Hoppscotch
Open-source API development platform for building, testing, and documentation of REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, and SSE APIs — a free alternative to Postman.
Use Cases
Free Tier
Unlimited workspaces, collections, requests, and runners — completely free forever
How to Maximize the Free Tier
Sign up at hoppscotch.io for unlimited API testing with no request caps. Use collections to organize endpoints by project. The free tier includes REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, SSE, and Socket.IO testing — no feature gates. For team collaboration, self-host from GitHub to get admin features without paying $6/user/month. Export collections as OpenAPI specs for documentation.
Getting Started
Go to hoppscotch.io and sign in with Google/GitHub → Create a new workspace → Add a request (GET, POST, etc.) to a collection → Set headers, body, and auth → Send and inspect the response → Save requests to collections for reuse.
Pros
- Completely free: Unlimited workspaces, collections, and requests with no daily caps — unlike Postman's increasingly restricted free tier
- Open source: Self-hostable from GitHub, giving you full control over data and admin features without paying for Organization plan
- Multi-protocol: Supports REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, SSE, Socket.IO, and gRPC in a single interface
Cons
- Team features gated: Admin dashboard and dedicated support require the $6/user/month Organization plan
- No mock servers: API mocking was added late (v2025.10) and is less mature than Postman's mock server feature
- Smaller ecosystem: Fewer integrations and community collections compared to Postman's massive marketplace