head to head · open source
Insomnia vs Hive
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hive has 483 stars, 152 forks, 260 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 8,205% (40,111 vs 483 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Hive is written in TypeScript under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Hive 31%. Hive was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (api, 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 | Hive | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 483 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 152 |
| 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 Hive if
- You want the Hive feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Hive 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 Hive
Hive Console Hive Console is a schema registry and analytics platform for GraphQL federation and other GraphQL APIs. Fully open source and MIT licensed. Use Hive Cloud (managed) or self host it. Get Started Use Hive Cloud (status page) Read the product documentation Use the Hive CLI for schema publishing and checks in CI Self host Hive with the community Docker Compose configuration Contribute locally Built for the community, for all GraphQL APIs Hive Console has been built with 3 main objectives in mind: Help GraphQL developers to get to know their GraphQL APIs a little more with our Schema Registry…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or Hive more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and Hive has 483. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and Hive free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Hive under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and Hive?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and Hive 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 Hive?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Hive if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.