head to head · open source
Insomnia vs resterm
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. resterm has 1,998 stars, 60 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 1,908% (40,111 vs 1,998 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; resterm is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, resterm 3%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (api-client, graphql, grpc, http-client), 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.
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Side by side
| Insomnia | resterm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 60 |
| 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 resterm if
- You want the resterm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and resterm 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 resterm
Resterm An API as code workbench for the terminal. Resterm is your API as code, stored in plain text .http and .rest files that you can diff, review and track in version control. Edit and send requests in the terminal, or run them from scripts and CI. Request files support workflows, assertions, mock servers, tracing and profiling. No accounts, cloud sync or telemetry. Quick links: Screenshots, Quick Start, Request files, Installation, Documentation. Screenshot tour See the UI in action (click to expand) Workflows Trace and Timeline Profiler Explain RestermScript Light Theme OAuth browser demo (old UI design)…
read the full resterm overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or resterm more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and resterm has 1,998. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and resterm free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and resterm under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and resterm?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and resterm 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 resterm?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose resterm if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.