head to head · open source
Insomnia vs Restfox
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars, 2,365 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Restfox has 2,758 stars, 145 forks, 49 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 1,351% (40,021 vs 2,758 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Restfox is written in Vue under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Restfox 5%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (api-client, http-client, rest-api), 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 | Restfox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 2.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 145 |
| 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 Restfox if
- You want the Restfox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and Restfox 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 Restfox
Restfox is an offline first HTTP and socket testing client for the web and desktop. It lives in the developer tools and API testing ecosystem, and it is built with Vue under the MIT license. It is distributed as a web app, desktop packages, and a Docker image.
read the full Restfox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or Restfox more popular?
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars and Restfox has 2,758. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and Restfox free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Restfox under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and Restfox?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and Restfox in Vue. 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 Restfox?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,021 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Restfox if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.