPie JSON; OpenAPI not listed.
  - Quote: “You can import cURL commands as requests into HTTPie”
- **Offline use**: Yes — <https://httpie.io/docs/desktop/data-storage> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “You can continue to work as usual when your computer is offline (or our cloud is temporarily down).”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/