head to head · open source
Insomnia vs Tailcall
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tailcall has 7,637 stars, 1,456 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 425% (40,111 vs 7,637 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Tailcall is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Tailcall 19%. 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 | Tailcall | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 7.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| 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 Tailcall if
- You want the Tailcall feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Tailcall 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 Tailcall
⚒️ Forge: AI Enhanced Terminal Development Environment A comprehensive coding agent that integrates AI capabilities with your development environment curl fsSL sh Table of Contents Quickstart Usage Examples Why Forge? How Forge Works: Three Modes Interactive Mode (TUI) One Shot CLI Mode ZSH Plugin Mode ( : prefix) ZSH Plugin: The : Prefix System Agents Sending Prompts Attaching Files Conversation Management Git Integration Shell Command Tools Session & Configuration Skills Customizing Agent Behavior Semantic Search (Workspace) Quick Reference: All : Commands Command Line Options Advanced Configuration Provider…
read the full Tailcall overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or Tailcall more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and Tailcall has 7,637. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and Tailcall free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Tailcall under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and Tailcall?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and Tailcall in Rust. 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 Tailcall?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Tailcall if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.