head to head · open source
Insomnia vs aktools
Insomnia has 40,023 GitHub stars, 2,367 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped today. aktools has 1,491 stars, 242 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 11 months ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 2,584% (40,023 vs 1,491 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; aktools is written in Python under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, aktools 16%. Insomnia 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Insomnia | aktools | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2025-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 242 |
| 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 aktools if
- You want the aktools feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and aktools 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 aktools
AKTools is an MIT licensed Python package that turns the AKShare financial data library into an HTTP API, built for AKShare users who need Chinese stock and financial data from languages and tools other than Python.
read the full aktools 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 Insomnia or aktools more popular?
Insomnia has 40,023 GitHub stars and aktools has 1,491. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and aktools free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and aktools under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and aktools?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and aktools in Python. 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 aktools?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,023 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose aktools if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.