Insomnia is Kong's open-source API client for REST, GraphQL, gRPC and WebSocket requests. It still works and gets regular releases, but many people went looking for a replacement after Insomnia 8.0 in September 2023 made an account mandatory and moved projects to the cloud. Kong brought local storage back weeks later as Local Vault in 8.3, and a maintainer's announcement from October 2023 spells out the rule that still applies: Local Vault needs an account, while Scratch Pad stays local and works without one.
The login is still the sore point. A May 2024 GitHub discussion about forced login drew complaints that a sign-in server made Insomnia a single point of failure, after an outage of about two hours. The picks below start with clients that never ask you to sign in, then move to cloud-first platforms for teams. If what you actually need is to watch traffic from an app rather than send requests, our Fiddler alternatives guide covers debugging proxies.
Prices below are as of November 6, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Price | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno | Collections stored as files in your Git repo | Free; paid from $6 per user a month billed yearly | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Yaak | A fast local client from Insomnia's creator | Free personal; $79 a year for work | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Hoppscotch | A browser-based client you can self-host | Free; Business $6 per user a month billed yearly | Web, Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Postman | Large teams that want docs, mocks and monitors in one place | Free for 1 user; Team $19 per user a month billed yearly | Web, Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Thunder Client | Testing APIs without leaving the code editor | Free; Starter $3 per user a month billed yearly | VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Cursor |
| HTTPie Desktop | Quick one-off requests with a clean interface | No public price | Web, Windows, Mac, Linux |
Bruno
Bruno takes the opposite position to Insomnia on storage: it has no cloud at all. The Bruno homepage puts it in three short sentences: no cloud sync, no account, no login. Collections are plain-text files in your repository, in a human-readable YAML format, so a pull request shows exactly which header or test changed.
The free open-source app covers HTTP, REST, GraphQL and gRPC requests, scripting, tests, secret management, code generation and an unlimited collection runner. It runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. Paid tiers add things like data-driven testing and report generation, and Enterprise adds SSO through your identity provider.
Best for: Developers who want API collections reviewed and versioned like code.
Pricing:
- Open Source: $0
- Pro: $6 per user per month, billed annually
- Ultimate: $11 per user per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: $18 per user per month, billed annually, or contact sales
Watch out for:
- Sharing works only through Git. A team member who does not use Git has no simple way to see the latest collection.
- Data-driven runs and test reports sit in the paid tiers, not the free app.
Official site: Bruno.
Yaak
Greg Schier created Insomnia and sold it in 2019. Yaak is his second attempt, and it reads like an answer to everything Insomnia users complained about after the sale: the app stores your work locally, sends requests straight to your servers, and asks for no account and no cloud sync. Each request, folder and environment is its own YAML file, so Git works the same way as in Bruno.
It handles REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket and server-sent events on macOS, Windows and Linux, and it imports Insomnia exports directly, along with Postman, Bruno, OpenAPI and curl. The source is MIT-licensed. The ready-made app is free for personal use, and the Yaak pricing page sets out the licence terms for work.
Best for: Former Insomnia users who want the old local, no-login workflow back in a newer app.
Pricing:
- Personal use: free
- Individual: $79 a year, or $349 once for a lifetime licence
- Business: $149 per user per year
- 30-day commercial evaluation, no card needed
Watch out for:
- Any work-related use, including at a non-profit, needs a paid licence after the 30-day evaluation. Billing is yearly only.
- An Individual licence is tied to one person and up to three devices, and it cannot be transferred to a colleague.
Official site: Yaak.
Hoppscotch
Hoppscotch began as a web app and is still the quickest way to fire a request from a machine where you cannot install anything: open hoppscotch.io in a browser. It covers REST, GraphQL and realtime protocols, with collections, environments, pre-request scripts, tests and a collection runner. There are also desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux, and a CLI for CI pipelines.
For companies that left Insomnia over data leaving the building, the self-hosted edition matters most. The Hoppscotch repository is MIT-licensed and ships Docker files, so the whole platform can run on your own servers. SSO belongs to the Enterprise edition.
Best for: Teams that want a shared API workspace they can host themselves.
Pricing:
- Free: $0, personal workspace, collections, environments, runner
- Business: $6 per user per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: $11 per user per month, billed annually
Watch out for:
- In the web app, calls to APIs without CORS headers or to plain http:// endpoints need the proxy mode or a browser extension. The desktop app avoids that.
- The free plan has a personal workspace only, so shared team collections start at the Business tier.
Official site: Hoppscotch.
