head to head · open source
Insomnia vs macai
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. macai has 938 stars, 76 forks, 44 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 4,176% (40,111 vs 938 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; macai is written in Swift under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, macai 8%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | macai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 938 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 76 |
| 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 macai if
- You want the macai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and macai 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 macai
macai macai (macOS AI) is a simple yet powerful native macOS AI chat client that supports most AI providers: ChatGPT, Claude, xAI (Grok), Google Gemini, Perplexity, Ollama, OpenRouter, and almost any OpenAI compatible APIs. Table of Contents Downloads Manual Homebrew Contributions Why macai Run with ChatGPT, Claude, xAI or Google Gemini Run with Ollama System requirements Project status Build from source iCloud Sync Configuration License Downloads Manual Download latest universal binary, notarized by Apple. Homebrew Install macai cask with homebrew: brew install cask macai Contributions Contributions are…
read the full macai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or macai more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and macai has 938. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and macai free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and macai under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and macai?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and macai in Swift. 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 macai?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose macai if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.