Insomnia
The open-source, collaborative API design and development platform for high-performance teams.

The fast, open-source, Git-friendly alternative to Postman and Insomnia.
Bruno is a reimagined API client that challenges the status quo of cloud-synced, proprietary API testing tools. Unlike competitors that force users into centralized cloud environments, Bruno is built on a local-first philosophy, storing collections directly on the user's filesystem as plain-text files using its proprietary '.bru' markup language. This architectural decision enables developers to use Git, SVN, or any version control system for collaboration, effectively treating API collections as code. In the 2026 market, Bruno has positioned itself as the enterprise standard for high-security environments where data sovereignty and offline capabilities are non-negotiable. Its technical stack utilizes Electron but maintains a lean footprint by avoiding telemetry and heavy cloud-sync overhead. The platform includes a powerful scripting engine based on JavaScript, an integrated CLI for CI/CD automation, and a 'Golden Edition' that provides advanced features like GrpahQL support and secret management while maintaining a one-time payment model, disrupting the prevalent SaaS subscription fatigue.
Saves API collections as a folder structure with .bru files representing requests.
The open-source, collaborative API design and development platform for high-performance teams.
The Open Source API Development Ecosystem designed for high-performance and privacy-first engineering teams.
Verified feedback from the global deployment network.
Post queries, share implementation strategies, and help other users.
Provides a sandbox to execute Node.js-based scripts before and after requests.
A proprietary, human-readable DSL for defining API requests.
Data never leaves the local machine unless explicitly moved by the user.
Native support for dot-env files and encrypted environment secrets.
Built-in assertion library for validating response status, body, and headers.
The @usebruno/cli allows headless execution of Bru collections.
Teams struggle with syncing API changes between Postman and their source code repository.
Registry Updated:2/7/2026
Enterprise security policies forbid storing sensitive API keys/secrets in third-party clouds.
Checking API health automatically after every deployment without high-cost cloud runners.