Postman vs Bruno vs Insomnia
Postman, Bruno and Insomnia compared on pricing, Git-based collections, offline use, collaboration and AI, after Postman's March 2026 single-user free plan.
Quick Answer
Postman is the most complete API platform but its free plan is now single-user, so teams pay from day one. Bruno is the best fit for developers who want collections as plain files in Git with an MIT-licensed core. Insomnia sits between them, with local, Git and cloud storage options and a free tier that still allows small-team Git sync.
Reviewed by TechLogHub Engineering Team. Last updated October 15, 2026. Covers Postman's March 2026 single-user free plan, Bruno v3.1 making YAML the default collection format, and Insomnia 13 released in June 2026.
| Feature | Postman | Bruno | Insomnia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | Proprietary | MIT (core) | Apache-2.0 (core) |
| Free Tier | 1 user, no team workspaces | Full open-source app | Essentials: Git Sync for up to 3 users |
| Entry Paid Plan | Solo $9/month; Team $19/user/month | Pro $6/user/month | Pro $12/user/month |
| Works Fully Offline / No Account | Yes (Scratch Pad / local projects) | ||
| Git-Native Collections | Partial (Git integrations on paid plans) | ||
| Collection Storage | Postman cloud | Local files (YAML / .bru) | Local, Git or cloud per project |
| Protocols | REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, SOAP, MQTT and more | REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket | REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket, SSE |
| Mock Servers | |||
| AI Features | Agent Mode, AI credits, MCP server | Limited; AI governance in Ultimate | Limited |
| CLI / CI Runner | Postman CLI, Newman | Bruno CLI | Inso CLI |
| Team Collaboration | Rich, from Team plan | Via Git | Git Sync or cloud |
Pricing at a glance
Entry prices and free tiers as listed on TechLogHub for Postman; the other tools are not listed in the directory yet.
| Tool | Free tier | Starts at | Billing | Plans listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postman pricing | Yes | — | custom | Free tier with core features for individuals and small teams · Paid plans offering advanced collaboration, security, and analytics · Enterprise tier with dedicated support, governance, and custom SLAs |
Prices as written by the maker on their listing; medians and context on each tool's pricing page. See the 2026 pricing report for the directory-wide picture.
Postman
Cloud-centric API platform covering request building, testing, documentation, mocking, monitoring and API governance, now with AI agent features.
Postmanon TechLogHub: reviews, pricing & alternativesPros
- Most complete feature set: docs, mocks, monitors, flows, governance and a public API network
- Largest community and the most third-party tutorials and public collections
- Agent Mode, MCP server and Postman CLI help connect APIs to AI agents and pipelines
- Polished UI for exploring and sharing APIs with non-developers
- Enterprise controls for SSO, audit and policy enforcement
Cons
- Since March 2026 the Free plan is limited to one user and cannot create a team
- Team plan is $19/user/month billed annually, the highest of the three
- Cloud-first design: requires an account, and collections live in Postman's cloud by default
- Heavy Electron app with many features most developers never use
- AI and automation run on monthly credit allowances with overage charges
Best For
Organisations that want a full API lifecycle platform with docs, monitoring and governance in one place.
Bruno
Open-source, offline-first API client that stores collections as plain-text files on disk so they can be versioned in Git alongside code.
Pros
- MIT-licensed core with no account or cloud sync required
- Collections are plain files (YAML by default since v3.1, .bru still supported) that diff and review cleanly in pull requests
- Collaboration happens through your existing Git workflow rather than a vendor cloud
- Cheapest paid tiers: Pro at $6 and Ultimate at $11 per user per month
- Lightweight and fast to start compared with Postman
- Bruno CLI runs collections in CI
Cons
- No built-in hosted mock servers, monitors or published documentation
- Free edition is limited to public Git providers and 2 workspaces in the app's Git UI
- Smaller plugin and integration ecosystem
- Postman import can need manual fixes for complex scripts
- Format transition from .bru to YAML means two collection formats in the wild
Best For
Developers and teams who want API collections versioned in Git, offline, without a vendor cloud account.
Insomnia
Kong's open-source API client and design tool supporting REST, GraphQL, gRPC and WebSockets, with local, Git and cloud project storage.
