head to head · open source
Insomnia vs Krakend
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Krakend has 2,701 stars, 504 forks, 37 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 1,385% (40,111 vs 2,701 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Krakend is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Krakend 19%. Krakend was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (graphql), 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 | Krakend | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 504 |
| 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 Krakend if
- You want the Krakend feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Krakend 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 Krakend
KrakenD KrakenD is an extensible, ultra high performance API Gateway that helps you effortlessly adopt microservices and secure communications. KrakenD is easy to operate and run and scales out without a single point of failure. KrakenD Community Edition (or KrakenD CE ) is the open source distribution of the KrakenD API Gateway. KrakenD Site Documentation Blog Twitter Downloads Benefits Easy integration of an ultra high performance gateway. Effortlessly transition to microservices and Backend For Frontend implementations. True linear scalability : Thanks to its stateless design , every KrakenD node can operate…
read the full Krakend overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or Krakend more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and Krakend has 2,701. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and Krakend free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Krakend under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and Krakend?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and Krakend 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 Krakend?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Krakend if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.