Insomnia

Insomnia is a desktop API client for designing, debugging, and testing REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and WebSocket APIs, organized into collections. It's a workbench for APIs: REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and WebSockets all in one interface.

You build a request (set the URL, headers, body), hit send, and see the response with syntax highlighting and formatting. Environment variables let you switch between dev/staging/production with one click. Collections keep your API endpoints organized by project.

Insomnia went through a rough patch. Kong (the company) added mandatory cloud sync and login requirements, then walked it back after community backlash. The current state: you can use Insomnia locally without an account (Scratch Pad mode), but collaboration features require Kong's cloud. Free tier includes basic request building and local storage. Paid tiers ($5-12/user/mo) add team sync, Git integration, and AI features.

The catch: the trust damage from the forced cloud login hasn't fully healed. Bruno, an open source API client that stores collections as plain files in your git repo, emerged directly because of Insomnia's missteps. If you want an API client that will never require a login or cloud sync, Bruno is the answer. Insomnia is more polished and feature-rich, but the community's trust is conditional.