head to head · open source
Hoppscotch vs elements
Hoppscotch has 80,336 GitHub stars, 6,112 forks, 820 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. elements has 2,464 stars, 260 forks, 276 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Hoppscotch leads on adoption by 3,160% (80,336 vs 2,464 stars). Hoppscotch is written in TypeScript under MIT; elements is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Hoppscotch has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, elements 11%. Hoppscotch 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
| Hoppscotch | elements | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 80K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.1K | ⑂ 260 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Hoppscotch if
- You weight community size — 80K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick elements if
- You want the elements feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and elements fits your workflow better
About Hoppscotch
Hoppscotch is an open source API development ecosystem that provides a full featured client for designing, testing, and documenting APIs. It operates as a web based application, desktop app, and CLI tool, supporting offline, on premises, and cloud deployments. Built with TypeScript and licensed under MIT, it serves as a direct open source alternative to proprietary tools like Postman and Insomnia.
read the full Hoppscotch overview →
About elements
[ ][elements landing page] [![CircleCI][circle ci image]][circle ci] [![NPM Downloads][circle ci image]][npm] [ ][stoplight forest] Beautiful API documentation powered by OpenAPI and Markdown. Use these UI components to create API reference documentation, or more complete documentation with Markdown articles covering tutorials, how to guides, etc. Available as React Components, or Web Components, you can use Elements all together to build beautiful three column "Stripe esque" documentation, or stacked documentation thats easier for integrating into existing Content Management Systems with their own navigation. Ov…
read the full elements overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Hoppscotch or elements more popular?
Hoppscotch has 80,336 GitHub stars and elements has 2,464. Hoppscotch has the larger community by that measure.
Are Hoppscotch and elements free?
Both are open source. Hoppscotch is licensed under MIT and elements under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Hoppscotch and elements?
Hoppscotch is written in TypeScript and elements in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Hoppscotch or elements?
Choose Hoppscotch if you want the larger community (80,336 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose elements if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.