We analyze 15 top Postman alternatives for API testing, identifying solutions that cater to diverse team needs beyond Postman's comprehensive but potentially complex design. Our aim is to guide organizations in selecting the optimal tool based on their specific requirements for features, integration, and pricing models, empowering more efficient and tailored API development and quality assurance processes.
Katalon: A Comprehensive Automation Solution: Offers robust API test creation, management, and execution capabilities with both codeless and code-driven options. It integrates widely, supports various protocols, and provides detailed reporting for end-to-end quality assurance.
Bruno: Prioritize Local Control and Versioning: Leverage this fast, open-source API client for enhanced privacy and security by storing API collections locally in a plain text format. Its native integration with Git streamlines version control, making collection management transparent and efficient.
Swagger: Streamline API Design and Documentation: Utilize Swagger for advanced API design with smart error feedback, syntax auto-completion, and reusable components that enforce design consistency. It facilitates early API testing through mocking and seamlessly integrates into CI/CD pipelines, enhancing overall API development workflows.
Postman is a popular tool for API development, testing, and managing APIs for QA professionals. However, Postman is a comprehensive tool with complex design, which may not fit teams with more specific needs. In this article, we have listed out 15 best Postman alternatives, their strong features, and pricing plan for you to consider before switching.
16 Best Postman Alternatives (Free & Paid)
1. Katalon
Katalon is a great API automation testing tool that also supports web UI automation testing and mobile testing. If you want an alternative to Postman, here's how Katalon helps:
API test creation: You can send all types of API requests and configuring headers, query params, request bodies, authentication tokens, etc. without manually coding them. If you want full control, switch to coding mode and write one with Java/Groovy. Data-driven testing and BDD testing is also supported.
API test management: You can save collections of API requests as test suites or test collections for better management. These suites can then be run on schedule or by trigger in the CI/CD pipeline.
API test execution: in Katalon TestOps, you can manage test cases, schedule test runs, then view dashboard of test results. You can also run tests in the CLI.
API Test Planning: integrate with Slack, Microsoft Teams, JIRA, and many collaboration platform for enhanced communication and visibility across teams
For example, after creating a test project in Katalon Studio, you can click on “Add Web Service Keyword” to generate test steps, which are “Send Request” and Verify Element Property Value" here, then simply drag-and-drop objects from the Object Repository on the left sidebar to define what those test steps include. Instead of writing code, you have constructed a full API test from scratch in seconds.
The tool is constantly adding in test integration features and improving over time.
If your team wants support with API testing, Katalon Academy is here to help, with Free courses on API testing from Basic API testing to Advanced API testing.
More features as aPostman alternative:
Productive IDE for API test automation, providing code-support features, code inspection, snippets, quick references, dual interface, debugger, and test maintenance features
Supports all types of SOAP/1.1, SOAP/1.2, REST, and GraphQL requests
Versatile options for testers to work with their API project: Keyword-driven testing or Page Object Model (POM) testing.
Tests can be imported from Swagger, WSDL, and Postman
Support data-driven testing for better test coverage and efficiency.
Test artifacts can be reused across testing projects
Diverse integration ecosystem supporting all stages of the STLC with native plugins for CI and DevOps best practices
Data driven testing with multiple data sources (e.g. XLS, CSV) and databases supported. Katalon also supports BDD with Cucumber files and native Gherkin editor.
Comprehensive reporting and test analytics
2. Bruno
Bruno is a fast, open-source API client that challenges tools like Postman by storing API collections locally in a plain text format called Bru. This makes version control simple and transparent. It’s offline-only, keeping all data on your device for maximum privacy and security.
Features:
Filesystem storage for API collections
Uses plain text markup language (Bru) for API requests
Seamless integration with Git and other version control systems
HTTPie is a command-line interface (CLI) HTTP client that allows users to send requests to web servers and APIs using a simple and intuitive syntax. It is similar to the popular tool cURL but offers a more user-friendly and intuitive experience. More than just API testing, HTTPie can be used for API debugging, web page scraping, and interacting with RESTful services.
Features:
Formatted and colorized terminal output, which can be customized to include/exclude certain detail
cURL is a command-line tool for transferring data with URLs. It supports various protocols and is widely used for fetching or sending data to servers via HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and more.
Features:
Command-Line Interface: Operates entirely from the command line, making it scriptable and suitable for automation, ideal for integrating into CI/CD pipelines and testing workflows.
SSL/TLS Certificate Verification: Supports secure connections with built-in SSL certificate validation, ensuring secure API interactions and verifying server authenticity.
Platform Compatibility: Works seamlessly across multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, and more, ensuring consistency in API testing environments.
Extensive Functionality via libcurl: Offers advanced features through the libcurl library, such as file transfers, proxy support, authentication mechanisms, and comprehensive HTTP method handling.
