head to head · open source
Insomnia vs Firecamp
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars, 2,365 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Firecamp has 2,610 stars, 168 forks, 105 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 1,433% (40,021 vs 2,610 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Firecamp is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Firecamp 6%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (api, api-client, graphql), 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 | Firecamp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-03-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 168 |
| 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 Firecamp if
- You want the Firecamp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Firecamp 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 Firecamp
Firecamp is an open source API development tool written in TypeScript and released under AGPL 3.0. It positions itself as a developer first alternative to Postman and Insomnia, and it lives in the developer tools and API development ecosystem.
read the full Firecamp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or Firecamp more popular?
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars and Firecamp has 2,610. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and Firecamp free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Firecamp under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and Firecamp?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and Firecamp 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 Firecamp?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,021 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Firecamp if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.