head to head · open source
Insomnia vs php-crud-api
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. php-crud-api has 3,740 stars, 1,025 forks, 86 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 972% (40,111 vs 3,740 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; php-crud-api is written in PHP under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, php-crud-api 27%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Insomnia | php-crud-api | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 php-crud-api if
- You want the php-crud-api feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and php-crud-api 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 php-crud-api
PHP CRUD API Single file PHP script that adds a REST API to a MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server or SQLite database. Howto: Upload " api.php " to your webserver, configure it to connect to your database, have an instant full featured REST API. NB: This is the TreeQL reference implementation in PHP. Requirements PHP 7.2 or higher with PDO drivers enabled for one of these database systems: MySQL 5.7 / MariaDB 10.0 or higher for spatial features in MySQL PostgreSQL 9.5 or higher with PostGIS 2.2 or higher for spatial features SQL Server 2017 or higher (2019 also has Linux support) SQLite 3.22 or higher (spatial…
read the full php-crud-api 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 php-crud-api more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and php-crud-api has 3,740. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and php-crud-api free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and php-crud-api under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and php-crud-api?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and php-crud-api in PHP. 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 php-crud-api?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose php-crud-api if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.