Integration and Customization: Integrates with various programming languages and frameworks via bindings, allowing for extensive customization and integration into existing development ecosystems.
Swagger is another powerful alternative to Postman with well-organized API documentation features. Swagger comes with smart error feedback and syntax auto-completion within API Editor, enhancing the API design experience. As developers design the API, Swagger will highlight any inconsistencies in the design compared with established standards. A library of reusable components can be built and shared across multiple APIs, reducing the amount of code to be written compared to Postman.
The Swagger Petstore is a sample API provided by Swagger/OpenAPI to showcase their capabilities. It is a RESTful API that manages pet data, allowing operations like creating, reading, updating, and deleting pets using HTTP methods such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.
Features :
Powerful API Design toolset
API mocking to simulate the API behavior before it is built, which is useful for early API testing or prototyping
Swagger can be seamlessly integrated into the CI/CD pipeline
Swagger Codegen can generate server stubs and client SDKs for any API
Swagger UI is highly customizable to tailor the API documentation to the testers’ specific needs
Collaboration features for teams
Support multiple API specs, including OpenAI, Swagger 2.0, and RAML
Pricing: Swagger offers flexible pricing from Free for Individual user to $95 annually for Team plan (3 users)
Hopscotch is an open-source API development and testing tool that can be used as a Postman alternative. It has a user-friendly interface to test and debug APIs. It is available as a web app, desktop app, browser extension, and can be used on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Hoppscotch supports REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, and other protocols.
Features:
Free, lightweight, and immediately accessible - no need to create an account
Clean interface to quickly create, test, and debug API requests
Real-time request/response data
Support a wide range of HTTP request types, including GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, and OPTIONS
Customizable headers and parameters to test many different scenarios
JSON and form data support
Automatic response validation based on the expected status codes and data formats
Request organization into collections for easier management
JMeter was an open-source performance testing tool primarily used to test web apps, APIs, and other network protocols (FTP, SMTP, etc). Most notably, it provides a wide range of functionalities tailored for API testing, such as HTTP requests, parsing responses, and asserting response data.
To test APIs using JMeter, you need to set up a Test Plan in JMeter. This involves adding a Thread Group, which determines the number of virtual users and how they are distributed over time, and an HTTP Request, which specifies the details of the API request such as the server, path, method, parameters, and headers. Optional assertions can be added to validate the response.
Once the Test Plan is configured, you can run the test and monitor the results using JMeter's listeners. By adding multiple Thread Groups and HTTP Requests, you can create more complex test scenarios. Remember to save your Test Plan and ensure that you have the necessary dependencies and plugins for your API protocols and authentication mechanisms.
Features:
Full-featured IDE allowing teams to record interactions with web browsers and/or native apps using the HTTP(S) Test Script Recorder
Effortlessly build, customize, and debug test plan on a well-designed UI
Offers a Command Line Interface (CLI) allowing testers to run automated API tests in a headless mode
Automatically identifies and extracts dynamic values from many data formats (HTML, JSON, XML, and stores them in variables
Dashboard for visualization, aggregate and raw data report generation
SoapUI is an API testing tool for both SOAP and REST testing. It covers the creation and execution of automated functional, regression, compliance, and load tests on Web API. Apart from functional testing features, SoapUI also offers security and load testing features. Users can leverage SoapUI’s easy scripting features: drag and drop or point and click.
With a simple and easy-to-use interface, testing with SoapUI is not too much of a challenge for users without a technical background. Testers and businesses can choose to work with the open-source or the paid version depending on their needs.
In comparison with Postman, SoapUI provides a wider range of features for API testing needs, such as SOAP testing, API discovery, automated assertion creation, templated data insertion, and open-source standards. Postman also lacks load testing and security testing capabilities that are available when testing with SoapUI.
Features:
Support a wider range of protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS, JMS, AMF, JDBC, and more
Provides data-driven testing, which is not supported by Postman
Detailed reporting and analytics capabilities in various formats
Support the creation of automated functional tests to validate the behavior of SOAP, REST, and other web services
Support command line interface
Scripts can be reused across projects
SOAPUI allows for the creation of mock services that simulate the behavior of a real service, allowing for testing in isolation.
TestSigma is an interesting Postman alternative. It requires no coding and no setup to get started. TestSigma gives a high level of customization to API call sequences, matching the application workflow. API dataset can be stored as “parameters”, which can be populated across many tests, so testers don’t have to modify test scripts every time they run.
Test Sigma also offers different comparison modes that allow developers to choose the level of rigidity (Strict, Lenient, Non-extensible, Strict Order, etc.) for their requirements and validate API responses with varying degrees of comparison.
Features:
Codeless API test creation
End-to-end test automation for both API and UI testing
Easy integration with Dev and QA toolchain
Pricing: TestSigma offers three packages: community, cloud, and enterprise. Community is open-source and free to use, while cloud and enterprise packages are paid.
