head to head · open source
Insomnia vs connexion
Insomnia has 40,022 GitHub stars, 2,366 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped today. connexion has 4,612 stars, 784 forks, 186 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 768% (40,022 vs 4,612 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; connexion is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, connexion 17%. 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 | connexion | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 4.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 784 |
| 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 connexion if
- You want the connexion feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and connexion 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 connexion
Connexion is an Apache 2.0 licensed Python web framework for spec first and API first development that connects an OpenAPI or Swagger specification to Python handler code, built for Python developers and platform teams who want the specification to drive the implementation instead of being generated from it.
read the full connexion overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or connexion more popular?
Insomnia has 40,022 GitHub stars and connexion has 4,612. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and connexion free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and connexion under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and connexion?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and connexion 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 connexion?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,022 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose connexion if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.