head to head · open source
Insomnia vs mcp2cli
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mcp2cli has 2,427 stars, 185 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 1,553% (40,111 vs 2,427 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 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 (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 | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 185 |
| 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 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 mcp2cli
mcp2cli Turn any MCP server, OpenAPI spec, or GraphQL endpoint into a CLI — at runtime, with zero codegen. Save 96–99% of the tokens wasted on tool schemas every turn. Read the full writeup → Install AI Agent Skill mcp2cli ships with an installable skill that teaches AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) how to use it. Once installed, your agent can discover and call any MCP server or OpenAPI endpoint — and even generate new skills from APIs. After installing, try prompts like: mcp2cli mcp — interact with an MCP server mcp2cli create a skill for — generate a skill from an API Usage MCP HTTP/SSE mode…
read the full mcp2cli overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or mcp2cli more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and mcp2cli has 2,427. 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 (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mcp2cli if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.