Insomnia vs Postman
Insomnia
insomnia.restPostman
postman.comSide by side
| Figure | Insomnia | Postman |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $12/mo | $9/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 4 |
| Spec score · Testing And Qa | 8.7 (#5) | 8.6 (#7) |
| Spec score · Apis | 8.4 (#6) | 8.4 (#7) |
| Spec score · API clients | 8.8 (#9) | 9.0 (#7) |
| Spec score · Api 1 | 8.5 (#6) | 8.4 (#7) |
| Spec score · API Development Tools | 8.7 (#9) | 8.6 (#12) |
| Spec score · API Testing Tools | 8.6 (#10) | 8.5 (#11) |
| Spec score · Developer Tools | 8.5 (#10) | 8.4 (#11) |
| API design | Insomnia provides OpenAPI spec-first design, live previews, and generation of collections, tests, and mocks. | Postman supports API specifications, mock servers, definition import, multiple definition formats, and third-party integrations. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| GraphQL support | Yes | Yes |
| What it does | Insomnia is an AI-native API collaboration platform for designing, testing, debugging, mocking, and governing APIs. | Postman is a unified platform for designing, testing, distributing, documenting, and monitoring APIs. |
Plans
In their own words
Insomnia
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.
Postman
Postman is a platform for building, exercising, sharing, documenting, and monitoring APIs. Its API client handles multiple protocols and includes authentication, response inspection and visualization, variables, environments, and request history. For API design, it supports specifications, mock servers, importing definitions, multiple definition formats, and third-party integrations. Testing options include collection runs and automated, integration, performance, regression, and end-to-end testing, with Postman CLI also available. Listed integrations include Jira, Slack, GitHub, GitLab, Microsoft Teams, VS Code, Amazon API Gateway, AWS Secrets Manager, and 1Password Vault. Postman describes local secret protection, cloud detection, runtime resolution, and connections to secret-management services. Its stated compliance credentials include SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, and others. It says customer data is not used to train its models and Enterprise teams control AI access and usage. The Free plan includes 50 AI credits. Solo is $9 a month, billed annually. Basic and Professional plans are closed to new customers; existing Professional customers retain their current plan and pricing.