head to head · open source
Insomnia vs HTTPie
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars, 2,365 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. HTTPie has 4,037 stars, 60 forks, 197 open issues and last shipped 1.5 years ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 891% (40,021 vs 4,037 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 1%. 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 | ★ 4.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | — |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2025-03-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 60 |
| 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 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 HTTPie
HTTPie Desktop is a cross platform API testing client published for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It sits in the HTTPie ecosystem of developer tools for API development and testing, alongside the HTTPie CLI and the HTTPie web and mobile products. The project presents itself as a client for humans who need to test REST, GraphQL, and HTTP APIs from a desktop application.
read the full HTTPie overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or HTTPie more popular?
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars and HTTPie has 4,037. 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 (40,021 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.