Postman
Postman is the platform Insomnia was once the lighter option to. It goes far beyond sending requests: API design and specs, mock servers, monitors, generated documentation, a public API network and AI features metered in credits. For a company with dozens of APIs and a governance process, that breadth is the point.
It is also the most cloud-bound pick here, so it does not fix the account complaint that drives many people away from Insomnia. The Postman pricing page lists Free for one user with 100 AI credits and 1,000 monitoring requests a month. Solo is $9 a month and Team $19 per user a month, both billed annually.
Best for: Larger teams that need design, testing, mocks, monitoring and docs in one hosted platform.
Pricing:
- Free: $0, 1 user, 100 AI credits
- Solo: $9 a month, billed annually, 400 AI credits a month
- Team: $19 per user per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: contact sales
Watch out for:
- The free plan is limited to one user, so even a two-person team pays.
- The pricing page leads with annual prices; monthly billing exists, but its rates are not shown alongside.
Official site: Postman. Our listing: Postman.
Thunder Client
Thunder Client lives inside your editor instead of in a separate window. It started as a VS Code extension and now also runs in JetBrains IDEs, Cursor, Antigravity, Kiro and Devin, with a CLI for CI runs. Requests, environments and tests sit next to the code that serves them, which saves a lot of app switching for back-end developers.
All plans cover WebSocket, server-sent events and gRPC, and the free tier is allowed for commercial use. The Thunder Client pricing page puts Git Sync, which saves collections to your repository, on the paid plans, starting with Starter at $3 per user per month on an annual bill.
Best for: Developers who want to test endpoints without leaving VS Code or a JetBrains IDE.
Pricing:
- Free: $0, 10 collections, 50 requests per collection, 50 local runner runs per user a month
- Starter: $3 per user per month, billed annually, single user, Git Sync
- Business: $7 per user per month, billed annually
- Enterprise: $16 per user per month, billed annually; SSO costs extra
Watch out for:
- The free tier caps you at 10 collections of 50 requests each and has no Git Sync.
- Reports on the free plan come only through the CLI.
Official site: Thunder Client.
HTTPie Desktop
HTTPie is best known for its command-line client, a more readable take on curl. HTTPie Desktop brings the same idea to a graphical app for Mac, Windows and Linux, with a matching web app. It aims at sending and reading requests, not at managing an API lifecycle.
Unlike Insomnia's Local Vault, the HTTPie Desktop page says the app works offline and without an account. Signing in adds sync across devices. For someone who used Insomnia only to poke at a few endpoints, it may be all that is needed.
Best for: Individuals who send quick requests and want a tidy interface rather than a platform.
Pricing:
- No public price; no paid plan listed for the desktop app
Watch out for:
- The desktop app is still labelled a public beta.
- It has nothing like Insomnia's design documents, mock servers or Inso CLI test runs.
Official site: HTTPie Desktop.
How to choose
| If you need | Pick |
|---|---|
| API collections reviewed in pull requests | Bruno |
| Insomnia's old local, no-login feel, with an Insomnia import | Yaak |
| A shared workspace on your own servers | Hoppscotch |
| Mocks, monitors and API docs for a big team | Postman |
| Testing endpoints from inside VS Code | Thunder Client |
| A clean app for a few quick requests | HTTPie Desktop |
When to stay with Insomnia
Stay with Insomnia if your team already uses Kong Gateway or Konnect, since recent releases tie Insomnia projects to Konnect organizations. It also makes sense if you want free Git Sync for up to three users and 1,000 mock requests a month, which the Insomnia pricing page includes in the free Essentials plan. For solo work with no account at all, Scratch Pad is still free and local.
Frequently asked questions
Can you still use Insomnia without an account?
Only in Scratch Pad. Kong lists it as free forever and local-only, with no login. Local Vault projects, Git Sync and cloud projects all need you to sign in.
What is the best open-source alternative to Insomnia?
Bruno for most people. It is open source, stores collections as files, and has no account or cloud sync. Hoppscotch is the better open-source choice if you want a web interface you can self-host for a team. Yaak's source is MIT-licensed too, but its prebuilt app needs a licence for work use.
Is Insomnia better than Postman?
Insomnia is lighter and cheaper for small teams: Pro starts at $12 per user a month on annual billing, against $19 for Postman Team, also billed yearly. Postman offers more around the API, such as monitors, a public API network and more AI features. Both push you toward an account.
How do I move my Insomnia collections to another tool?
Export from Insomnia, then import the file. Yaak imports Insomnia exports directly, and Bruno, Hoppscotch and Postman accept Insomnia or OpenAPI files. Check scripts and environment variables after import, since each tool handles them differently.
