8 Postman Alternatives Reviewed and Compared

Postman is handy and we’ve been using it at Sematext for years to organize requests into collections, define environments for different stages (local, test, prod), and write basic tests around responses. We also use it to share API examples with teammates and to generate docs from those collections. That said, we recently received an email from Postman:

On March 1, 2026, we’re updating our plans. These changes affect how the Free plan works for teams.

….Moving forward, the Free plan will be limited to a single user. If you want to continue using Postman with multiple users, you’ll need to move to the Team plan.

Ooops! 🤬

So we looked at Postman alternatives and tested them. I’m guessing we are not the only ones curious about what else is out there. Below are our reviews.

💡 Side note: If you are looking to monitor your APIs, whether internal or external, have a look at Sematext Synthetics – it’s super simple API, uptime, and website monitoring. It’s cheap, has simple HTTP monitors as well as Browser monitors for simulating user journeys (with Playwright), syncing with Github, ability to extract data from API responses (REST or XML) and chart numerical values, supports various API auth methods, alerting on various conditions, has screenshotting capabilities, and so on. Here are the docs. 🤓

 

At the bottom of the reviews you will find several comparison tables, too.

Postman Alternatives for API Testing & Development

Postman is the default for many teams, but it’s not always the best fit. Some tools are lighter, some are more code-friendly, and some focus on collaboration or automation. Below are the alternatives I’ve actually seen people use in real workflows.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a desktop API client focused on request/response workflows without trying to manage your whole API lifecycle. It supports REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and WebSockets and does a good job of keeping the UI clean and predictable. It feels like what Postman used to be before collections, docs, and workspaces took over the interface. You can manage environments, reuse variables, and do light scripting. It works well as a daily tool for debugging APIs locally or against staging. It’s less about automation and more about being a solid interactive client.

👉 Key features:

• REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket
• Environments and variables
• Local, Git, or cloud storage
• Request chaining and scripting

Pros:

• Clean UI
• Lightweight compared to Postman
• Works offline

Cons:

• Limited test automation
• Collaboration is weaker without cloud tier

💰 Pricing: Free core app. Paid plans for cloud sync and team features.

My opinion:
I like Insomnia for hands-on API work, for rapid API exploring – creating headers, chaining requests, poking GraphQL endpoints. I don’t like it for large automated test suites — it’s clearly optimized for manual usage. I wish its automated test runner was more powerful, but for local testing it’s solid.

Thunder Client

Thunder Client is an API testing extension for VS Code. Instead of running a separate app, you run requests inside your editor. It supports REST and GraphQL, environments, collections, and basic assertions. It’s aimed at developers who already live in VS Code and don’t want context switching. Requests are stored locally, which makes it easier to keep secrets out of cloud tools. It’s not meant to replace a full API testing platform, but it’s very effective for quick feedback while coding.

👉 Key features:

• REST and GraphQL
• VS Code integration
• Environments and collections
• Basic testing and CLI

Pros:

• No app switching
• Very fast setup
• Local storage

Cons:

• Limited advanced automation
• VS Code only

💰 Pricing: Free tier. Paid plans for advanced testing and CI features.

My opinion:
Not great for big test scenarios or sharing with non-devs. I use this when I’m in the zone in VS Code and need quick checks — hitting an endpoint, validating JSON, testing auth headers. It’s not Postman-level if you’re building complex automated regression suites, but for day-to-day dev work this feels like a good tool..

Hoppscotch

Hoppscotch is a browser-based API client that started as an open-source Postman clone. It supports REST, GraphQL, WebSockets, and SSE and runs entirely in the browser. You don’t need to install anything, which makes it good for quick experiments or debugging on machines where you can’t install tools. It also supports workspaces and collaboration, but its strength is speed and simplicity. It’s more of an API scratchpad than a full testing platform.

👉 Key features:

• REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, SSE
• Browser-based
• Environments and history
• Collaboration

Pros:

• Zero install
• Open source
• Fast startup

Cons:

• Limited automation
• Browser storage constraints

💰 Pricing: Free and open source.

My opinion:
It doesn’t replace a structured test suite, but for adhoc requests – “just need to hit this URL quickly” sort of situation – this works great.

SoapUI

SoapUI is one of the oldest API testing tools and is heavily used in enterprise environments, especially where SOAP still exists. It supports REST and SOAP with assertions, data-driven tests, and service mocking. Compared to Postman-style tools, it’s more focused on structured testing rather than ad hoc requests. The UI feels dated, but the feature set is deep, especially for integration testing and complex scenarios.

👉 Key features:

• REST and SOAP
• Assertions and data-driven tests
• Mock services
• Database integration

Pros:

• Very powerful test tooling
• Good for enterprise APIs

Cons:

• Old-school UI
• Steeper learning curve

💰 Pricing: Open-source version is free. ReadyAPI is commercial.

