head to head · open source
Insomnia vs mockttp
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars, 2,365 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mockttp has 883 stars, 113 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 4,432% (40,021 vs 883 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; mockttp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, mockttp 13%. mockttp 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 | mockttp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 883 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 113 |
| 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 mockttp if
- You want the mockttp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and mockttp 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 mockttp
Mockttp is an HTTP mock server and proxy library written in TypeScript and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It lives in the JavaScript and Node.js ecosystem, installed as a development dependency from npm, and it is part of HTTP Toolkit, where it powers all of the HTTP internals of that product. The same code that drives the interactive HTTP Toolkit application can therefore be used as a headless script, which makes the library both a testing tool and a scriptable rewriting proxy for capturing, inspecting and modifying HTTP traffic.
read the full mockttp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or mockttp more popular?
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars and mockttp has 883. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and mockttp free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and mockttp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and mockttp?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and mockttp 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 mockttp?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,021 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose mockttp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.