Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Insomnia REST VS RapidAPI for Mac

Compare Insomnia REST VS RapidAPI for Mac and see what are their differences

Insomnia REST logo Insomnia REST

Design, debug, test, and mock APIs locally, on Git, or cloud. Build better APIs collaboratively for the most popular protocols with a dev‑friendly UI, built-in automation, and an extensible plugin ecosystem.

RapidAPI for Mac logo RapidAPI for Mac

Paw is a REST client for Mac.
  • Insomnia REST Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05
  • RapidAPI for Mac Landing page
    Landing page //
    2024-10-20

Insomnia REST features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Insomnia REST features a clean and intuitive user interface that makes it easy to create, send, and manage API requests without a steep learning curve.
  • Support for Multiple Protocols
    In addition to REST, Insomnia supports GraphQL and gRPC, making it versatile for developers working with different API protocols.
  • Environment Management
    Insomnia allows you to create and manage multiple environments, making it easier to switch between staging, development, and production settings.
  • Custom Plugins and Themes
    Insomnia supports custom plugins and themes, allowing users to extend its functionality and personalize the interface to suit their workflow.
  • Collaboration Features
    With Insomnia Teams, users can collaborate and share API requests, environments, and other resources, enhancing team productivity.
  • Cross-Platform Availability
    Insomnia is available on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing flexibility for users on different operating systems.

Possible disadvantages of Insomnia REST

  • Resource Heavy
    Some users have reported that Insomnia can be resource-intensive, leading to potential performance issues on lower-end machines.
  • Limited Free Features
    While Insomnia offers a free tier, some of the more advanced features, such as team collaboration and sync capabilities, require a paid subscription.
  • Steeper Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    Although the basic functionalities are user-friendly, mastering the more advanced features might require a steeper learning curve.
  • Dependency on Electron
    Since Insomnia is built on Electron, it might consume more memory and disk space compared to native applications.
  • Complex Plugin System
    While the plugin system is powerful, it can be complex and challenging for users who are not familiar with JavaScript and Node.js.

RapidAPI for Mac features and specs

  • User Interface
    Paw.cloud offers an intuitive and visually appealing user interface, making it easy to design and manage APIs.
  • Team Collaboration
    Paw.cloud supports team collaboration features, allowing multiple users to work on API projects simultaneously.
  • Advanced Request Capabilities
    The platform offers advanced request capabilities, including the ability to customize headers, parameters, and bodies with ease.
  • Extensions and Plugins
    Paw.cloud supports a variety of extensions and plugins, allowing users to extend its functionalities according to their needs.
  • Multi-Environment Support
    The tool provides support for multiple environments, enabling seamless switching between development, staging, and production setups.

Possible disadvantages of RapidAPI for Mac

  • Cost
    Paw.cloud is a paid service, which may not be suitable for individuals or small teams with limited budgets.
  • Platform Limitation
    The software is currently available only for macOS, which limits its accessibility to a wider range of users who might be using other operating systems.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, there is still a learning curve for new users to fully utilize all of its advanced features.
  • Resource Intensive
    Paw.cloud can be resource-intensive, potentially slowing down performance on older hardware.
  • Offline Accessibility
    Some functionalities may be limited or unavailable in offline mode, which could hinder productivity in environments with unstable internet connections.

Analysis of Insomnia REST

Overall verdict

  • Insomnia REST is an excellent choice for developers who need a robust and intuitive tool for API development and testing. Its comprehensive features and ease of use make it a competitive option alongside other popular API clients.

Why this product is good

  • Insomnia REST is widely regarded as a powerful tool due to its user-friendly interface, extensive plugin ecosystem, and support for multiple authentication protocols. It allows users to easily build, debug, and test RESTful APIs with features like environment variables, code generation, and response validation. Moreover, its compatibility with GraphQL and gRPC makes it versatile for modern development needs.

Recommended for

  • API Developers
  • Software Testers
  • Backend Engineers
  • Technical Leads
  • Anyone involved in RESTful API development and testing

Analysis of RapidAPI for Mac

Overall verdict

  • RapidAPI for Mac is a strong choice for developers seeking a comprehensive API development and testing environment. Its intuitive design and extensive feature set make it particularly well-suited for Mac users who need an efficient tool to streamline their API workflows.

