Insomnia REST Client vs Newman: What are the differences?

Insomnia REST Client vs Newman

Introduction

This article will highlight the key differences between Insomnia REST Client and Newman, two popular tools for testing and automating API requests.

1. Authentication Support: Insomnia REST Client provides built-in support for various authentication types such as Basic, Digest, OAuth, and JWT. On the other hand, Newman relies on external libraries or scripts to handle authentication, making it more flexible but requiring additional integration efforts for different authentication mechanisms.

2. User Interface: Insomnia REST Client offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface with a variety of features like request history, code snippets generation, and response visualization. In contrast, Newman is a command line-based tool and lacks a graphical user interface, making it suitable for automation and integration into continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines.

3. Scripting Capabilities: Newman has a powerful scripting feature that allows you to write custom test scripts using JavaScript. This gives you the ability to perform complex data manipulation, add assertions, and handle dynamic values during API testing. Insomnia REST Client also supports scripting, but its scripting capabilities are more limited compared to Newman.

4. Collection Execution: Insomnia REST Client allows you to execute API requests individually or as part of a collection. A collection is a group of related requests that can be organized into folders. Newman, on the other hand, is specifically designed to execute collections of API requests in a sequential manner, making it ideal for running automated tests and API monitoring.

5. Integration with External Tools: Insomnia REST Client provides seamless integration with other development tools like Git, which allows you to version control your API requests and collaborate with teammates. In contrast, Newman can be easily integrated into various CI/CD pipelines and testing frameworks like Jenkins, Travis CI, and Mocha.

6. Platform Availability: Insomnia REST Client is available as a standalone application for macOS, Windows, and Linux. It also has a web version that can be accessed through a browser. Newman, being a command-line tool, can be run on any platform that supports Node.js, including macOS, Windows, and Linux.

In summary, the key differences between Insomnia REST Client and Newman can be summarised as follows: Insomnia REST Client provides a user-friendly interface with built-in authentication support and integration with external tools, while Newman is a command-line tool with powerful scripting capabilities and a focus on automated collection execution and integration into CI/CD pipelines.