Insomnia REST Client vs Paw

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Insomnia REST Client

775
640
+ 1
44
Paw

228
276
+ 1
164
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Insomnia REST Client vs Paw: What are the differences?

  1. Interface: Insomnia REST Client has a minimalist design, making it easy to navigate and use, which is great for beginners. On the other hand, Paw offers a more polished interface with a wider range of customization options, making it ideal for advanced users looking for a highly customizable tool.

  2. Authentication Support: Insomnia REST Client provides basic authentication methods like API keys and headers, while Paw offers a more extensive range of authentication methods, including OAuth, HMAC, and more. This makes Paw more versatile for testing APIs that require complex authentication processes.

  3. Code Generation: Insomnia REST Client allows users to generate code snippets in languages like JavaScript, Python, and Ruby, making it easier for developers to integrate API calls into their code. Paw, on the other hand, offers a wider range of code generation options, including Objective-C, Swift, Java, and more, catering to a broader range of developers.

  4. Team Collaboration: Insomnia REST Client offers limited team collaboration features, mainly through file sharing and syncing. Paw, on the other hand, provides advanced team collaboration features like synchronized team workspaces and API documentation sharing, making it a better choice for teams working on API projects together.

  5. Price: Insomnia REST Client is an open-source tool available for free, making it accessible to individual developers and small teams with budget constraints. Paw, on the other hand, is a paid tool with a one-time purchase fee, making it more suitable for larger teams and enterprises looking for a comprehensive API testing solution.

  6. Supported Platforms: Insomnia REST Client is available on macOS, Windows, and Linux, catering to a wide range of users across different operating systems. Paw, on the other hand, is exclusively available for macOS, limiting its accessibility to users who don't use Apple devices.

In Summary, Insomnia REST Client offers a simpler interface and is free, making it ideal for individual developers and small teams, while Paw provides a more advanced feature set, including extensive authentication support and code generation options, catering to larger teams and enterprises.

Decisions about Insomnia REST Client and Paw
Stephen Fox
Artificial Intelligence Fellow · | 1 upvote · 332.1K views

Postman supports automation and organization in a way that Insomnia just doesn't. Admittedly, Insomnia makes it slightly easy to query the data that you get back (in a very MongoDB-esque query language) but Postman sets you up to develop the code that you would use in development/testing right in the editor.

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Pros of Insomnia REST Client
Pros of Paw
  • 16
    Easy to work with
  • 11
    Great user interface
  • 6
    Works with GraphQL
  • 4
    Cross platform, available for Mac, Windows, and Linux
  • 3
    Opensource
  • 2
    Vim and Emacs key map
  • 2
    Preserves request templates
  • 0
    Does not have history feature
  • 46
    Great interface
  • 37
    Easy to use
  • 25
    More stable and performant than the others
  • 16
    Saves endpoints list for testing
  • 13
    Supports environment variables
  • 12
    Integrations
  • 9
    Multi-Dimension Environment Settings
  • 4
    Paste curl commands into Paw
  • 2
    Creates code for any language or framework

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Cons of Insomnia REST Client
Cons of Paw
  • 4
    Do not have team sharing options
  • 2
    Do not store credentials in HTTP
  • 3
    It's not free
  • 2
    MacOS Only

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What is Insomnia REST Client?

Insomnia is a powerful REST API Client with cookie management, environment variables, code generation, and authentication for Mac, Window, and Linux.

What is Paw?

Paw is a full-featured and beautifully designed Mac app that makes interaction with REST services delightful. Either you are an API maker or consumer, Paw helps you build HTTP requests, inspect the server's response and even generate client code.

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What companies use Insomnia REST Client?
What companies use Paw?
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What are some alternatives to Insomnia REST Client and Paw?
Postman
It is the only complete API development environment, used by nearly five million developers and more than 100,000 companies worldwide.
OpenAPI
It is a publicly available application programming interface that provides developers with programmatic access to a proprietary software application or web service.
Retrofit
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OpenAPI Specification
It defines a standard, language-agnostic interface to RESTful APIs which allows both humans and computers to discover and understand the capabilities of the service without access to source code, documentation, or through network traffic inspection.
Apigee
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