head to head · open source
Insomnia vs axonhub
Insomnia has 40,029 GitHub stars, 2,368 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped today. axonhub has 5,274 stars, 706 forks, 112 open issues and last shipped today. Insomnia leads on adoption by 659% (40,029 vs 5,274 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; axonhub is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, axonhub 13%. 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.
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Side by side
| Insomnia | axonhub | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 5.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-22 | 2026-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 706 |
| 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 axonhub if
- You want the axonhub feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and axonhub 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 axonhub
AxonHub is an open source AI gateway, written in Go and released under the Apache 2.0 licence, that lets an application call 100+ large language models through whichever AI SDK it already uses and switch providers without changing code — built for developers and platform teams who need one self hostable control point for model access, failover, cost and tracing.
read the full axonhub overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or axonhub more popular?
Insomnia has 40,029 GitHub stars and axonhub has 5,274. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and axonhub free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and axonhub under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and axonhub?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and axonhub in Go. 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 axonhub?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,029 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose axonhub if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.