Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

cURL VS Insomnia REST

Compare cURL VS Insomnia REST and see what are their differences

cURL logo cURL

cURL is a computer software project providing a library and command-line tool for transferring data...

Insomnia REST logo Insomnia REST

The most intuitive cross-platform REST API Client 😴
  • cURL Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-13
  • Insomnia REST Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05

cURL videos

BOUNCE CURL REVIEW | Curl Review Series #2

More videos:

  • Review - CURLS BLUEBERRY BLISS REVIEW | Curl Review Series #1
  • Review - Curls Triple Threat Review // Frizz Free Curly Hair
  • Tutorial - How to use CURL

Insomnia REST videos

3 Reasons to use Insomnia REST Client in your Exploratory API Testing

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Insomnia REST Client Tutorial

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to cURL and Insomnia REST)
API Tools
27 27%
73% 73
Developer Tools
21 21%
79% 79
APIs
22 22%
78% 78
CLI
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare cURL and Insomnia REST

cURL Reviews

Top 10 HTTP Client and Web Debugging Proxy Tools (2023)
The uniqueness of cURL above others is that it supports different types of protocols, like HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SFTP, POP3 SCP, and more. As a developer, you have to understand how cURL works.

Insomnia REST Reviews

Top 10 HTTP Client and Web Debugging Proxy Tools (2023)
Insomnia REST is the best alternative for Postman. It has more than 350 open-source plugins, plus GraphQL built-in with multiple protocol support. Since GraphQL is an added value, you can fully automate the entire lifecycle of APIs, build and debug them efficiently and with ease.
15 Best Postman Alternatives for Automated API Testing [2022 Updated]
Insomnia by Kong enables you to deliver high-quality APIs through collaboration. This postman alternative also includes testing suites, which allow you to create functional tests and centralize APIs. With this platform’s streamlined API client, sending GraphQL, REST, and SOAP requests are simple. Defining variables such as authentication credentials allows you to manage...
Source: testsigma.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Insomnia REST might be a bit more popular than cURL. We know about 121 links to it since March 2021 and only 106 links to cURL. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

cURL mentions (106)

  • pyaction 4.30.0 Released
    This Docker image is designed to support implementing Github Actions With Python. As of version 4.0.0., it starts with The official python docker image as the base Which is a Debian OS. It specifically uses python:3-slim to keep the image size Down for faster loading of Github Actions that use pyaction. On top of the Base, we've installed curl, Gpg, git, and the GitHub CLI. We added curl and gpg because they Are... - Source: dev.to / 28 days ago
  • Caching RESTful API requests with Heroku’s Redis Add-on
    Then, in another terminal window, we use curl to hit the endpoint:. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Open source at Fastly is getting opener
    Through the Fast Forward program, we give free services and support to open source projects and the nonprofits that support them. We support many of the world’s top programming languages (like Python, Rust, Ruby, and the wonderful Scratch), foundational technologies (cURL, the Linux kernel, Kubernetes, OpenStreetMap), and projects that make the internet better and more fun for everyone (Inkscape, Mastodon,... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Web scraping with cURL (fetching RAW HTML data)
    cURL, is a command line tool and library for transferring data with URLs. Think of Postman, but without the GUI (Graphic User Interface). We'll play only with the Command line / Terminal instead of a clickable interface. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • pyaction 4.22.0 Released
    This Docker image is designed to support implementing Github Actions With Python. As of version 4.0.0., it starts with The official python docker image as the base Which is a Debian OS. It specifically uses python:3-slim to keep the image size Down for faster loading of Github Actions that use pyaction. On top of the Base, we've installed curl Gpg, git, and the GitHub CLI. We added curl and gpg because they Are... - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
View more

Insomnia REST mentions (121)

  • The Best Alternatives to Postman for API Testing
    To get started with Insomnia, download it from the official website, install it, and create a new request by selecting the appropriate HTTP method and entering your endpoint URL. - Source: dev.to / 9 days ago
  • Building a RESTful API with Node.js and Express
    Use tools like Postman or Insomnia to test the API endpoints and ensure they behave as expected. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Make your Azure OpenAI apps compliant with RBAC
    We will be performing all of the authentication requests manually, however for testing purposes, you might want to use an API testing tool such as Postman or Insomnia. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Local automation
    For a very long time, the go-to tool was curl. Great, always available command line tool. Unfortunately, there is one small issue. It’s hard to keep requests and collect them in collections, it’s great for one-time shots or debugging, but for constant working with API could be painful. To solve it, I started working with tools like Postman/Insomnia. Then eh... Strange licensing model, or changes which occurred... - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Tools that Make Me Productive as a Software Engineer
    At first, I used Postman for testing APIs because it had a lot of features. But I switched to Insomnia because it was easier to use and kept everything organized. The big problem with Insomnia was that it deleted all my saved work when it made me create an account to keep using it. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing cURL and Insomnia REST, you can also consider the following products

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

HTTPie - CLI HTTP that will make you smile. JSON support, syntax highlighting, wget-like downloads, extensions, and more.

Hoppscotch - Open source API development ecosystem

GNU Wget - GNU Wget is a free software package for retrieving files using HTTP(S) and FTP, the most...

Paw.cloud - Paw is a REST client for Mac.

soapUI - SoapUI Pro is one of the most prominent API testing platforms around, allowing developers to quickly prototype the functions of their apps and get them to market with little hassle.