My opinion:
When you need serious integration tests, SoapUI is better than most GUI tools. But for simple REST debugging it can feel clunky.

Rest-Assured

Rest-Assured is not a GUI tool. It’s a Java DSL for API testing that integrates with JUnit or TestNG. You write tests in code that send HTTP requests and assert on responses. It’s designed for CI pipelines and code-first testing. If your backend is Java, this fits naturally into your test suite. It’s not meant for manual exploration — it’s meant for repeatable, automated verification.

👉 Key features:

• Java DSL
• JSON and XML assertions
• CI/CD friendly
• Code-first testing

Pros:

• Excellent for automation
• Strong typing and IDE support

Cons:

• No GUI
• Java-only

💰 Pricing: Free and open source.

My opinion:
I like it when API tests are part of the build. I don’t like it when I just want to manually inspect a response. If you’re automating tests as part of CI and writing tests alongside your code, this is often better than UI tools. But I’d still pop open a GUI for quick manual work.

Bruno

Bruno is a desktop API client built around file-based collections. Instead of storing requests in a database or cloud, it stores them as files in your repo. That makes it Git-friendly and easy to review changes in pull requests. It supports REST and GraphQL, environments, and basic scripting. It’s intentionally opinionated: no mandatory cloud sync, no accounts, and minimal UI chrome.

👉 Key features:

• REST and GraphQL
• File-based collections
• Environments
• Script hooks

Pros:

• Git-friendly
• Offline-first
• Simple model

Cons:

• Smaller ecosystem
• Collaboration depends on Git

💰 Pricing: Free and open source. Paid plans for team features.

My opinion:
I like Bruno because it treats API requests like code instead of like cloud artifacts. Being able to review API changes in a pull request is a big win. What I don’t like is that it still feels young — some workflows are rough compared to mature tools like Insomnia or Postman.

Nokia API Hub (aka RapidAPI)

Nokia API Hub, previously known as RapidAPI, is more of an API marketplace with a built-in client. It’s useful when consuming third-party APIs because it gives you a hosted playground with auth, sample requests, and code snippets. It’s not really for testing your own local APIs. Think of it as interactive documentation with execution.

👉 Key features:

• Browser-based request runner
• API key management
• Code generation
• Public API marketplace

Pros:

• Great for external APIs
• No setup
• Easy onboarding

Cons:

• Not for local APIs
• Limited testing features

💰 Pricing: Free tier. Paid plans depend on API usage.

My opinion:
I’d use RapidAPI when evaluating an external API quickly. It’s good at “try before you integrate.” I wouldn’t use it as my daily API client because it’s not designed for local dev or structured testing.

HTTPie

HTTPie is a CLI-first API client designed as a more readable alternative to curl. It prints formatted JSON by default and has a cleaner syntax for headers, auth, and bodies. It fits well into shell scripts and automation. There is a desktop app now, but the CLI is the core product.

👉 Key features:

• CLI-based
• Pretty-printed output
• Auth helpers
• Script-friendly

Pros:

• Fast
• Works in terminals and CI
• Easy to automate

Cons:

• No visual UI
• Harder for complex flows

💰 Pricing: CLI is free and open source. Desktop app has paid plans.

My opinion:
I like it for quick checks and automation. I don’t like using it for complex multi-step workflows; once things get stateful, a GUI tool is still easier to reason about.

 

Tool Comparisons Tables

Here are some of the above data presented in tabular for those who, like me, prefer this to free-form text above. 🙂

Tools Compared by Use Case and Type

Tool	Primary Use Case	UI Type
Insomnia	Manual API debugging	Desktop GUI
Thunder Client	In-editor testing	VS Code extension
Hoppscotch	Quick browser testing	Web UI
SoapUI	Structured API testing	Desktop GUI
Rest-Assured	Automated tests	Code (Java)
Bruno	Git-based API client	Desktop GUI
RapidAPI	3rd-party API exploration	Web UI
HTTPie	Scriptable requests	CLI

Automation vs Manual Testing

Tool	Manual Testing	Automation
Insomnia	Strong	Weak
Thunder Client	Strong	Moderate
Hoppscotch	Strong	Weak
SoapUI	Moderate	Strong
Rest-Assured	None	Strong
Bruno	Strong	Weak
RapidAPI	Moderate	Weak
HTTPie	Moderate	Moderate

 

Best Fit By Developer Type

If you are…	Tool that fits
Backend dev in Java	Rest-Assured
VS Code power user	Thunder Client
Want Git-based collections	Bruno
Want fast manual client	Insomnia
Need enterprise testing	SoapUI
Testing external APIs	RapidAPI
Terminal-first dev	HTTPie
Need zero install	Hoppscotch

 

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