head to head · open source
Insomnia vs HTTPie
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. HTTPie has 4,055 stars, 62 forks, 197 open issues and last shipped 1.6 years ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 889% (40,111 vs 4,055 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; HTTPie is written in various languages under a custom or non-standard licence. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, HTTPie 2%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (api, api-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
| Insomnia | HTTPie | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 4.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | — |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2025-03-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 62 |
| 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 HTTPie if
- You want the HTTPie feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- You evaluated both and HTTPie 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 HTTPie
HTTPie Desktop In this repository, we publish releases of HTTPie Desktop for Mac, Windows, and Linux. The app continuously auto updates after the initial installation. Open HTTPie Desktop web app: httpie.io/app or req.new What’s new → Mac & Windows httpie.io/download → Linux Please follow the instructions below to install HTTPie for Desktop on Linux. ⚠️ The Linux package uses AppImage, and you need to install it using AppImageLauncher for the app to work: 1. Install AppImageLauncher (instructions) 2. Download HTTPie .AppImage (or HTTPie arm64.AppImage for ARM64 architecture) from the latest release page 3. Run $…
read the full HTTPie overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or HTTPie more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and HTTPie has 4,055. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and HTTPie free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0, and HTTPie has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Insomnia and HTTPie?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and HTTPie in various languages. 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 HTTPie?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose HTTPie if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.