head to head · open source
Insomnia vs Apache APISIX
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars, 2,365 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Apache APISIX has 17,135 stars, 2,946 forks, 235 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 134% (40,021 vs 17,135 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Apache APISIX is written in Lua under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Apache APISIX 17%. Apache APISIX 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 | Apache APISIX | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 17K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| 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 Apache APISIX if
- You want the Apache APISIX feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and Apache APISIX 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 Apache APISIX
Apache APISIX is a dynamic, real time, high performance API gateway and AI gateway built on NGINX and etcd. It provides rich traffic management features, such as load balancing, dynamic upstream, canary release, circuit breaking, authentication, and observability. The project lives in the Lua and LuaJIT ecosystem, and it uses the Apache 2.0 license.
read the full Apache APISIX overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or Apache APISIX more popular?
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars and Apache APISIX has 17,135. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and Apache APISIX free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Apache APISIX under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and Apache APISIX?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and Apache APISIX in Lua. 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 Apache APISIX?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,021 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Apache APISIX if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.