head to head · open source
Insomnia vs ATAC
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ATAC has 3,747 stars, 144 forks, 20 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 970% (40,111 vs 3,747 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; ATAC is written in Rust under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ATAC 4%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (api, api-client), 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 | ATAC | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 144 |
| 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 ATAC if
- You want the ATAC feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and ATAC fits your workflow better
About Insomnia
Insomnia API Client Insomnia is an open source, cross platform API client for GraphQL, REST, WebSockets, Server Sent Events (SSE), gRPC and any other HTTP compatible protocol. With Insomnia you can: Debug APIs using the most popular protocols and formats. Design APIs using the native OpenAPI editor and visual preview. Test APIs using native test suites and collection runner. Mock APIs using a cloud or self hosted mocking server. Build CI/CD pipelines using the native Insomnia CLI for linting and testing. Collaborate with others using the many collaboration features. And more including the ability to use 3rd…
read the full Insomnia overview →
About ATAC
ATAC ⚔📩 === Table Of Contents Description How to install Install with cargo Install with Homebrew Install with Scoop Install from Arch Install from Fedora copr Docker package Binary Compile by yourself Features Current TODO v1.0.0 TODO v2.0.0 Documentation Others Vim key bindings NeoVim integration Themes Technical precisions Tested on Dependencies Binary size Contributors Maintainers Packagers Star history License Description ATAC is A rguably a T erminal A PI C lient. It is based on well known clients such as Postman, Insomnia, or even Bruno, but inside your terminal without any specific graphical environment…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or ATAC more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and ATAC has 3,747. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and ATAC free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ATAC under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and ATAC?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and ATAC in Rust. 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 ATAC?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose ATAC if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.