ReadyAPI is a comprehensive API testing tool developed by SmartBear that allows testers and developers to perform functional, performance, and security testing of APIs. It provides a user-friendly interface for designing, testing, and generating reports on API tests. ReadyAPI is designed to support both RESTful and SOAP APIs and can be used to test APIs developed in various programming languages.
Features:
Low-code API functional, security, and performance testing
Support a wide range of API type, including SOAP, REST, and cutting-edge use cases levering MQTT
Point-and-click assertion logic insertion
Diverse integrations for continuous integration and deployment
Comprehensive reporting and analytics with up-to-date testing metrics, exportable as JUnit-style HTML reports, CSV, and more
Pricing: ReadyAPI for API Testing is available from $895/license, billed annually. The API Performance Module starts at $7308/license and API Virtualization Model at $1374/license.
Assertible is a cloud-based testing and monitoring tool designed to help developers and QA teams automate API testing and monitoring. The tool provides a range of features that help teams ensure their APIs are functional, secure, and reliable.
As a Postman alternative, Assertible offers advanced test automation features, including support for JSON Schema validation, parameterized testing, and assertion chaining for wider test coverage.
Features:
Support dynamic variables, conditional logic, and webhooks, making it easy to test complex API workflows
Run automated tests as part of your continuous integration and delivery pipeline
Codeless API monitoring allows testers with minimal coding experience to test APIs, manage schedules, and check up on web service failures
Real-time alerts via emails, SMS, or Slack when your API fails
Collaborated API testing and monitoring
Comprehensive reporting on API performance, response rate, error time, and more
Integration with GitHub, Slack, Zapier, and more
OpenAPI support
Pricing: Assertible offers a free plan with basic features, and its paid plans start at $50/month.
Paw is a macOS native application for API testing and development. It allows users to easily make HTTP requests, create and share API documentation, and mock APIs. Paw supports a wide range of HTTP protocols and authentication methods, as well as allowing users to write custom scripts and plugins to extend its functionality.
Paw promotes teamwork. It allows developers, testers, and other stakeholders to contribute to the API testing activities with real-time updates on the status.
Features:
Highly compatible with macOS
Full-featured visual editor and HTTP toolset
Support JSON schema and is fully compliant with Swagger and RAML descriptions
Support both OAuth 1.0 and 2.0
Built-in mock server
Code generation for a variety of languages, including Objective-C, Swift, and JavaScript
Automatically generate API documentation from API requests
Pricing: There is a Free for Personal and Professional use, then its paid plan starts at $60/month for 6 users
Karate is an automation testing framework written in Java that supports API automation, API mocking, performance testing, and UI testing. Karate’s syntax is easy to understand for non-programmers or testers who are new to API testing. It generates HTML-based test reports that provide a comprehensive view of test results, including detailed information about test steps, HTTP requests and responses, and assertion failures.
Features to Highlight:
Low learning curve
Native support for Gherkin syntax
Built-in HTTP client that can be used to make REST API requests without the need for additional libraries or tools
Tricentis Tosca is an enterprise-level software testing tool designed to automate end-to-end functional testing, integration testing, and regression testing of applications.
Tosca offers a model-based approach to testing, which allows users to create and maintain test cases at a higher level of abstraction, using visual representations of the application's business processes.
For API testing specifically, Tricentis offers the Tosca API Scan Module. It allows users to create test cases using simple drag-and-drop actions, making it easy to design complex test scenarios without writing a single line of code. API and UI tests can be combined to create truly automated end-to-end test scenarios spanning across web, mobile, SAP, and more.
Features:
End-to-end API testing across a wide range of environments
Automatically generate test cases from API documentation
Scriptless test creation for reduced learning curve, higher clarity, transparency, and enhance collaboration
Extensive API testing capabilities, supporting popular protocols and formats
Scalable along with your API testing projects
Automatically analyzes the captured requests and responses, extracts the relevant data, and converts them into business-readable test cases that accurately represent the API's behavior
Pricing: Being an enterprise-level tool, its pricing is only available upon request.
LoadNinja is a cloud-based load testing tool that helps testing web applications by generating virtual user traffic. Testers can simulate user traffic from different geographical locations, browsers, and devices to identify potential bottlenecks and performance issues in the application.
LoadNinja provides a user-friendly web-based interface for creating complex API test scenarios. You can easily generate an authentication request and re-use the token for subsequent requests without having to write any scripts. You can even customize the think time and other parameters to create highly realistic tests.
There is also a machine learning assistant that can detect anomalies automatically. The test results page displays essential statistics such as navigation timings and transactions per second.