Why this product is good

  • RapidAPI for Mac, formerly known as Paw, is considered a good tool for API testing and development due to its user-friendly interface, powerful features, and integration capabilities. It supports various authentication methods, allows for detailed request and response configurations, and offers automation through its advanced tools. The ability to easily create and manage HTTP requests makes it a valuable tool for developers working on API-centric applications.

Recommended for

  • Back-end developers
  • API testers
  • Software engineers
  • Tech-savvy individuals using macOS who need robust API development and testing capabilities.

Insomnia REST videos

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

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Insomnia REST Client Tutorial

RapidAPI for Mac videos

Dr Paw Paw Review & Demo | Abbey Clayton

More videos:

  • Review - Paw Perfect Review - Testing As Seen On TV Products
  • Review - PAW PATROL: ON A ROLL - REVIEW

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Insomnia REST and RapidAPI for Mac)
API Tools
64 64%
36% 36
Developer Tools
72 72%
28% 28
APIs
55 55%
45% 45
API
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Insomnia REST and RapidAPI for Mac. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

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

Insomnia REST Reviews

Top 20 Open Source & Cloud Free Postman Alternatives (2024 Updated)
Product Introduction: Insomnia is a powerful open-source API client designed for simplicity and efficiency and works great as a postman alternative. It supports REST, GraphQL, and gRPC, making it versatile for various API types.
Source: medium.com
Best Postman Alternatives To Consider in 2025
It is a free, open-source platform that boasts a user-friendly interface and robust features like environment and collection management, code snippets, and test automation. Compared to Postman, Insomnia offers a lighter footprint and a more customizable workspace.
Postman Alternatives for API Testing and Monitoring
Insomnia is a user-friendly tool for API development and testing. Insomnia allows creating and sending HTTP and REST requests, like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, and more. Users can view API responses, including status codes, headers, and body. This enables understanding how the application handles different response scenarios, for efficient debugging.
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

RapidAPI for Mac Reviews

Top 10 HTTP Client and Web Debugging Proxy Tools (2023)
Are you a developer that works with macOS? Then Paw is the right pick for you. Paw is specifically built for macOS. As such, it is arguably the best tool for Mac interface. Unlike Postman which majorly revolves around API, Paw is an all-in-one tool for API development, HTTP Client, API description, and more. In terms of its functionalities, it can send all kinds of HTTP...
12 HTTP Client and Web Debugging Proxy Tools
Paw is a full-featured HTTP client, which allows you to send all kinds of HTTP requests. With Paw, you can test your APIs and also explore new ones.
Source: geekflare.com
15 Best Postman Alternatives for Automated API Testing [2022 Updated]
Paw is an advanced API tool with powerful features designed explicitly for Mac. Its primary function is to test and describe APIs, and it provides a beautiful interface to make activities such as composing requests, inspecting server responses, and exporting API definitions easier.
Source: testsigma.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Insomnia REST should be more popular than RapidAPI for Mac. It has been mentiond 129 times since March 2021. 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.

Insomnia REST mentions (129)

View more

RapidAPI for Mac mentions (45)

  • Learning API Requests with GUI client - The easy way🚀🚀
    Although Apidog is a popular REST client, you can also use others, such as Insomnia, RapidAPI for Mac, and Hoppscotch. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Sending both File and JSON in One Request to Spring Boot
    But it can't help when faced with this complex scenario because it doesn't support set the content-type for text field of a multipart request. I tried Paw, Bruno and they didn't work either. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • The Best Alternatives to Postman for API Testing
    To use Paw, purchase and download it from the Paw website. Open the app, create a new request, and start testing your API endpoints with ease. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Ask HN: Alternatives to Postman?
    Enjoy it while it lasts: https://paw.cloud/. Really good. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Bruno
    I myself use Paw [0] because it's native to MacOS, but I'm a little bit worried for it's longevity as it being supported by a SaaS business. But so far it's been great to document API for my personal projects. [0]: https://paw.cloud/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Insomnia REST and RapidAPI for Mac, you can also consider the following products

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

Hoppscotch - Open source API development ecosystem

Apigee - Intelligent and complete API platform

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.

Thunder Client - Rest API client for VS Code, lightweight Postman alternative

Amazon API Gateway - Create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs at any scale