# Hoppscotch vs Insomnia Published January 1, 2026 · Updated August 10, 2026 Hoppscotch and Insomnia are both API clients on a Mac, so the pick depends on workflow. Choose Hoppscotch if you optimise for speed, privacy and cost; choose Insomnia if you optimise for OpenAPI design and Kong-native delivery. As of October 2026, both install with brew install --cask hoppscotch and brew install --cask insomnia. There is no single winner in 2026, the right choice follows your workflow's centre of gravity. Hoppscotch wins decisively on cost, performance and privacy: it is free, self-hostable, and the fastest way to send a request on a Mac. Insomnia wins on design-first depth, gRPC maturity and the Kong ecosystem: if OpenAPI is your source of truth and you deploy to Kong Gateway, Insomnia's integrated pipeline repays its subscription. Most macOS developers will be happiest treating Hoppscotch as the daily driver for ad-hoc testing and keeping Insomnia around for spec-driven projects, both install in minutes via Homebrew or download, so the cost of trying both is zero. ## Head to head | Factor | Hoppscotch | Insomnia | | --- | --- | --- | | Price | Free | Free | | Open Source | Yes | Yes | | Replaces | Postman (paid plans) | Postman Solo ($9/month) | | Best for | api, testing, rest | api, testing, rest | | Install | brew install --cask hoppscotch | brew install --cask insomnia | | Category | Developer Tools | Developer Tools | ## Hoppscotch Open source API development ecosystem Install: `brew install --cask hoppscotch` [Hoppscotch on Bundl](https://bundl.run/apps/hoppscotch) ## Insomnia HTTP and GraphQL Client Install: `brew install --cask insomnia` [Insomnia on Bundl](https://bundl.run/apps/insomnia) ## Features - **Protocol breadth.** Insomnia edges out Hoppscotch on gRPC maturity and OpenAPI-driven scaffolding, while Hoppscotch covers the same breadth with a lighter footprint. - **Performance on macOS.** Hoppscotch is visibly lighter and faster for all-day use on Apple Silicon Macs; Insomnia trades some speed for visual polish and background features. - **Storage, sync and Git.** Hoppscotch's file-friendly exports and self-hosted option give developers more control; Insomnia's sync is convenient but cloud-centric. - **Privacy and offline use.** Hoppscotch is private by default; Insomnia can be private by configuration but defaults to cloud. - **Design-first and OpenAPI.** Insomnia is the stronger spec-to-implementation workbench; Hoppscotch is the faster request runner. - **Scripting and automation.** Both script well for typical QA needs; neither matches Postman's helper-rich scripting, and both offer CLIs that fit CI pipelines. - **Ecosystem and extensibility.** Insomnia's plugin marketplace delivers ready-made extensions Hoppscotch users typically script themselves. - **User interface.** Hoppscotch wins on speed and minimalism; Insomnia wins on discoverability and visual polish. ## FAQ ### Is Hoppscotch really free in 2026, or is there a hidden catch? Hoppscotch's core is MIT open source and free forever for unlimited requests, workspaces and self-hosting. The paid Organisation plan around $6 per user per month only adds team administration like SSO and priority support, it does not gate request execution, protocol support or exports. ### What does Insomnia cost in 2026? On insomnia.rest the official tiers are Essentials ($0 for up to 3 users), Pro ($12 per user per month) and Enterprise ($45 per user per month). Annual billing trims the effective monthly rate slightly. Solo and older Individual $9 plans still appear in comparison roundups but the current canonical pricing is $0/$12/$45. ### Which app is better for gRPC on macOS? Insomnia is currently better for gRPC. Its Protobuf handling, server reflection and bidirectional streaming UI are more mature than Hoppscotch's, which relies on the desktop agent for gRPC and can feel less polished for complex streaming setups. ### Can I use either tool fully offline on macOS Tahoe 26.x? Yes to both, but differently. Hoppscotch works offline as a self-hosted instance or desktop PWA with no account. Insomnia offers Local Vault/Scratch Pad for offline use, but you must deliberately avoid cloud workspaces to keep everything strictly local. ### How do self-hosting and privacy compare? Hoppscotch is the privacy-first choice: you can run the entire stack on your own hardware or via a managed Docker host, so API keys and bodies never traverse a vendor cloud. Insomnia can be used privately in Local Vault, but its collaboration features are cloud-backed and the UX nudges you toward sync. ### Do both apps run well on Apple Silicon? Both are Apple Silicon-optimised and notarized for Tahoe 26.x. Hoppscotch is lighter (often half the RAM of Insomnia at idle) and launches faster, while Insomnia is a heavier Electron app that trades some speed for a richer UI and plugin system. ### Which has better collaboration for teams? Insomnia has more mature managed collaboration, role-based access, organisation dashboards and Kong integration, gated behind Pro and Enterprise. Hoppscotch matches basic team needs via Organisation workspaces and self-hosted sharing, which is cheaper but less enterprise-governed. ### Can I migrate collections between Hoppscotch and Insomnia? Yes, both speak common interchange formats. Hoppscotch imports Insomnia and Postman exports cleanly; Insomnia imports generic OpenAPI and Postman-compatible JSON. Expect to manually remap environment hierarchies and plugin-specific scripting after import. ### Which should I choose if I already use Bruno or Postman? If you already use Bruno for local-first Git workflows, Hoppscotch feels familiar and equally lightweight. If you use Postman for enterprise governance, Insomnia will feel like a leaner, design-first stepping stone with similar cloud concepts but tighter OpenAPI focus. ## Sources - [Hoppscotch, Pricing](https://hoppscotch.com/pricing) - [hoppscotch/hoppscotch, GitHub](https://github.com/hoppscotch/hoppscotch) - [Insomnia, Pricing](https://insomnia.rest/pricing) - [Insomnia Docs, Pricing FAQ](https://docs.insomnia.rest/insomnia/pricing) - [Kong/insomnia, GitHub](https://github.com/Kong/insomnia) - [TrustRadius, Kong Insomnia Pricing](https://www.trustradius.com/products/kong-insomnia/pricing) - [Elestio, Hoppscotch Plans and Pricing](https://elest.io/open-source/hoppscotch/resources/plans-and-pricing) - [Qodex, 8 Best Insomnia Alternatives for API Testing (2026)](https://qodex.ai/blog/insomnia-alternatives) ## Related - [Hoppscotch vs Postman](https://bundl.run/compare/hoppscotch-vs-postman) - [Bruno vs Hoppscotch](https://bundl.run/compare/bruno-vs-hoppscotch) - [Insomnia vs Postman](https://bundl.run/compare/insomnia-vs-postman) - [Bruno vs Insomnia](https://bundl.run/compare/bruno-vs-insomnia) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization", "name": "Bundl.run", "url": "https://bundl.run", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://bundl.run/og-image.png", "width": 1200, "height": 630 }, "description": "The Ninite for Mac. 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