head to head · open source
Insomnia vs Mockoon
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mockoon has 8,468 stars, 483 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 374% (40,111 vs 8,468 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Mockoon is written in TypeScript under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Mockoon 6%. 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), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Insomnia | Mockoon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 8.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 483 |
| 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 Mockoon if
- You want the Mockoon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Mockoon 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 Mockoon
Mockoon: awesome API mocking Mockoon is the easiest and quickest way to design and run mock APIs. No remote deployment, no account required, free and open source. It combines a desktop application to design and run mock servers locally, and a CLI to self host your fake APIs. A cloud is also available to collaborate with your team, keep your data in sync, and deploy your mock APIs. API mocking helps you speed up development and third party API integration by reducing dependency on external services and their limitations: rate limits, costs, availability, etc. It also allows you to test your applications in a…
read the full Mockoon overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More API Development & Testing projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the API Development & Testing field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or Mockoon more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and Mockoon has 8,468. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and Mockoon free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Mockoon under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and Mockoon?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and Mockoon in TypeScript. 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 Mockoon?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Mockoon if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.