head to head · open source
Insomnia vs killgrave
Insomnia has 40,141 GitHub stars, 2,395 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. killgrave has 563 stars, 100 forks, 34 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 7,030% (40,141 vs 563 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; killgrave is written in Go under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, killgrave 18%. killgrave 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 | killgrave | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 563 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-11 | 2026-11-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 100 |
| 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 killgrave if
- You want the killgrave feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and killgrave 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 killgrave
Killgrave Killgrave is a simulator for HTTP based APIs, in simple words a Mock Server , very easy to use, made in Go . Table of Content Overview Concepts Imposters Installing Homebrew Docker Compile by yourself Other Getting Started Using Killgrave by command line Using Killgrave by config file Configure CORS Preparing Killgrave for Proxy Mode Creating an Imposter Imposters structure Using regex in imposters Creating an imposter using JSON Schema Creating an imposter with delay Creating an imposter with dynamic responses Contributing License Overview Killgrave is a tool that provides a simple way to create a…
read the full killgrave overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or killgrave more popular?
Insomnia has 40,141 GitHub stars and killgrave has 563. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and killgrave free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and killgrave under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and killgrave?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and killgrave in Go. 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 killgrave?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,141 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose killgrave if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.