Insomnia vs Yaak

Comparing two open source alternatives to Postman. Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.

Insomnia

Apache-2.0

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

Visit Full details

Yaak

MIT

Local-first desktop API client for REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, and SSE — Git-friendly collections, a CLI, and no cloud lock-in.

Visit Full details

Side-by-side comparison

	Insomnia	Yaak
License	Apache-2.0	MIT
Self-hostable	No	No
GitHub Stars	40,132	19,456
Forks	2,389	848
Open Issues	932	18
Last Commit	Nov 8, 2026	Nov 8, 2026
First Released	Apr 23, 2016	Feb 16, 2023
Categories	API Development & Testing Tools	API Development & Testing Tools
Tags	#API #rest #http client #api client	#API #rest #http client #api client #GraphQL

GitHub stars over time

Insomnia

Yaak19,456

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

Scalar

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

Alternative to:

Postman

Bruno

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

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

Voiden

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

Alternative to:

Postman