Bruno vs Karate
Bruno
usebruno.com
Karate
karatelabs.ioSide by side
| Figure | Bruno | Karate |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $6/mo | $8.33/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 5 |
| Spec score · API Testing Tools | 9.4 (#2) | 9.1 (#4) |
| Company size | The 2025 company recap says the team grew from 6 to 23 people globally during 2025. | LinkedIn lists Karate Labs as a privately held software company with 2–10 employees. |
| Documentation depth | Official support links to documentation, GitHub issue tracking, email support and sales assistance; the public docs cover CLI, Docker, converters, Git, licensing and the VS Code extension. | Documentation covers installation, CLI, Maven, Gradle, standalone JAR, syntax, HTTP, assertions, parallel execution, Java API, databases, WebSocket, MQ, UI and performance testing. |
| Founded | The official 2025 recap says the product began four years earlier, indicating a 2021 inception. | 2021 |
| Headquarters | The official 2025 recap says Bruno opened a new headquarters in Bangalore. | LinkedIn lists headquarters as Worldwide, United States, with locations shown in Sugar Land, London and Bengaluru. |
| Integrations | The product lists Git providers, GitHub Actions, Docker, OpenAPI import and external secret managers including AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, HashiCorp Vault and Google Secret Manager. | The integrations directory lists more than 40 native integrations and more than 15 protocols or formats. |
| License | The public Bruno repository is MIT licensed, while the company states that paid binary features are supplied from a private upstream repository. | The core Karate framework is MIT licensed and free forever; enterprise components use a commercial license. |
| Protocols | The API client supports REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and WebSocket APIs. | Async integrations include Kafka, gRPC, WebSocket, ActiveMQ and RabbitMQ. |
| Purpose | Bruno is a Git-native API client for exploring and testing APIs. | Karate combines API, UI, mock, and performance testing in one framework with readable syntax. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.5 out of 5 from 9 reviews | 4.4 out of 5 from 6 reviews |
| Rating on Gartner Peer Insights | 4.6 out of 5 from 6 ratings | 4.7 out of 5 from 6 reviews |
| Security controls | The company describes role-based access and multi-factor authentication for internal systems, code reviews, dependency audits, and an incident response plan. | The security brief describes local desktop execution, no cloud data storage, offline license activation, Maven/Sonatype checks and GitHub Dependabot scanning. |
| Self-hosting | API documentation generated by Bruno is self-hosted as a standalone site, and collections remain in infrastructure controlled by the user. | The vendor states that products run on customer infrastructure, support air-gapped deployment and make no outbound calls. |
| Support | Support is available through [email protected], documentation, a GitHub issue tracker and sales contact. | The free tier includes community support, Pro includes priority email support, and Enterprise includes commercial support with an SLA and dedicated Slack channel. |
| System requirements | Downloads are offered for Windows, macOS and Linux, including Windows x64 and arm64 installers plus portable and MSI packages. | Karate v2 requires Java 21 or newer; the CLI can install a JRE, and supported setup paths include VS Code, CLI, Maven, Gradle and standalone JAR. |
Plans
Bruno
- Open SourceFree
- Pro$6 a month
- Ultimate$11 a month
- Pro$72 a year
- Ultimate$132 a year
Karate
- FreeFree
- IDE Plus$100 a year
- Xplorer Premium$200 a year
- Pro$640 a year
- Karate EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Bruno
Bruno is a Git-native client for exploring and testing APIs, supporting REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and WebSocket protocols. API collections are plain-text files kept in project repositories, where teams can version and review them with Git. Testing tools include assertions, scripts, collection automation, scheduled runs, and CI/CD integration. Users can create and switch between environments, use variables, and run JavaScript before requests or after responses. Bruno offers a desktop client, CLI, IDE extension, API documentation generator, and mock server using the same collection format. Collections can become interactive HTML documentation with code samples and a live playground. Collections, environments, and secrets remain on the user's device; Bruno says project data is not sent to its cloud. However, a startup HTTPS license check sends an IP address, license key, hashed device ID, and Bruno version. The free Open Source plan includes two workspaces and five OpenAPI syncs per month. Pro is $6 a month billed annually, and Ultimate is $11 a month billed annually. A 14-day Ultimate trial is available without a credit card.
Karate
Karate is a testing framework for API, UI, mock, and performance work. Its MIT-licensed core is free for commercial projects and supports REST, GraphQL, and SOAP testing, with JSON and XML assertions and schema validation. It can automate browsers and desktop apps, and combine UI and API steps in one test. Built-in Gatling integration lets teams reuse API tests for performance testing. The Free plan costs nothing and includes community support. Paid plans include IDE Plus at $100 a year, Xplorer Premium at $200 a year, and Pro at $640 a year; Pro adds IDE plugins, debugging, enhanced autocomplete, development async protocol testing, and priority email support. The platform lists integrations including AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Maven, Gradle, Docker, IntelliJ, VS Code, and Gatling. Enterprise async protocol testing covers Kafka, gRPC, and WebSocket, but production CI/CD execution requires an Enterprise runtime license. Platforms include API, extension, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, and Windows.