head to head · open source
Hoppscotch vs swagger-core
Hoppscotch has 80,331 GitHub stars, 6,110 forks, 820 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. swagger-core has 7,530 stars, 2,259 forks, 197 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hoppscotch leads on adoption by 967% (80,331 vs 7,530 stars). Hoppscotch is written in TypeScript under MIT; swagger-core is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Hoppscotch has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, swagger-core 30%. swagger-core was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (rest, rest-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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Hoppscotch | swagger-core | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 80K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.1K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| 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 swagger-core if
- You want the swagger-core 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 swagger-core 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 swagger-core
Swagger Core is the Java implementation of the OpenAPI Specification that generates a machine readable REST API description from JAX RS2 annotations and Java classes, intended for Java server developers and API platform teams that publish and maintain OpenAPI documents alongside their services.
read the full swagger-core overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More API Development & Testing projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the API Development & Testing field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hoppscotch or swagger-core more popular?
Hoppscotch has 80,331 GitHub stars and swagger-core has 7,530. Hoppscotch has the larger community by that measure.
Are Hoppscotch and swagger-core free?
Both are open source. Hoppscotch is licensed under MIT and swagger-core under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Hoppscotch and swagger-core?
Hoppscotch is written in TypeScript and swagger-core 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, Hoppscotch or swagger-core?
Choose Hoppscotch if you want the larger community (80,331 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose swagger-core if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.