Insomnia Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Insomnia alternatives: Bruno, Hoppscotch, Postman, Yaak and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•API & Testing
Verdict:Leave Insomnia if you want a free client that keeps your collections in your own repository, or if its team and sync features are more than you need. The Insomnia pricing page lists an Essentials plan with Git Sync for up to three users and unlimited local projects, and a Pro plan from $12 per user per month billed annually by default. Enterprise is $45 per user per month for up to 50 self-serve users. Bruno is open source and stores collections as files, which suits Git workflows, and it has no cloud sync. Hoppscotch is open source and runs in a browser, which suits quick checks. Postman has a free tier and a large ecosystem, but its team features sit behind paid plans. Yaak is open source and small. Swagger tooling fits teams that design from the OpenAPI spec rather than fire ad hoc requests. The trade-off is sync against ownership. Insomnia's cloud sync is convenient for a team, while file-based clients put the burden of sharing and secrets on your repo. Pick the one that matches where your team already stores its work.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno | Free (Open Source edition: unlimited collection runner, REST/GraphQL/gRPC, 2 workspaces, Git support for public providers only); paid from $6 per user/month, billed annually (Pro) | Windows, macOS, Linux, CLI | Teams that keep API collections in Git | Docs only |
| Hoppscotch | Free (Free plan with personal workspace, collections, environments and collection runner; no numeric limits listed) | Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, CLI | Quick API tests in a browser | Docs only |
| Postman | Free (Free plan: 1 user, 10,000 Postman API calls and 1,000 monitoring requests per month; no private workspaces or guest viewers); paid from $9 per month (Solo, billed annually); Team $19 per user/month billed annually | Windows, macOS, Linux, Web | Teams already using Postman | Docs only |
| Yaak | Free (Free for personal use; a license is required when using it at work (30-day commercial evaluation)); paid from $79 per year (Individual); $399 one-time lifetime; Business $149 per user/year | Windows, macOS, Linux | Developers who want a small desktop client | Docs only |
| Swagger | Free | Web | Spec-first API design | Docs only |
| Thunder Client | Free (Free plan: 3 collections, 30 requests per collection, 5 collection imports per month, 250 local collection runs per user per month); paid from $3 per user/month, billed annually (Starter, 1 user); Business $7, Enterprise $16 | VS Code, JetBrains | API Testing | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want collections stored in Git with no cloud account (Bruno is the pick)
- You want a quick API check in a browser (Hoppscotch is the pick)
- Your team already runs on Postman (Postman is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Insomnia features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Insomnia today: Free (Essentials: Git Sync for up to 3 users, unlimited local and cloud projects, 1,000 mock requests per month); paid from $12 per user/month (Pro), annual by default (Insomnia pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Insomnia alternatives
Insomnia's free Essentials plan limits Git Sync to 3 users and gives 1,000 mock requests a month. More users, unlimited organizations and role-based access control need Pro at $12 per user per month billed annually, which raises mock requests to 10,000; extra requests cost $10 per 25,000. SSO, SCIM and vault integrations are Enterprise only, at $45 per user per month, self-serve up to 50 users.
Bruno
Compared with Insomnia: Open-source API client that stores collections as files in your repo. You gain free, offline, Git-friendly API testing. You lose Insomnia's cloud sync and hosted team features.
Price: Free (Open Source edition: unlimited collection runner, REST/GraphQL/gRPC, 2 workspaces, Git support for public providers only); paid from $6 per user/month, billed annually (Pro) (Bruno pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux, CLI. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 47.9k GitHub stars · latest release v4.3.0 (Oct 22, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Teams that keep API collections in Git.
Worth knowing: Collections are stored as plain files in your repo. Ultimate is $11 per user/month billed annually.
Hoppscotch
Compared with Insomnia: Open-source API development platform that runs in a browser or as an app. You gain a free client with a web version. You lose Insomnia's paid team and enterprise controls.
Price: Free (Free plan with personal workspace, collections, environments and collection runner; no numeric limits listed) (Hoppscotch pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Windows, macOS, Linux, CLI. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 80.7k GitHub stars · latest release 2026.9.0 (Sep 30, 2026) · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Best for: Quick API tests in a browser.
Postman
Compared with Insomnia: Widely used API platform with a free tier. You gain a large ecosystem and familiar workflows. You lose the open-source licence, and team features sit behind paid plans.
Price: Free (Free plan: 1 user, 10,000 Postman API calls and 1,000 monitoring requests per month; no private workspaces or guest viewers); paid from $9 per month (Solo, billed annually); Team $19 per user/month billed annually (Postman pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux, Web. Proprietary.
Best for: Teams already using Postman.
Worth knowing: Solo and Team prices shown for annual billing only.
Yaak
Compared with Insomnia: Open-source API client built for desktop use. You gain a free, lightweight client. You lose the mature team workflows of larger products.
Price: Free (Free for personal use; a license is required when using it at work (30-day commercial evaluation)); paid from $79 per year (Individual); $399 one-time lifetime; Business $149 per user/year (Yaak pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. MIT (source); commercial license for prebuilt binaries at work (open source).
Project activity: 19.4k GitHub stars · latest release v2026.9.0 (Oct 10, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Developers who want a small desktop client.
Worth knowing: Source is MIT-licensed; licensing applies to the prebuilt binaries.
Swagger
Compared with Insomnia: Tooling around the OpenAPI specification for designing and testing APIs. You gain a spec-first workflow. You lose a general request client for ad hoc calls.
Price: Free (Swagger pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Platforms and license: Web. Apache-2.0 (Swagger UI) (open source).
Project activity: 29.1k GitHub stars · latest release v5.34.0 (Oct 19, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Spec-first API design.
Other popular options (paid)
Thunder Client
Compared with Insomnia: Runs inside VS Code or JetBrains. The free plan caps at 3 collections and 30 requests per collection; Starter is $3 per user a month billed annually, against Insomnia Pro at $12.
Price: Free (Free plan: 3 collections, 30 requests per collection, 5 collection imports per month, 250 local collection runs per user per month); paid from $3 per user/month, billed annually (Starter, 1 user); Business $7, Enterprise $16 (Thunder Client pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You want collections stored in Git with no cloud account: Bruno
- You want a quick API check in a browser: Hoppscotch
- Your team already runs on Postman: Postman
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Bruno, Hoppscotch, Postman, Yaak, Swagger: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Insomnia. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Insomnia, Bruno, Hoppscotch, Postman, Yaak, Swagger, Thunder Client. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.