head to head · open source
Hoppscotch vs Insomnia
Hoppscotch has 80,331 GitHub stars, 6,110 forks, 820 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Insomnia has 40,021 stars, 2,365 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hoppscotch leads on adoption by 101% (80,331 vs 40,021 stars). Hoppscotch is written in TypeScript under MIT; Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Hoppscotch has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Insomnia 6%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (api, api-client, graphql, http-client), 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
| Hoppscotch | Insomnia | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 80K | ★ 40K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.1K | ⑂ 2.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Hoppscotch if
- You weight community size — 80K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Insomnia if
- You want the Insomnia 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 Insomnia fits your workflow better
About Hoppscotch
Hoppscotch is an open source API development ecosystem that provides a full featured client for designing, testing, and documenting APIs. It operates as a web based application, desktop app, and CLI tool, supporting offline, on premises, and cloud deployments. Built with TypeScript and licensed under MIT, it serves as a direct open source alternative to proprietary tools like Postman and Insomnia.
read the full Hoppscotch overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Hoppscotch or Insomnia more popular?
Hoppscotch has 80,331 GitHub stars and Insomnia has 40,021. Hoppscotch has the larger community by that measure.
Are Hoppscotch and Insomnia free?
Both are open source. Hoppscotch is licensed under MIT and Insomnia under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Hoppscotch and Insomnia?
Hoppscotch is written in TypeScript and Insomnia 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, Hoppscotch or Insomnia?
Choose Hoppscotch if you want the larger community (80,331 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Insomnia if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.