Hurl vs Insomnia

Hurl is a command-line tool for running HTTP requests written in a plain-text format. It can fetch data or test HTTP sessions, including flows where later requests use values captured earlier. It can evaluate queries against response headers and bodies. Hurl works with HTML, REST, SOAP, GraphQL, XML, and JSON APIs, and examples cover assertions for status, headers, cookies, XPath, JSONPath, response duration, and SHA-256 body hashes. For CI/CD, it can produce text, JUnit, TAP, and HTML reports; its documentation covers GitHub Actions and GitLab CI/CD. The lightweight binary is written in Rust, with an HTTP engine powered by libcurl. Installation options include binaries or packages for Linux, macOS, and Windows, as well as Docker, Cargo, conda-forge, and npm. The precompiled Linux binary requires libc 2.35 or newer. Windows installation requires a separately installed Visual C++ Redistributable Package. Hurl is free under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Insomnia is an API collaboration platform for designing, testing, debugging, mocking, and governing APIs. Its client supports HTTP, REST, gRPC, GraphQL, WebSockets, SOAP, and SSE. Design workflows include OpenAPI spec-first work, live previews, and generation of collections, tests, and mocks. Mocks can be generated from collections, OpenAPI specifications, API responses, or natural-language descriptions, locally or in the cloud. The collection runner supports unlimited runs, JavaScript before-request and after-response scripts, chained requests, and CI/CD execution through Inso CLI. Insomnia also connects to HTTP and STDIO MCP servers, supports custom tool parameters, and provides MCP authentication event logs. API data can stay local, reside in a Git repository, or be stored in Insomnia Cloud with optional end-to-end encryption. Teams can share projects, collections, mocks, and design specifications with organization controls and real-time collaboration indicators. Essentials is free; Pro is $12 a month per user, and Enterprise is $45 a month per user. It supports Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted use.