head to head · open source
Insomnia vs springdoc-openapi
Insomnia has 40,022 GitHub stars, 2,366 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped today. springdoc-openapi has 3,736 stars, 603 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 971% (40,022 vs 3,736 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; springdoc-openapi is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, springdoc-openapi 16%. Insomnia was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | springdoc-openapi | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 603 |
| 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 springdoc-openapi if
- You want the springdoc-openapi feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and springdoc-openapi 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 springdoc-openapi
springdoc openapi is on Open Collective. If you ❤️ this project consider becoming a sponsor. This project is sponsored by Table of Contents Full documentation Security contact information Versioning Introduction Getting Started Library for springdoc openapi integration with spring boot and swagger ui Spring boot with OpenAPI Demo applications. Source Code for Demo Applications. Demo Spring Boot 4 Web MVC with OpenAPI 3. Demo Spring Boot 4 WebFlux with OpenAPI 3. Demo Spring Boot 4 WebFlux with Functional endpoints OpenAPI 3. Demo Spring Boot 4 and Spring Hateoas with OpenAPI 3. Integration of the library in a Spr…
read the full springdoc-openapi overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or springdoc-openapi more popular?
Insomnia has 40,022 GitHub stars and springdoc-openapi has 3,736. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and springdoc-openapi free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and springdoc-openapi under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and springdoc-openapi?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and springdoc-openapi in Java. 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 springdoc-openapi?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,022 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose springdoc-openapi if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.