Insomnia

Insomnia is the API client that developers switch to when Postman gets too heavy. Clean interface, excellent GraphQL support, and native Git sync for version-controlling your collections. Kong's acquisition brought enterprise features while keeping a generous free tier with unlimited collaboration.

Postman has the deepest ecosystem with 30M+ users but increasingly pushes cloud features. Bruno is the Git-purist choice — plain text files, no accounts, fully offline. Hoppscotch is browser-first for quick tests. Insomnia sits in the middle: powerful desktop app with cloud sync optional, not required.

Use Insomnia if you work with GraphQL, want a design-first workflow, or need REST + gRPC + WebSocket testing in one polished client.

The catch: Kong's ownership means the roadmap serves Kong's API gateway ecosystem first. The open-source version is Apache 2.0, but premium features like AI-powered workflows and advanced collaboration are commercial. The Git sync is great but requires Insomnia-specific formatting. And Bruno's growing fast — 29k stars and fully offline with no account requirement. For Git-native teams, Bruno is simpler.