head to head · open source
Insomnia vs pactum
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars, 2,365 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pactum has 620 stars, 62 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 6,355% (40,021 vs 620 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; pactum is written in JavaScript under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, pactum 10%. Insomnia 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 | pactum | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 620 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 62 |
| 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 pactum if
- You want the pactum feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and pactum 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 pactum
PactumJS is an MIT licensed JavaScript library for REST API testing that automates end to end, integration, contract, and component (service level) tests across every level of the test pyramid, aimed at Node.js developers and QA engineers who want one tool for API verification and API mocking.
read the full pactum overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or pactum more popular?
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars and pactum has 620. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and pactum free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pactum under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and pactum?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and pactum in JavaScript. 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 pactum?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,021 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pactum if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.