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Insomnia REST VS soapUI

Compare Insomnia REST VS soapUI and see what are their differences

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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.

soapUI logo 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.
  • Insomnia REST Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05
  • soapUI Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-16

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.

soapUI features and specs

  • Comprehensive Testing
    soapUI supports a wide range of testing types including functional, security, and load testing, providing a one-stop solution for API testing needs.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The tool features an intuitive graphical user interface, making it accessible for users with varying levels of technical expertise.
  • Extensive Protocol Support
    soapUI supports multiple protocols like SOAP, REST, JMS, AMF, as well as a range of underlying technologies including HTTP, HTTPS, JMS, etc., offering flexibility in testing different kinds of APIs.
  • Scripting Capability
    With Groovy scripting support, users can create custom assertions, automation scripts, and add advanced logic to their tests.
  • Community and Documentation
    A large community of users and extensive documentation and tutorials are available, aiding in faster troubleshooting and learning.
  • Integrations
    soapUI integrates well with other tools such as Jenkins, Maven, and JIRA, streamlining the CI/CD pipeline.
  • Open Source Version
    The availability of an open-source version allows users to start testing without any initial cost.

Possible disadvantages of soapUI

  • Performance Issues
    soapUI can become slow, especially with large and complex projects, which can affect productivity.
  • High Memory Usage
    The application often consumes a significant amount of memory, leading to potential performance degradation on less powerful machines.
  • Steep Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While the basic features are user-friendly, mastering advanced functionalities and scripting capabilities can be challenging for beginners.
  • Limited Advanced Reporting
    The reporting capabilities in the open-source version are quite basic compared to other commercial API testing tools.
  • Paid Licensing for Pro Features
    Many advanced features and more efficient workflows are locked behind the paid 'Pro' version, which might not be affordable for smaller teams or individual developers.
  • UI Glitches
    Users occasionally report glitches and bugs in the graphical user interface, which can be inconvenient and interrupt workflow.
  • Lack of Cloud Deployment
    As of now, soapUI does not offer a cloud-native or SaaS version, limiting flexibility for teams that prefer cloud-based tools.

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 soapUI

Overall verdict

  • Overall, SoapUI is considered a good tool for API testing, particularly for those looking for an all-in-one solution. Its extensive feature set and flexibility in handling different test scenarios make it a reliable choice in the industry. However, users should be aware of its potentially steep learning curve and resource-intensive nature, especially with large test suites.

Why this product is good

  • SoapUI is widely regarded as a robust tool for API testing due to its comprehensive set of features, including functional testing, security testing, and load testing capabilities. It offers a user-friendly interface that allows both technical and non-technical users to create and execute tests with ease. Furthermore, SoapUI supports multiple protocols such as SOAP, REST, JMS, and HTTP, making it versatile for various testing scenarios.

Recommended for

    SoapUI is recommended for QA engineers, developers, and testers who need a powerful tool to test APIs thoroughly. It is suitable for organizations that require detailed and comprehensive API testing solutions and are looking for a tool that can integrate with their DevOps processes. Additionally, teams using multiple API protocols will benefit from SoapUI's versatility.

Insomnia REST videos

+ Add

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

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Insomnia REST Client Tutorial

soapUI videos

+ Add

REST API Automation - SoapUI OpenSource Review - Mac

More videos:

  • Review - Testing REST API with SoapUI OpenSource - Part 6 - Assertions - Mac
  • Review - SoapUI Certification : Basic details about certification

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Insomnia REST and soapUI)

Insomnia REST

soapUI

API Tools
77 77%
API Tools
23% 23
Website Testing
0 0%
Website Testing
100% 100
Developer Tools
79 79%
Developer Tools
21% 21
APIs
100 100%
APIs
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Insomnia REST and soapUI. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

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

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.
Source: www.hypertest.co
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.
Source: www.blazemeter.com
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.
Source: www.bestproxyreviews.com
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

soapUI Reviews

Top 20 Open Source & Cloud Free Postman Alternatives (2024 Updated)
Product Introduction: SoapUI is a robust tool for testing SOAP and REST APIs, known for its extensive testing capabilities, including functional, load, and security testing, which makes it the perfect postman alternative.
Source: medium.com
Best Postman Alternatives To Consider in 2025
This open-source tool caters specifically to SOAP and RESTful web services. SoapUI excels in security testing, with features like load testing and functional testing. While not as beginner friendly as Postman, SoapUI offers a comprehensive solution for more complex API testing needs.
Source: www.hypertest.co
Postman Alternatives for API Testing and Monitoring
SoapUI is a popular open-source and commercial API testing tool (the commercial is called ReadyAPI), due to its powerful capabilities, flexibility and user-friendly platform. It’s particularly effective for testing SOAP, REST and GraphQL APIs. SoapUI allows inputting the WSDL or endpoint URL, configuring the requests with headers, parameters, or body content and sending the...
Source: www.blazemeter.com
15 Best Postman Alternatives for Automated API Testing [2022 Updated]
SoapUI provides security and load testing features, and its functional testing supports SOAP and REST API. Users can use SoapUI’s drag-and-drop or point-and-click for scripting features, creating and running automated regression, compliance, and load tests on Web API.
Source: testsigma.com
15 BEST SoapUI Alternatives (2022 Update)
SoapUI is a widely popular API testing tool. It allows you to test REST and SOAP protocols. It facilitates seamless integrations and reusability of scripts. However, load and workflow testing is difficult with SoapUI.
Source: www.guru99.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Insomnia REST seems to be more popular. 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

soapUI mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of soapUI yet. Tracking of soapUI recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

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

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

Hoppscotch - Open source API development ecosystem

Sauce Labs - Test mobile or web apps instantly across 700+ browser/OS/device platform combinations - without infrastructure setup.

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

TestComplete - TestComplete Desktop, Web, and Mobile helps you create repeatable and accurate automated tests across multiple devices, platforms, and environments easily and quickly.

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

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