head to head · open source
Insomnia vs elements
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. elements has 2,472 stars, 257 forks, 276 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 1,523% (40,111 vs 2,472 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; elements is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, elements 10%. Insomnia 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 | elements | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 257 |
| 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 elements if
- You want the elements feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and elements 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 elements
[ ][elements landing page] [![CircleCI][circle ci image]][circle ci] [![NPM Downloads][circle ci image]][npm] [ ][stoplight forest] Beautiful API documentation powered by OpenAPI and Markdown. Use these UI components to create API reference documentation, or more complete documentation with Markdown articles covering tutorials, how to guides, etc. Available as React Components, or Web Components, you can use Elements all together to build beautiful three column "Stripe esque" documentation, or stacked documentation thats easier for integrating into existing Content Management Systems with their own navigation…
read the full elements overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or elements more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and elements has 2,472. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and elements free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and elements under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and elements?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and elements in TypeScript. 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 elements?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose elements if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.