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Postman VS Azure API Management

Compare Postman VS Azure API Management and see what are their differences

Postman logo Postman

The Collaboration Platform for API Development

Azure API Management logo Azure API Management

Microsoft Azure API Management enables user to create consistent and modern API gateways for existing back-end services hosted anywhere, secure and protect them from abuse and overuse, and get insights into usage and health.
  • Postman Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-23
  • Azure API Management Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-19

Postman features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Postman features an intuitive and user-friendly interface that simplifies the process of constructing API requests and visualizing responses. This makes it accessible for both beginners and advanced users.
  • Collaboration
    Postman offers robust collaboration features, such as shared workspaces, collections, and real-time editing, enabling teams to work together more efficiently on API development.
  • Comprehensive Testing Tools
    Postman provides a suite of testing tools to create, automate, and manage test cases. It supports automated testing through its scripting environments, which ensure APIs perform as expected.
  • Extensive API Documentation
    Postman can automatically generate comprehensive API documentation, making it easier to maintain and share API specifications with stakeholders and other developers.
  • Mock Servers
    Postman allows users to create mock servers to simulate API responses. This is particularly useful for testing and development purposes when the actual API is not yet available.
  • Integration Capabilities
    Postman offers integrations with various CI/CD tools, version control systems, and other services like Jenkins, GitHub, and Slack, facilitating seamless integration into development workflows.

Possible disadvantages of Postman

  • Resource Intensive
    Postman can sometimes be resource-intensive, consuming substantial memory and CPU, which can impact the performance of your system, especially when dealing with large collections.
  • Steep Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While Postman is generally user-friendly, some of its advanced features, like scripting and automation, can have a steep learning curve and might require additional effort to master.
  • Pricing
    Although Postman offers a free tier, many of its advanced features, such as enhanced collaboration tools and extended integrations, are locked behind paid plans, which may not be cost-effective for smaller teams or individual developers.
  • Dependency on Internet
    Some of Postman's features, particularly those related to collaboration and synchronization, require a stable internet connection, which can be a limitation in environments with poor connectivity.
  • Limited Native Support for Certain Protocols
    Postman primarily focuses on HTTP/HTTPS protocols and may offer limited or no native support for other protocols, which can be restricting for developers working with diverse sets of technologies.

Azure API Management features and specs

  • Comprehensive API Gateway
    Azure API Management offers a robust API gateway that helps in managing, securing, and analyzing APIs effectively. It supports complex policies, rate limiting, IP restrictions, and transformation of requests and responses.
  • Seamless Integration
    It seamlessly integrates with other Azure services like Azure Functions, App Services, and Logic Apps, streamlining workflows and enhancing functionality.
  • Developer Portal
    Comes with a customizable developer portal that enables easy onboarding and interactive documentation, improving developer experience and speeding up API adoption.
  • Multi-Region Deployment
    Supports multi-region deployments, ensuring high availability and low latency by replicating APIs across different geographic regions.
  • Scalability
    Azure API Management scales easily to meet the demand, allowing businesses to start small and grow with their customer base without worrying about infrastructure management.
  • Security Features
    Offers advanced security features such as OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and JWT token validation to ensure secure API access.
  • Analytics and Monitoring
    Provides comprehensive analytics and monitoring capabilities that help in tracking performance, usage patterns, and diagnosing issues quickly.

Possible disadvantages of Azure API Management

  • Cost
    Azure API Management can be expensive, especially for small businesses or startups. The cost can quickly ramp up with increased usage and advanced features.
  • Complexity
    The service can be complex to configure and manage, particularly for users who are not familiar with Azure services or API management concepts.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a steep learning curve associated with Azure API Management. It requires significant time and effort to become proficient in using and optimizing its features.
  • Dependency on Azure
    Heavily depends on the Azure ecosystem, which can be a limitation for organizations using a multi-cloud strategy or preferring other cloud providers.
  • Performance Overhead
    Introducing an API gateway can add some performance overhead, potentially affecting latency and response times if not properly optimized.
  • Limited Customization
    While it offers a range of features, some businesses may find the customization options limited compared to building an in-house solution tailored to specific requirements.

Analysis of Postman

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Postman is widely regarded as a good tool for API development and testing. Its combination of powerful features and ease of use makes it a popular choice among developers.

Why this product is good

  • Postman is considered a top choice for API development due to its user-friendly interface, extensive features for testing, automation, and collaboration, and strong community support. It simplifies the process of creating, managing, and testing APIs, making it accessible for both beginners and experienced developers.

