Postman vs Insomnia vs Bruno: Which API Client Is Best for Developers in 2025

The API client market looked settled a few years ago. Postman was the default, Insomnia was the scrappy alternative, and most teams picked one and moved on. Then two things happened: Postman’s 2023 update made its free tier cloud-only and pushed a vocal chunk of its user base to look elsewhere, and a little open-source tool called Bruno started gaining traction by promising something radical—your API collections stored as plain files on your own disk.

By 2025, the choice is genuinely interesting again. Postman has matured into a full API platform. Insomnia has settled into its new home under Kong. Bruno has grown from a weekend project into a serious contender. Here’s how the three compare on the things that actually matter day to day.

The Short Version

  • Postman is the most capable and the most opinionated. It’s a platform, not just a client, and it wants your data in its cloud.
  • Insomnia hits a sweet spot between power and simplicity, with strong support for GraphQL, gRPC, and WebSocket testing.
  • Bruno is the developer’s developer tool: open source, offline-first, and built around Git-friendly plain-text collections.

Postman: The Platform Play

Postman remains the most feature-complete option, and for many teams that’s the end of the conversation. The collection runner, mock servers, automated test scripts, monitors, and the API Network all live in one place. If your organization needs a shared workspace where QA, frontend, and backend engineers all see the same requests, Postman’s collaboration story is hard to beat.

The catch is the direction the product has taken. Since the 2023 changes, the free tier stores collections in Postman’s cloud rather than locally. That’s fine for teams already standardized on the platform, but it’s a dealbreaker for developers working in air-gapped environments, on regulated data, or simply uncomfortable with their request history living on someone else’s servers. The Scratch Pad feature offers a local-only workspace, but it’s deliberately limited compared to the full cloud experience.

Pricing in 2025 runs from a free tier with usage caps up through paid plans that scale per user, with enterprise tiers above that. For a small team, the per-seat cost adds up quickly, and the value proposition only really pays off if you’re using the broader platform—testing, monitoring, documentation—rather than just firing off requests.

Best for: Teams that want an all-in-one API platform and are comfortable with cloud-hosted collaboration.

Insomnia: The Middle Path

Insomnia has had its own turbulence. Acquired by Kong in 2022, it went through a licensing change that frustrated some open-source users, and the community forks that followed (most notably Insomnia’s own open-source lineage) show how sensitive developers are to this stuff. But judging the current product on its merits, Insomnia in 2025 is a polished, fast client with a cleaner interface than Postman and broader protocol support than Bruno.

Where Insomnia shines is protocol coverage. REST is table stakes, but Insomnia handles GraphQL with a dedicated query editor, gRPC with reflection support, WebSockets, and Server-Sent Events without bolting on extra tooling. If you’re testing a gRPC service alongside a REST API, Insomnia lets you do both in one window. Its environment and variable system is intuitive, and the design-first workflow (writing an OpenAPI spec and generating requests from it) is well integrated.

The trade-offs are real, though. The free tier is genuinely usable, but some collaboration and sync features sit behind the paid plans. The cloud sync is optional, which is a point in its favor over Postman, but the tool is closed source, and the licensing history means some teams remain wary. Insomnia also feels less like a platform and more like a client—there’s no equivalent of Postman’s monitors or mock server ecosystem, so you’ll pair it with other tools for CI and testing.

Best for: Individual developers and small teams who want a fast, multi-protocol client without a full platform commitment.

Bruno: The Open-Source Upstart

Bruno is the one that changed the conversation. It’s open source (MIT licensed), offline-first by default, and—crucially—stores collections as plain-text files (.bru format) in a folder you choose. That means your API collections live in your Git repository alongside your code. Reviewing a pull request that changes an endpoint? The request change shows up in the diff. That single design decision resonates with developers in a way that cloud sync never did.

The offline-first architecture also means no account is required. You install it, point it at a folder, and work. For teams in regulated industries or on locked-down networks, that’s not a nice-to-have; it’s the whole ballgame.

Bruno has grown quickly. It now supports REST, GraphQL, and gRPC, has a built-in test runner using a JavaScript-based scripting layer, and offers a CLI (bru) for running collections in CI pipelines. The desktop app is built on Electron, and there’s a growing ecosystem of plugins and a paid “Bruno Cloud” option for teams that do want sync and collaboration—though the core tool remains free and local.

The honest limitations: Bruno’s UI is less polished than Postman’s, its ecosystem of integrations is smaller, and if you need mock servers, API monitoring, or a public API network, you’ll be reaching for other tools. It’s also younger, which means the occasional rough edge. But for the core job—sending requests, organizing them, and keeping them versioned with your code—it’s remarkably capable.

Best for: Developers who live in Git, value open source and offline work, and don’t need a full platform.

How They Compare on What Matters

Data ownership. Bruno wins outright: plain files on your disk, no account needed. Insomnia offers optional local storage and cloud sync. Postman defaults to cloud, with a limited local Scratch Pad.

Protocol support. Insomnia leads with the broadest built-in coverage (REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, SSE). Postman is close behind and strong on WebSocket and GraphQL. Bruno covers REST, GraphQL, and gRPC but with less depth in edge cases.

Collaboration. Postman is the clear leader for team workflows, shared workspaces, and role-based access. Insomnia offers sync on paid plans. Bruno relies on Git for collaboration, which is elegant for engineers but less friendly for non-technical stakeholders.

CI and automation. All three offer CLI runners. Postman’s newman is the most mature; Insomnia’s inso CLI is solid; Bruno’s bru CLI is newer but functional and improving.

Cost. Bruno’s core is free and open source. Insomnia’s free tier is generous. Postman’s free tier is capped and cloud-only, with paid plans scaling per user.

Learning curve. Insomnia and Bruno are quicker to pick up. Postman’s depth means more to learn, but also more to leverage once you do.

Which Should You Pick?

There’s no universal answer, but the decision tree is fairly clear.

If you’re on a team that needs shared workspaces, API documentation, monitoring, and a single platform for the whole API lifecycle—and you’re comfortable with cloud-hosted data—Postman remains the most complete choice. The per-seat cost is real, but so is the value if you use the platform.

If you want a fast, polished client with the widest protocol support and don’t need a full platform, Insomnia is the pragmatic middle ground. It’s particularly strong for teams working with GraphQL and gRPC.

If you’re a developer who wants your API collections versioned with your code, works offline or in a restricted environment, and prefers open-source tooling, Bruno is the obvious pick—and it’s the one most likely to surprise you with how little you miss.

The Takeaway

The API client wars of 2025 aren’t really about which tool sends requests best—all three do that well. They’re about where your data lives, how your team collaborates, and what you’re willing to trade for convenience. Postman offers the most capability in exchange for cloud lock-in and per-seat cost. Insomnia offers a balanced, multi-protocol client with a lighter footprint. Bruno offers ownership and openness in exchange for a smaller ecosystem. Pick the trade-off that matches how your team actually works, not the one with the longest feature list.