# Alternatives to Insomnia

Kong's API client with design and testing.

Insomnia ranks #2 of 6 in API clients, with an Alt Score of 100. It is licensed under Apache-2.0, freemium from Free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 12 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

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

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: API developers and teams building, testing, and documenting REST, GraphQL, gRPC, or WebSocket APIs, from individual devs to enterprise teams needing governance and access controls.
- **What you get**: A desktop API client for sending requests and organizing them into collections, with support for REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, and Socket.io. It includes automated collection-runner testing, pre/post-request scripting, OpenAPI-based design-first workflows, and native API mocking. Team features include real-time sync, role-based access, and three-way merge conflict handling, with data stored locally, in Git, or in the cloud.
- **How it works**: You create requests or import an OpenAPI spec, organize them into collections and environments, then run and test them manually or via the collection runner. Results and collections can be synced across a team, and the Inso CLI lets you run tests in CI/CD pipelines.

## Profile

- **License**: Apache-2.0 (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux
- **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 | [Yaak](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/yaak.md) | 96 | MIT | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 3 | [Hoppscotch](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/hoppscotch.md) | 85 | MIT | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 4 | [Postman](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/postman.md) | 78 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
| 5 | [HTTPie](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/httpie.md) | 55 | BSD-3-Clause | 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 | Insomnia | Bruno | Yaak | Hoppscotch | Postman | HTTPie |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | OSS + paid hosting | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starts at | Free | Free | Free | Free | $9/month | Free |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT | MIT | MIT | Proprietary | BSD-3-Clause |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web |
| Collections & environments | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first storage (no forced cloud) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | No | Yes |
| Git-friendly formats | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
| GraphQL support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| gRPC support | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | No |
| WebSocket support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Scripting / pre-request hooks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| CLI runner | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Team collaboration | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | No |
| OpenAPI import | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Offline use | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |

## Sources

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

- **License**: Apache-2.0 — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kong/insomnia/develop/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: License")"
  - Quote: “Copyright 2016-2023 Kong Inc.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the ”
- **Pricing model**: Freemium — <https://insomnia.rest/pricing> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Essentials - Free ($0/user/month)”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://insomnia.rest/pricing> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Essentials - Free ($0/user/month)”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux — <https://developer.konghq.com/insomnia/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “You can install Insomnia on macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu.”
- **Status**: active — <https://github.com/Kong/insomnia/releases> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Latest Version: 13.0.2, Release Date: June 24, 2026”
- **Collections & environments**: Yes — <https://developer.konghq.com/insomnia/collections/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Collections are a way to group requests in Insomnia.”
- **Local-first storage (no forced cloud)**: Yes — <https://developer.konghq.com/insomnia/storage/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “All project files are stored on your local machine with no data sent to or stored in the cloud.”
- **Git-friendly formats**: Yes — <https://developer.konghq.com/insomnia/git-sync/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Insomnia stores project resources as YAML files in your repository.”
- **GraphQL support**: Yes — <https://github.com/Kong/insomnia/blob/develop/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Insomnia is an open-source, cross-platform API client for GraphQL, REST, WebSockets, Server-Sent Events (SSE), gRPC and any other HTTP compatible protocol.”
- **gRPC support**: Yes — <https://github.com/Kong/insomnia/blob/develop/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Insomnia is an open-source, cross-platform API client for GraphQL, REST, WebSockets, Server-Sent Events (SSE), gRPC and any other HTTP compatible protocol.”
- **WebSocket support**: Yes — <https://github.com/Kong/insomnia/blob/develop/README.md> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Insomnia is an open-source, cross-platform API client for GraphQL, REST, WebSockets, Server-Sent Events (SSE), gRPC and any other HTTP compatible protocol.”
- **Scripting / pre-request hooks**: Yes — <https://developer.konghq.com/insomnia/collections/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Pre-request and after-response scripts enable users to modify requests and validate responses.”
- **CLI runner**: Yes — <https://developer.konghq.com/inso-cli/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Inso CLI is a command line tool that allows you to use Insomnia features in your terminal and CI/CD environments for automation.”
- **Open source**: Yes — <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kong/insomnia/develop/LICENSE> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0”
- **Team collaboration**: Yes — <https://insomnia.rest/pricing> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Role-based access control (RBAC)”
- **OpenAPI import**: Yes — <https://developer.konghq.com/insomnia/import-export/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Insomnia JSON, Postman v2.0/v2.1, HAR, OpenAPI 3.0/3.1, Swagger, WSDL, and cURL" formats."
  - Quote: “The system accepts ”
- **Offline use**: Yes — <https://developer.konghq.com/insomnia/storage/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “work on your projects without needing an internet connection”

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