Recommended for

  • Developers working on API integration
  • QA engineers involved in testing APIs
  • Teams in need of collaborative API development
  • Developers looking to automate API testing
  • Individuals looking for a comprehensive API testing tool

Postman videos

POST/CON 2018 workshop in review: Running Postman Collections

More videos:

  • Review - POST/CON 2018 workshop in review: Postman Collections
  • Tutorial - How to Share Postman Collections

Azure API Management videos

Getting Started with Microsoft Azure API Management REST API

More videos:

  • Review - Using Products in Microsoft Azure API Management

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Postman and Azure API Management)
API Tools
92 92%
8% 8
APIs
93 93%
7% 7
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Web Service Automation
80 80%
20% 20

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Postman and Azure API Management

Postman Reviews

Postman vs Apidog: Choosing the Suitable API Development Tool
Forking Existing Collections: One of Postmanโ€™s unique strengths is the ability to fork collections created by others. Developers can easily duplicate publicly available Postman collections, modifying them to fit their particular needs without starting from scratch. This feature saves time and encourages collaboration by allowing developers to build upon existing work.
Source: dev.to
Top 20 Open Source & Cloud Free Postman Alternatives (2024 Updated)
As the digital landscape evolves, the significance of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) has surged, facilitating seamless communication between various software applications. Postman has been a leading tool in this space, offering a comprehensive platform for API development, testing, and documentation. However, recent shifts in its pricing model and user experience...
Source: medium.com
Best Postman Alternatives To Consider in 2025
- Focus on specific needs: Does the tool excel at SOAP APIs or cater to microservices? - Resource usage: Does it handle complex projects without impacting system performance? - Script reusability: Does it allow for efficient code sharing across projects?3. Is Postman the best API tool?Not all-encompassing. While Postman is powerful, the "best" tool depends on your specific...
Postman Alternatives for API Testing and Monitoring
Some engineers turn to Postman for API testing and monitoring needs. However, Postman is a costly and limited solution. QA, DevOps and other engineers may find it lacks capabilities that can answer their needs. In this blog post, we provide 12 Postman alternatives built for the enterprise.
Beeceptor vs Postman
You cannot download request log. Although, you can use Postman APIs to query and retrieve.
Source: beeceptor.com

Azure API Management Reviews

Top 10 Best API Management Tools with Feature Comparison
Using Microsoft Azure API management platform, you will be able to manage all your APIs at one place. It will provide you a token, key, and IP filtering functionalities to secure your APIs. You will get insights through API analytics.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Postman should be more popular than Azure API Management. It has been mentiond 30 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.

Postman mentions (30)

  • Best API Mocking Platforms in 2024
    Postman (postman.com) is a comprehensive API platform that goes beyond mocking, offering a full suite for API development, testing, and monitoring. With its mock server feature, Postman enables teams to simulate responses for various endpoints, making it a popular choice for end-to-end API management. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • 10 Best API Mocking Tools (2024 Review)
    Postman is a widely used tool for API testing and interaction. Its "Mock Servers" feature lets you create a mock version of your API, returning specific responses for testing. While useful, Postman may lack advanced mock server management features compared to other tools. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • The 3 Best Tools for API Design for Software Architects
    Postman is a widely adopted tool for API design and development, offering an intuitive interface for creating, testing, and documenting APIs. It simplifies the API design process, allowing architects to quickly prototype and refine their designs. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • How to use ApyHub to Build a Serverless Function in NodeJs?
    Once deployed, thoroughly test your serverless function to confirm it behaves as expected. Invoke the function manually from the cloud platformโ€™s console or use tools like Postman, Apidog, or Fusion ( Fusion is ApyHubโ€™s own API Client ) to test HTTP-triggered functions. Ensure the function executes correctly and handles errors gracefully. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Mastering Microservices: A Hands-On Tutorial with Node.js, RabbitMQ, Nginx, and Docker
    To test the API endpoints, you can use Postman. Download and install Postman from Postman's official website. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

Azure API Management mentions (9)

  • Belitsoft: Core Azure Building Blocks for Enterprise .NET Apps in 2025
    For firms exposing APIs (either to internal consumers, partner companies, or public developers), API Management provides a unified front-end with features like rate limiting, authentication (integrated with Azure AD or OAuth), API keys, caching, and detailed analytics. - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • 10 Lightweight API Gateways for Your Next Project
    Azure API Management is Microsoft's managed API gateway, offering request routing, policy enforcement, and telemetry collection. It supports both fully managed and self-hosted gateway deployments for hybrid or on-prem environments. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Serverless Security Best Practices
    Moreover, integrating rate limiting can thwart DDoS attacks, and schema validation can prevent malformed requests, ensuring only legitimate and well-formed traffic reaches your serverless functions. Tools like Amazon API Gateway, Azure API Management, and Google Cloud Endpoints offer these capabilities, allowing you to set up custom authorization workflows and request validation rules that align with your security... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • No Token in the Browser Pattern using Azure API Management
    This pattern uses Azure API Management in a Backend for Frontend pattern where it handles the OAuth2 access token acquisition from Azure Active Directory; AES encryption and decryption of the access token into an HttpOnly cookie; and to proxy all API calls requiring authorization. This is performed by the use of Azure API Management Policies. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • How to choose the right API Gateway
    Because the configuration is a highly critical feature, we need to authenticate via an API key or by means of other auth methods. For example, most API Gateway providers such as Apache APISIX enabled token-based access to Admin API and they highly advise generating your own token and regularly changing it. Or Azure API Management relies on Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), which includes optional features such as... - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Postman and Azure API Management, you can also consider the following products

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

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform - Anypoint Platform is a unified, highly productive, hybrid integration platform that creates an application network of apps, data and devices with API-led connectivity.

Apigee - Intelligent and complete API platform

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

tray.io - Enterprise-scale integration platform

DreamFactory - DreamFactory is an API management platform used to generate, secure, document, and extend APIs.