Apiboo vs Insomnia
Insomnia earned its following by being what Postman stopped being: a clean, fast API client. Since Kong acquired it, the direction has wobbled — the 2023 release that pushed cloud accounts caused enough backlash that local and self-hosted storage options were brought back, and long-time users forked the project (that fork became Bruno’s ancestor, Insomnium, among others).
Apiboo Workspace starts from the position Insomnia’s community was defending: local-first by default, with an end-to-end encrypted personal vault, offline operation, and cloud sync only when you turn it on. On top of that it adds what Insomnia never had — task boards, team chat with an AI assistant, a database manager and generated docs — in one native app.
| Feature | Apiboo Workspace | Insomnia |
|---|---|---|
| Protocols | REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, SSE and gRPC | REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, SSE and gRPC |
| Where your data lives | Local-first desktop app; works offline — collections live on your disk | Local, cloud or Git storage — chosen per project since the 2023 changes |
| Secrets | End-to-end encrypted personal vault for secrets | Local vault; end-to-end encryption for cloud sync |
| Scripting & runner | Pre-request & test scripts with a collection runner | Pre-request/after-response scripts; collection runner |
| Mock servers | Local and cloud mock servers | Mock servers (cloud-hosted; self-hosted on Enterprise) |
| Import / export | Imports Postman, Insomnia, Bruno, OpenAPI, HAR and cURL | Postman, OpenAPI, HAR, cURL and its own format |
| Code generation | Code generation for cURL and 8 languages | Code snippet generation |
| Task boards | Kanban task boards built in | Not built in |
| Team chat | Team chat with an AI assistant that builds and runs requests | Not built in |
| Database manager | Built-in DB manager (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite) | Not built in |
| API docs | API docs from collections (OpenAPI) + rich-text docs with PDF export | Design-first spec editing; no doc site generation from requests |
| Git sync | Git sync — connect a workspace to GitHub | Git sync for projects |
| Pricing | Free to start, no credit card | Free tier; paid per user for teams and enterprise |
| Hosting & compliance | Built in the EU; hosted on EU and US infrastructure; GDPR compliant | Owned by Kong Inc. (US); cloud operated by Kong |
Last updated 2026-08-28. Competitor details are based on publicly available information and can change — check the vendor for current specifics. Spotted something out of date? Write to hello@apiboo.com
Privacy you don’t have to configure
Insomnia today lets you choose local, cloud or Git storage per project — a good outcome, but one its users had to fight for, and one you have to remember to configure. Apiboo’s default is the private one: everything is local until you deliberately share it, secrets live in an end-to-end encrypted personal vault, and the app works offline. Being an EU company with its data home on EU infrastructure — plus a US edge region for latency — and GDPR compliance as a design constraint rather than a checkbox, matters to European teams in particular.
The whole team workflow, not just requests
Insomnia is deliberately focused: design, debug and test APIs. The planning, the conversation and the data layer live elsewhere. Apiboo pulls them into the same workspace — Kanban boards beside your collections, channels and DMs with an AI assistant that can build and run requests for you, a query editor for MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite, and a block-based docs editor with PDF export.
For a five-person team, that is the difference between one tool and four — with one account and real-time collaboration across all of it.
Migrating from Insomnia takes minutes
Apiboo imports Insomnia exports directly, along with Postman, Bruno, OpenAPI, HAR and cURL. Your folder structure, requests and environments come across, and the request editor will feel familiar from the first minute.
Where Insomnia is still the better fit
Insomnia’s design-first workflow — editing an OpenAPI spec and testing against it in one place — is genuinely strong, and its open-source core matters if you have a policy of only running source-available tools. If your team is deep into Kong’s API gateway ecosystem, staying with Insomnia is a reasonable call.
If you want the API client plus the team tools around it, private by default and working offline, Apiboo Workspace is the stronger everyday home.
Frequently asked questions
Can I import Insomnia collections into Apiboo?
Yes. Apiboo Workspace imports Insomnia exports directly, along with Postman, Bruno, OpenAPI, HAR and cURL.
Does Apiboo require an account?
Not for local work. Apiboo Workspace is local-first and works offline; an account is needed only for optional cloud sync and team features.
Does Apiboo support gRPC and WebSocket like Insomnia?
Yes — REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, SSE and gRPC are all supported, with OAuth 2.0 (PKCE), AWS Signature v4 and mTLS.