head to head · open source
Insomnia vs mcp2cli
Insomnia has 40,022 GitHub stars, 2,366 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mcp2cli has 2,402 stars, 177 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 1,566% (40,022 vs 2,402 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; mcp2cli is written in Python under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, mcp2cli 7%. Insomnia 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 | mcp2cli | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 177 |
| 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 mcp2cli if
- You want the mcp2cli feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and mcp2cli fits your workflow better
About Insomnia
Insomnia is an open source, cross platform API client built with Electron and TypeScript for developing and testing APIs across multiple protocols including REST, GraphQL, WebSockets, SSE, and gRPC. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux and is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license. The project serves as a direct open source alternative to Postman, offering similar core functionality without vendor lock in or mandatory cloud usage.
read the full Insomnia overview →
About mcp2cli
mcp2cli is a Python command line tool that turns any MCP server, OpenAPI specification, or GraphQL endpoint into an immediately usable CLI at runtime with zero code generation, built for developers and AI coding agents that need to reach those APIs straight from a terminal.
read the full mcp2cli overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or mcp2cli more popular?
Insomnia has 40,022 GitHub stars and mcp2cli has 2,402. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and mcp2cli free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mcp2cli under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and mcp2cli?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and mcp2cli 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 mcp2cli?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,022 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mcp2cli if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.