Pros
- Apache-2.0 open-source core backed by Kong
- Choice of storage per project: local vault, Git Sync or cloud
- Free Essentials plan includes Git Sync for up to 3 users and unlimited local and cloud projects
- Strong API design features: OpenAPI editing with linting against style guides
- Insomnia 13 (June 2026) adds native Kong Konnect import and a redesigned interface
- Free local-only Scratch Pad needs no account
Cons
- Trust took a hit after the 2023 forced-account change, and some users left for Bruno
- Pro at $12/user/month is pricier than Bruno for similar Git-centric use
- Mock servers are metered on the free plan
- Smaller community and fewer public collections than Postman
- Best value assumes you are in the Kong ecosystem
Best For
Teams that design APIs with OpenAPI, use Kong, or want flexible local, Git or cloud storage per project.
Postman's single-user free plan changes the maths
In March 2026 Postman restructured its plans. The Free plan is now limited to one user and cannot create a team, whereas it previously allowed small teams of up to three. Sharing a workspace with a colleague now means moving to Team at $19 per user per month billed annually, with a Solo plan at $9 per month for individuals who want more AI credits and features. For a five-person team that is roughly $95 per month just to share collections. That is the main reason many teams are re-evaluating, and it compares poorly with Bruno, whose open-source edition is free for any team size because collaboration happens through Git, and Insomnia, whose free Essentials plan still includes Git Sync for up to three users. Postman still justifies its price for organisations that use the parts competitors lack: hosted monitors, mock servers, published documentation, API governance rules and its large public API network.
Collections as code: Git-native workflows
Bruno stores every request as a file on disk. Since v3.1 in early 2026, new collections default to YAML following the OpenCollection format, while the older .bru markup remains fully supported. Because collections sit next to your code, they get the same branches, pull requests and reviews, and there is no separate sync service to trust or pay for. Insomnia offers Git Sync as one of three storage options, and from version 12.6 workspaces use a native file format that can be edited from the command line with changes reflected immediately in the app. That makes it close to Bruno for Git-centric teams, while still allowing cloud projects for people who prefer them. Postman's model is cloud-first: collections live in Postman's workspace and can be connected to Git through integrations on paid plans. That works, but the source of truth is Postman rather than your repository, which matters for audits, offline work and avoiding lock-in.
Privacy, offline use and open-source licensing
Bruno's core is MIT-licensed and works entirely offline with no account. Nothing leaves your machine unless you push it to your own Git remote. For teams handling sensitive tokens or regulated data, that is a significant simplification of the security review. Insomnia's core is Apache-2.0 under Kong. After a 2023 update forced account sign-in and briefly endangered local data, Kong added local vault projects and a free Scratch Pad that runs without an account. The trust damage lingered with some users, but the current storage options are flexible and explicit. Postman is proprietary and requires an account. Enterprises get controls such as SSO, audit logs and AI input guardrails on the Enterprise plan, but the default assumption is that your collections, environments and history are stored in Postman's cloud. If secrets in environments are a concern, configure vault integrations carefully. Whichever client you pick, keep real secrets out of shared collections and load them from environment variables or a secret manager instead.
AI, automation and CI
Postman has invested most heavily in AI. Agent Mode can build and debug requests and tests, the Postman MCP server exposes API context to coding agents, and plans include monthly AI credits with pay-as-you-go overage on paid tiers. Postman Flows and the Postman CLI handle automation and CI runs. Bruno's AI story is lighter, focused on governance controls in the Ultimate tier rather than generation. Its strength in automation is simplicity: the Bruno CLI runs the same files your developers edit, so CI uses exactly what is in the repo, with no export step. Insomnia's Inso CLI runs collections and lints OpenAPI specs in pipelines, and the new linting for cloud projects pushes style-guide checks earlier in the design process. For teams using AI coding assistants, Bruno's and Insomnia's file-based collections have a quiet advantage: agents can read and edit them directly in the repo without any vendor API. That makes file-based clients a natural fit for teams already pairing with coding agents in the editor.
Verdict
Choose Bruno if you want API collections treated like code: plain files in your repo, reviewed in pull requests, no vendor account, and the cheapest paid tiers. Choose Postman if you need the full API lifecycle including hosted mocks, monitors, published documentation and governance, and are prepared to pay per seat from the first collaborator. Choose Insomnia if you design APIs in OpenAPI, run Kong, or want to mix local, Git and cloud storage with a free tier that still covers a three-person team. For most small engineering teams in 2026, Bruno or Insomnia now delivers more value per dollar than Postman.