Bruno vs Scalar

Comparing two open source alternatives to Postman and Thunder Client and Stoplight and Paw and Apidog and SwaggerHub . Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.

Bruno

MIT

Opensource IDE For Exploring and Testing API's (lightweight alternative to Postman/Insomnia)

Visit Full details

Scalar

MIT

Scalar is an open-source API platform:　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　🌐 Modern Rest API Client　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　📖 Beautiful API References　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　✨ 1st-Class OpenAPI/Swagger Support

Visit Full details

Side-by-side comparison

	Bruno	Scalar
License	MIT	MIT
Self-hostable	No	No
GitHub Stars	46,250	15,880
Forks	2,767	915
Open Issues	1,790	81
Last Commit	Aug 10, 2026	Aug 10, 2026
First Released	Sep 27, 2022	Aug 16, 2023
Categories	API Development & Testing Tools	API Development & Testing Tools
Tags	#API #rest #http client #api client #openapi	#API #api client #rest #http client

Similar open source alternatives

Hoppscotch

Open source API development ecosystem - https://hoppscotch.io (open-source alternative to Postman, Insomnia)

Alternative to:

Postman

HTTPie

Open-source command-line and desktop HTTP client with intuitive syntax, JSON support, and built-in auth — a developer-friendly Postman alternative.

Alternative to:

Postman

Hurl

Run and test HTTP requests with plain text — a simple yet powerful command-line tool for API testing.

Alternative to:

Postman

Insomnia

The open-source, cross-platform API client for GraphQL, REST, WebSockets, SSE and gRPC. With Cloud, Local and Git storage.

Alternative to:

Postman

Yaak

The most intuitive desktop API client. Organize and execute REST, GraphQL, WebSockets, Server Sent Events, and gRPC 🦬

Alternative to:

Postman

Voiden

Design, test and document APIs in plain Markdown with a git-native, offline-first approach.

Alternative to:

Postman