Postman is one of the most useful API testing tools which is used mostly by the developers and testers for API testing as this is very easy to use. Nevertheless, Postman is not free and open-source, and it has several drawbacks that are connected with the lack of deep customization, integration, and reasonable pricing for multiple teams. In this article, the author introduces five other postman alternatives open-source tools to be better than Postman, which offer more options and tools for API testing.
1. Testsigma
Testsigma is an AI-driven cloud-based test automation tool that goes beyond Postman’s concentration on API testing. It provides all-inclusive codeless automation solutions for API, web, and mobile app testing using natural language. Robust reporting, cross-browser/device testing, CI/CD integration, AI-assisted test design and management, and collaboration tools are some of the key features. The AI-driven methodology used by Testsigma speeds up testing procedures and minimizes maintenance requirements. It could be more complicated to learn than Postman, but it offers an open, scalable environment that can handle large-scale, complicated projects. For teams looking for additional testing capacity, this is a strong substitute.
2. ARCMAN
ARC is an open-source API testing tool developed in the Golang programming language which is intended to be used on the command line. It is fast, easy to use and offers a full range of testing tools for working with REST, SOAP, GraphQL, gRPC APIs. Some of the features include; declarative test configuration, reusable test steps, dynamic values, custom assertions, integration with CI/CD.
3. Hoppscotch
Hoppscotch is a free, open-source, and lightning-fast API development environment that allows for API creation, testing, and documentation. It has a smooth GUI browser based editor for sending requests and side by side comparison of the responses. The tested features are saving environment, list of environments and its authentication, single and multiple variable and collections. It creates documentation, mock servers and has a view into our production API. The collaborative platform may serve as a better means for teams to coordinate and communicate their efforts.
4. RestTestTest
RestTestTest provides a basic web interface where one is able to type HTTP requests and check the result. It is free and open-source and it can be easily distributed in a docker image that can be run on premise. RestTestTest enables generating test cases with HTTP calls within a single script. Real time data feeds, ability to define own validation rules, scheduling test runs, and integration with CI systems make it a good Postman substitute. It also generates detailed reports on tests run.
5. Karate API Tester
Karate is a relatively new API testing framework that was designed to solve real-world problems and with a strong focus on the developer. It comes with a simple language for writing API test scripts, called Gherkin, to make the scripts easy to read. Karate has a unique feature since the scripts are written in it can be executed as is without compiling. It fits well in CI/CD frameworks for testing APIs. They include support for mocking of servers and databases, performance testing capability, and compatibility with most of the IDEs such as VSCode, thus making Karate a one-stop solution for API testing.
Conclusion
Even though Postman remains to be the leading API testing tool that are alternative to postman, a number of different open-source tools offer more options, collaboration, and integration capabilities that are essential in today’s API-oriented software deployment. Based on the tools highlighted in this article, one could evaluate each and take the most appropriate for their API testing requirements. Many of these modern tools are quite active with their associated communities adding more useful features.
