head to head · open source
Insomnia vs mcp-context-forge
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mcp-context-forge has 4,741 stars, 956 forks, 912 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 746% (40,111 vs 4,741 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; mcp-context-forge is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, mcp-context-forge 20%. mcp-context-forge 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 | mcp-context-forge | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 956 |
| 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 mcp-context-forge if
- You want the mcp-context-forge feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and mcp-context-forge 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 mcp-context-forge
ContextForge An open source registry and proxy that federates MCP, A2A, and REST/gRPC APIs with centralized governance, discovery, and observability. Optimizes Agent & Tool calling, and supports plugins. ContextForge is an open source registry and proxy that federates tools, agents, and APIs into one clean endpoint for your AI clients. It provides centralized governance, discovery, and observability across your AI infrastructure: Tools Gateway — MCP, REST, gRPC to MCP translation, and TOON compression Agent Gateway — A2A protocol, OpenAI compatible and Anthropic agent routing API Gateway — Rate limiting, auth…
read the full mcp-context-forge overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or mcp-context-forge more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and mcp-context-forge has 4,741. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and mcp-context-forge free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mcp-context-forge under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and mcp-context-forge?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and mcp-context-forge in Python. 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 mcp-context-forge?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mcp-context-forge if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.