head to head · open source
Bruno vs shenyu
Bruno has 47,022 GitHub stars, 2,888 forks, 1,831 open issues and last shipped yesterday. shenyu has 8,836 stars, 3,072 forks, 565 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bruno leads on adoption by 432% (47,022 vs 8,836 stars). Bruno is written in JavaScript under MIT; shenyu is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Bruno has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, shenyu 35%. shenyu was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Bruno | shenyu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 3.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Bruno if
- You weight community size — 47K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick shenyu if
- You want the shenyu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and shenyu fits your workflow better
About Bruno
Bruno is a lightweight, open source API client and IDE for exploring and testing APIs, built for developers and teams who want their request collections stored as plain text in a folder on their own filesystem rather than in a vendor's cloud.
read the full Bruno overview →
About shenyu
Apache ShenYu is a Java native, Apache licensed API gateway for service proxy, protocol conversion, and API governance across microservices.
read the full shenyu overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bruno or shenyu more popular?
Bruno has 47,022 GitHub stars and shenyu has 8,836. Bruno has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bruno and shenyu free?
Both are open source. Bruno is licensed under MIT and shenyu under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bruno and shenyu?
Bruno is written in JavaScript and shenyu in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Bruno or shenyu?
Choose Bruno if you want the larger community (47,022 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose shenyu if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.