head to head · open source
Insomnia vs httpmock
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars, 2,365 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. httpmock has 667 stars, 62 forks, 37 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 5,900% (40,021 vs 667 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; httpmock is written in Rust under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, httpmock 9%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | httpmock | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 667 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| 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 httpmock if
- You want the httpmock feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and httpmock 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 httpmock
httpmock is an open source HTTP mocking library for Rust that starts lightweight mock HTTP servers inside a test, and it is aimed at Rust developers who need to test code that talks to HTTP services without standing up the real ones.
read the full httpmock overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or httpmock more popular?
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars and httpmock has 667. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and httpmock free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and httpmock under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and httpmock?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and httpmock in Rust. 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 httpmock?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,021 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose httpmock if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.