head to head · open source
Insomnia vs karate
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. karate has 9,002 stars, 2,048 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 346% (40,111 vs 9,002 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; karate is written in Java under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, karate 23%. 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 | karate | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 9.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| 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 karate if
- You want the karate feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and karate 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 karate
Karate The open source tool that combines API testing, mocks, performance testing, and UI automation into a single, unified framework. 📖 Documentation: docs.karatelabs.io Looking for the old README? The previous README monolith is preserved at: github.com/karatelabs/karate/tree/v1.5.2.RC2 Anchor links (e.g. syntax guide , configuration ) can be appended to navigate directly to specific sections. Karate v2 development notes See README V2.md for v2 module descriptions, feature highlights, and migration notes.
read the full karate overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or karate more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and karate has 9,002. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and karate free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and karate under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and karate?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and karate in Java. 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 karate?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose karate if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.