head to head · open source
Insomnia vs fusio
Insomnia has 40,023 GitHub stars, 2,367 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped today. fusio has 2,116 stars, 241 forks, 169 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 1,791% (40,023 vs 2,116 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; fusio is written in PHP under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, fusio 11%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (api), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Insomnia | fusio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 241 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Insomnia if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick fusio if
- You want the fusio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and fusio fits your workflow better
About Insomnia
Insomnia is an open source, cross platform API client built with Electron and TypeScript for developing and testing APIs across multiple protocols including REST, GraphQL, WebSockets, SSE, and gRPC. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux and is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license. The project serves as a direct open source alternative to Postman, offering similar core functionality without vendor lock in or mandatory cloud usage.
read the full Insomnia overview →
About fusio
Fusio is a self hosted, open source API management platform and gateway written in PHP that turns internal business logic, legacy databases, and microservices into documented API products for third party developers and autonomous AI agents.
read the full fusio overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or fusio more popular?
Insomnia has 40,023 GitHub stars and fusio has 2,116. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and fusio free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and fusio under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and fusio?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and fusio in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Insomnia or fusio?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,023 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose fusio if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.