head to head · open source
Insomnia vs octelium
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. octelium has 4,151 stars, 159 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 866% (40,111 vs 4,151 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; octelium is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, octelium 4%. octelium 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 | octelium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 159 |
| 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 octelium if
- You want the octelium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and octelium 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 octelium
Octelium Table of Contents What is Octelium? Use Cases Main Features Try Octelium in a Codespace Install CLI Tools Install your First Cluster Useful Links License Support Frequently Asked Questions Legal What is Octelium? Octelium is a free and open source, self hosted, unified zero trust secure access platform that is flexible enough to operate as a modern zero config remote access VPN, a comprehensive Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA)/BeyondCorp platform, an ngrok/Cloudflare Tunnel alternative, an API gateway, an AI/LLM gateway, a scalable infrastructure for access and deployment to build MCP gateways and AI…
read the full octelium overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or octelium more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and octelium has 4,151. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and octelium free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and octelium under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and octelium?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and octelium in Go. 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 octelium?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose octelium if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.