Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Puppeteer API VS Insomnia REST

Compare Puppeteer API VS Insomnia REST and see what are their differences

Puppeteer API logo Puppeteer API

Convert website into API

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.
  • Puppeteer API Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-08-23
  • Insomnia REST Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05

Puppeteer API features and specs

  • Headless Automation
    Puppeteer allows for headless browsing, enabling developers to perform automated tasks such as web scraping, testing, and screenshot generation without needing a visible browser UI, which can be more efficient and resource-friendly.
  • Full Control Over Chrome
    Puppeteer provides a high level of control over Chrome or Chromium, allowing developers to script almost every action a user can perform in the browser, which is beneficial for emulating complex user interactions in automated scenarios.
  • Compatibility and Maintenance
    As an officially supported Google product, Puppeteer is often updated concurrently with new Chrome releases, ensuring high compatibility with the latest web technologies and standards.
  • Rich Ecosystem
    Being popular in the developer community, Puppeteer benefits from a wealth of community resources, including tutorials, plugins, and example scripts, making it easier for developers to leverage its features and troubleshoot issues.
  • Flexible and Powerful API
    Puppeteer offers a comprehensive API that enables complex web interactions, such as handling iframes, simulating mouse and keyboard events, and managing network requests, making it highly versatile for various use cases.

Possible disadvantages of Puppeteer API

  • Resource Intensive
    Running headless browsers can be more resource-intensive compared to other web scraping libraries that don’t require a full browser environment, potentially leading to higher server costs.
  • JavaScript Requirement
    Puppeteer requires JavaScript knowledge as it’s based on Node.js, which might limit its accessibility to developers who are familiar with other programming languages but not with JavaScript.
  • Limited to Chromium-based Browsers
    Puppeteer is primarily designed for Chrome and Chromium, which might not be suitable for testing or automation tasks that require cross-browser compatibility or specific behaviors in other browsers.
  • Complex Setup for Script Debugging
    Debugging Puppeteer scripts can sometimes be complex, especially for beginners, because it involves asynchronous operations and managing promises, which can become cumbersome without proper understanding.
  • Potential for Blocked Requests
    Websites may have measures to detect and block automated browsing activities from Puppeteer, especially when scraping content, which can disrupt operations unless countermeasures are taken.

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.

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

Puppeteer API videos

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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 Puppeteer API and Insomnia REST)
APIs
6 6%
94% 94
API Tools
3 3%
97% 97
Developer Tools
3 3%
97% 97
Web Scraping
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 Puppeteer API and Insomnia REST

Puppeteer API Reviews

We have no reviews of Puppeteer API yet.
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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

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.

Puppeteer API mentions (0)

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

Insomnia REST mentions (129)

View more

What are some alternatives?

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

APIsentris - Build APIs instantly from MySQL, PostgreSQL, Google BigQuery and more

Postman - The Collaboration Platform for API Development

Leaf PHP - Create clean, simple but powerful web apps and APIs quickly.

Hoppscotch - Open source API development ecosystem

ScrapingBee - ScrapingBee is a Web Scraping API that handles proxies and Headless browser for you, so you can focus on extracting the data you want, and nothing else.

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