head to head · open source
Insomnia vs serenity-js
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars, 2,365 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. serenity-js has 616 stars, 152 forks, 88 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 6,397% (40,021 vs 616 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; serenity-js is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, serenity-js 25%. 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 | serenity-js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 616 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 152 |
| 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 serenity-js if
- You want the serenity-js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and serenity-js 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 serenity-js
Serenity/JS is a TypeScript native acceptance testing framework that gives an existing Playwright Test, WebdriverIO, or Cucumber suite the Screenplay Pattern's architecture, and it is built for test automation teams whose end to end and API suites have outgrown duplicated selectors, unreadable reports, and tool lock in.
read the full serenity-js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or serenity-js more popular?
Insomnia has 40,021 GitHub stars and serenity-js has 616. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and serenity-js free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and serenity-js under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and serenity-js?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and serenity-js in TypeScript. 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 serenity-js?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,021 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose serenity-js if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.