Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Swagger UI VS Postman

Compare Swagger UI VS Postman and see what are their differences

Swagger UI logo Swagger UI

Swagger UI is a dependency-free collection of HTML, Javascript, and CSS assets that dynamically generate beautiful documentation from a Swag

Postman logo Postman

The Collaboration Platform for API Development
  • Swagger UI Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17
  • Postman Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-23

Swagger UI features and specs

  • Interactive API Documentation
    Swagger UI provides a user-friendly interface where developers can interact with an API directly from the documentation, making it easier to understand and use.
  • Automated Documentation Generation
    Swagger UI can automatically generate API documentation from an OpenAPI Specification, reducing the time and effort required to write and maintain documentation manually.
  • Standardization
    It adheres to the OpenAPI Specification, a widely-accepted standard for defining APIs, which promotes consistency and interoperability across different tools and platforms.
  • Comprehensive Testing
    Developers can use the Swagger UI to test endpoints directly, allowing for quicker identification and resolution of issues during development.
  • Customization
    The UI can be customized to fit the specific needs and branding of a project, offering flexibility in how the API documentation is presented.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Swagger UI is part of a larger Swagger suite of tools, supported by a large community and numerous plugins, enhancing its capabilities and integration options.

Possible disadvantages of Swagger UI

  • Learning Curve
    New users may find Swagger UI complex and might require some time to get familiar with the OpenAPI Specification and the tool’s features.
  • Performance
    For very large APIs with numerous endpoints and complex schemas, Swagger UI can experience performance slowdowns, affecting usability.
  • Initial Setup
    Setting up Swagger UI and configuring the OpenAPI Specification can be time-consuming and requires accuracy to ensure the documentation is correctly generated.
  • Dependency on OpenAPI Specification
    The effectiveness of Swagger UI is highly dependent on the accuracy and completeness of the OpenAPI Specification. Poorly defined specifications can lead to incomplete or incorrect documentation.
  • Security Concerns
    Exposing APIs in an interactive documentation tool can raise security concerns, particularly if sensitive functions are publicly accessible without proper authentication and authorization controls.

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.

Swagger UI videos

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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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Swagger UI and Postman)
API Tools
11 11%
89% 89
Developer Tools
10 10%
90% 90
APIs
7 7%
93% 93
Documentation
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 Swagger UI and Postman

Swagger UI Reviews

Top 20 Open Source & Cloud Free Postman Alternatives (2024 Updated)
Swagger UI is part of the Swagger ecosystem, providing tools for API design and documentation. It allows developers to visualize and interact with APIs effortlessly.
Source: medium.com
Postman Alternatives for API Testing and Monitoring
Swagger UI is a commonly used interactive visualization tool for RESTful web services, used for documenting, designing, and testing APIs. Swagger UI reads the OpenAPI specification document and generates an interactive documentation website. This web-based UI allows users to visualize and interact with the API’s resources without having any of the implementation logic in...
15 Best Postman Alternatives for Automated API Testing [2022 Updated]
One of the most appealing features is that Swagger UI is entirely customizable. You can freely modify your tool to meet your needs with complete access to the source code. Swagger UI makes an existing JSON or YAML document interactive. It creates a platform that organizes and categorizes our methods (get, put, post, delete).
Source: testsigma.com

Postman Reviews

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
Top 15 MuleSoft Competitors and Alternatives
Postman is an API platform with the world’s largest public API hub that helps developers design, build, test, and iterate APIs. In 2022, Postman served over 20 million developers and 500,000 organizations.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Swagger UI should be more popular than Postman. It has been mentiond 49 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.

Swagger UI mentions (49)

  • Common Mistakes in RESTful API Design
    The OpenAPI Specification (formerly Swagger) has become the industry standard for documenting RESTful APIs. Tools like Swagger UI and ReDoc can generate interactive documentation from OpenAPI definitions, reducing the effort to maintain quality documentation. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Leveraging API Documentation for Faster Developer Onboarding
    Reference generators like Swagger UI Automatically create API references from OpenAPI specifications, keeping documentation in sync with the actual API. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • How to Build a Task Manager API with Django REST Framework: Part 7 - API Documentation with OpenAPI and Swagger
    We’ll use OpenAPI (a standard for API specifications) and Swagger UI (a tool to visualize and interact with the API) to generate our documentation. The drf-spectacular library will help us create an OpenAPI schema for our DRF API and integrate Swagger UI seamlessly. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • How to get RCE with LaTeX via file upload
    Who has never analyzed a website and ended up causing an error and discovered that the server was in debug mode and therefore revealing environment variables (like other URLs, database connection strings and even credentials) and routes to API endpoints and their respective Swagger UI documentation? Cool, and who has ever come across something called "LaTeX Compiler API 1.0" among those endpoints? - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • The Good, the Bad, and the OpenAPI: Why Developers Love and Hate It
    Poor UI/UX – OpenAPI-generated documentation tools like Swagger UI are functional but often lack an intuitive experience. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
View more

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 / 6 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 / 6 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 / 10 months 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 platform’s console or use tools like Postman, Apidog, or Fusion ( Fusion is ApyHub’s own API Client ) to test HTTP-triggered functions. Ensure the function executes correctly and handles errors gracefully. - Source: dev.to / about 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 / about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Swagger UI and Postman, you can also consider the following products

swagger.io - Swagger is an open source RESTapi Documentation Tool.

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.

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.

EchoAPI - Next-gen API development collaboration platform. More than just API design, debug, test, load-testing, and mock.

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

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