head to head · open source
Insomnia vs Tyk
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Tyk has 10,873 stars, 1,169 forks, 509 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Insomnia leads on adoption by 269% (40,111 vs 10,873 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Tyk is written in Go under a custom or non-standard licence. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Tyk 11%. Tyk was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (api, graphql, grpc), 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 | Tyk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 Tyk if
- You want the Tyk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Tyk 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 Tyk
Documentation Forum Blog About Tyk API Gateway Tyk Gateway is the cloud native, open source, enterprise ready API Gateway supporting REST, GraphQL, TCP and gRPC protocols. Built from the ground up, as the fastest API Gateway on the planet since 2014. Tyk Gateway is provided ‘Batteries included’, with no feature lockout. Enabling your organization to rate limit, auth, gather analytics, apply microservice patterns and more with ease. Tyk runs natively on Kubernetes , if you prefer, thanks to the Tyk Kubernetes Operator Everything you need to manage APIs. Follow the simple Get Started guide below 👇 The Enterprise…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or Tyk more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and Tyk has 10,873. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and Tyk free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0, and Tyk has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Insomnia and Tyk?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and Tyk 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 Tyk?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Tyk if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.