head to head · open source
Insomnia vs zod-to-openapi
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars, 2,388 forks, 874 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zod-to-openapi has 1,635 stars, 107 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Insomnia leads on adoption by 2,353% (40,111 vs 1,635 stars). Insomnia is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; zod-to-openapi is written in TypeScript under MIT. Insomnia has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, zod-to-openapi 7%. 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 | zod-to-openapi | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 107 |
| 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 zod-to-openapi if
- You want the zod-to-openapi feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and zod-to-openapi 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 zod-to-openapi
Zod to OpenAPI [!IMPORTANT] For Zod v3 support, please use the v7.3.4 version. However keep in mind that we do not intend to actively support that version going forward Install with: npm install @asteasolutions/zod to openapi@7.3.4 A library that uses zod schemas to generate an Open API Swagger documentation. 1. Purpose and quick example 2. Usage 1. Installation 2. The openapi method 3. The Registry 4. The Generator 5. Defining schemas 6. Defining routes & webhooks 7. Defining custom components 8. A full example 9. Adding it as part of your build 10. Using schemas vs a registry 11. Generation options 3. Zod…
read the full zod-to-openapi overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Insomnia or zod-to-openapi more popular?
Insomnia has 40,111 GitHub stars and zod-to-openapi has 1,635. Insomnia has the larger community by that measure.
Are Insomnia and zod-to-openapi free?
Both are open source. Insomnia is licensed under Apache-2.0 and zod-to-openapi under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Insomnia and zod-to-openapi?
Insomnia is written in TypeScript and zod-to-openapi 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 zod-to-openapi?
Choose Insomnia if you want the larger community (40,111 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose zod-to-openapi if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.