Features:
InstaPlay Recorder to easily create web and API load tests in minutes, no coding required
Browser-based UI for building complex API scenarios for accurate results
Cloud-based API Load Testing
Integrated performance metrics for actionable insights and root cause analysis
Integration into any CI/CD pipeline
Pricing: There is an on-demand plan. The Subscription-based plan starts at $105/month billed annually.
Apigee is an excellent Postman alternative. It is Google Cloud’s native API management tool to build, manage, and secure APIs across a wide range of environments, use cases, and scale.
Apigee Edge Platform is the core component of Apigee, providing a range of tools and services for managing the entire lifecycle of an API. There is also a set of policies and access controls to secure the API, a traffic management system to control and optimize API traffic, and a set of analytics and monitoring tools to track API usage, performance, and other key metrics.
Another key component of Apigee is the Developer Portal, which enables organizations to publish and manage their APIs, providing documentation, SDKs, and other resources to help developers easily discover and use the APIs.
Features:
Support multiple programming languages and frameworks to perform API testing
Security and access control to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access.
Real-time analytics
Third-party tool integrations
Automatic scaling, load balancing, and failover, ensuring that APIs are always available and responsive.
Pricing: You must contact Apigee for a quote, but they do offer a free trial.
When selecting the right alternative to Postman, there are a few factors to consider.
You need to carefully evaluate the specific needs of your API testing and development workflow to determine if you require features like automated testing, collaboration capabilities, CI/CD integration, or advanced reporting.
Consider the ease of use and learning curve associated with the alternative tool.
Look for a tool that offers a user-friendly interface and intuitive navigation.
Compatibility with various platforms, operating systems, and API protocols is also extremely crucial for seamless integration into your existing tech stack.
Most importantly, it is about understanding the strong and weak points of Postman, then compare them with your tool of consideration.
Postman works on all major platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux. Individual developers can use Postman’s free version for their basic and simple requirements, and businesses can look for more in their commercial versions. Now identified as a collaboration platform for API development, the tool aims to simplify building an API and streamline team collaboration to make APIs creation better and faster.
The Advantages of Postman
Ease of use: A new user to Postman only has to sign up, download the tool, and log in to their account to get started
Simplified API: Postman users can begin their API journey quickly and effectively using Postman’s comprehensive platform and wide support for all possible HTTP methods.
Robust testing capabilities: Postman supports multiple testing environments, test checkpoints, and scheduling options.
Integration and collaboration: Postman Workspace is dedicated to real-time collaboration between teams with built-in version control. The tool integration ecosystem is growing, with major names constantly being added.
The Limitations of Postman
Although Postman has proven its capabilities in providing a holistic experience for developers to perform testing with their web services, it still falls short in several criteria. Most significantly, Postman is ideal for manual testing needs while the world is turning its focus more toward continuous testing toolsd.
Here’s a closer look at Postman’s limitations for automated testing demands:
Postman is not built for automated test validation, making it hard to ensure stability in performance.
Reporting is only available in Enterprise plan
Low script reusability leading to duplicate effort for any new API testing project
Lack of test maintenance features
It lacks support for CI/CD integrations and shift-left or Agile processes to meet QA teams’ demand since it was originally designed as a standalone tool for developers and testers, rather than as part of a larger DevOps toolchain
Indeed Postman is a popular tool for API testing and development, but there are many Postman alternatives available that better suit your needs depending on your specific use case. When exploring these options, make sure to weigh their pros and cons to find the best fit for your team and improve your API testing and development workflow.
FAQs on Postman Alternatives for API Test
Why might someone look for an alternative to Postman?
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While Postman is popular for API development and testing, it may not fit teams with more specific needs, particularly for advanced automated test validation, detailed reporting (only in Enterprise plans), script reusability, test maintenance features, and robust CI/CD integrations for DevOps.
What is Katalon's key advantage as a Postman alternative?
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Katalon offers an all-in-one testing solution for web, mobile, API, and desktop applications, featuring codeless test authoring, comprehensive API test creation, organization, execution across multiple environments, and detailed test analysis, making it suitable for teams of all sizes and expertise.
Which Postman alternatives are open-source and free?
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Bruno, HTTPie, cURL, Hoppscotch, JMeter, and SoapUI are all open-source and free alternatives to Postman for API testing.
What factors should be considered when choosing a Postman alternative?
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When selecting a Postman alternative, consider your specific API testing and development workflow needs (e.g., automation, collaboration, CI/CD integration, advanced reporting), ease of use, learning curve, and compatibility with your existing tech stack, platforms, operating systems, and API protocols.
The Katalon Team is composed of a diverse group of dedicated professionals, including subject matter experts with deep domain knowledge, experienced technical writers skilled, and QA specialists who bring a practical, real-world perspective. Together, they contribute to the Katalon Blog, delivering high-quality, insightful articles that empower users to make the most of Katalon’s tools and stay updated on the latest trends in test automation and software quality.
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