# Alternatives to Postman

The dominant API platform with cloud workspaces.

Postman ranks #5 of 6 in API clients, with an Alt Score of 78. It is proprietary, freemium from $9/month and available on Windows, macOS, Linux and Web. 12 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

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

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: API developers, QA/testers, and cross-functional teams (backend, frontend, DevOps) at companies of any size who design, build, test, or consume APIs.
- **What you get**: A workspace for sending and organizing API requests into collections, with environments to manage variables across dev/staging/prod. Mock servers simulate endpoints before backend code exists, and monitors run scheduled checks on API health and performance. Auto-generated documentation and shared team workspaces support collaboration, and built-in AI features assist with generating requests, tests, and documentation.
- **How it works**: You create requests and group them into collections, then run and automate them individually or via the Collection Runner, CI/CD integrations, or CLI (Newman). Team workspaces sync collections, environments, and docs so multiple people can build and test against the same APIs.

## Profile

- **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-08)
- **Starts at**: $9/month (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 | [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 | Postman | Bruno | Insomnia | Yaak | Hoppscotch | HTTPie |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium | OSS + paid hosting | Freemium |
| Starts at | $9/month | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| License | Proprietary | MIT | Apache-2.0 | MIT | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| 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) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Git-friendly formats | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | 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 | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Team collaboration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
| OpenAPI import | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Offline use | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

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

- **License**: Proprietary — <https://www.postman.com/downloads/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Postman app is closed-source/proprietary; Newman CLI & Collection SDK are Apache-2.0.
  - Quote: “install Postman on a number of operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux or use the Postman web app”
- **Pricing model**: Freemium — <https://www.postman.com/pricing/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “$0 per month”
- **Starts at**: $9/month — <https://www.postman.com/pricing/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “$9 per month (billed annually)”
- **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux, Web — <https://www.postman.com/downloads/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “install Postman on a number of operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux or use the Postman web app”
- **Status**: active — <https://www.postman.com/pricing/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Active product with current paid plans.
  - Quote: “$49 per user/month (billed annually)”
- **Collections & environments**: Yes — <https://learning.postman.com/docs/use/use-collections/overview/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “A collection is one of the fundamental elements in Postman. Collections serve to save all your API requests, keep them organized, and find them when you need them.”
- **Local-first storage (no forced cloud)**: No — <https://learning.postman.com/docs/use/native-git/overview/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Sign-in/account required; data syncs to Postman cloud by default (native Git mode is the exception).
  - Quote: “Postman stores API work locally in Git, alongside code, and intentionally not synced to Postman Cloud until the API reaches a stable, deployable state.”
- **Git-friendly formats**: Yes — <https://learning.postman.com/docs/use/native-git/overview/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Postman stores API work locally in Git, alongside code”
- **GraphQL support**: Yes — <https://learning.postman.com/docs/use/send-requests/protocols/graphql/graphql-http/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Postman has built-in support for sending GraphQL queries in the request body”
- **gRPC support**: Yes — <https://learning.postman.com/docs/use/send-requests/protocols/grpc/grpc-client-overview/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Using a gRPC request, you can view supported services and methods ... invoke the method of your interest, send a message payload, view the response from the server”
- **WebSocket support**: Yes — <https://learning.postman.com/docs/use/send-requests/protocols/websocket/websocket-overview/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Postman supports the WebSocket protocol.”
- **Scripting / pre-request hooks**: Yes — <https://learning.postman.com/docs/tests-and-scripts/write-scripts/pre-request-scripts/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “You can use pre-request scripts in Postman to run JavaScript before a request runs.”
- **CLI runner**: Yes — <https://github.com/postmanlabs/newman> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Newman is a command-line collection runner for Postman. It allows you to effortlessly run and test a Postman collection directly from the command-line.”
- **Open source**: No — <https://www.postman.com/downloads/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Postman app is closed-source; only Newman (CLI) and the Collection SDK are open source (Apache-2.0).
  - Quote: “Create a free account and you're in”
- **Team collaboration**: Yes — <https://www.postman.com/product/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Workspaces — Collaborate with teams; In-line comments; Roles and permissions”
- **OpenAPI import**: Yes — <https://learning.postman.com/docs/design-apis/overview/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Quote: “Postman supports designing APIs in OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, protobuf 2, protobuf 3, GraphQL ... You can generate an HTTP collection from an API specification.”
- **Offline use**: No — <https://www.postman.com/downloads/> (verified 2026-07-08)
  - Note: Account sign-in required; no fully-offline mode.
  - Quote: “download the Postman desktop agent to make API requests to local and private networks”

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