Postman
Postman is an API platform for designing, testing, documenting, and monitoring HTTP APIs. It started small. Abhinav Asthana shipped the first version as a Chrome extension in 2012. Today it's a desktop app, a web client, and a cloud workspace, with over 30 million developers signed up. The flow: build a request, save it to a collection, run scripts before and after, share with the team.
It handles REST, GraphQL, SOAP, gRPC, and WebSocket out of the box. Pre-request and test scripts run on a JavaScript sandbox, so you can chain calls, mutate variables between requests, or assert on response bodies. Environments hold variables for dev, staging, prod, and any other branch you keep separate. Mock servers stand in for endpoints that aren't built yet, and scheduled monitors ping your real endpoints to flag broken behavior before customers do.
Pricing changed on March 1, 2026. The free plan now covers one user only. No team collaboration on a free seat. Solo is $9 per user per month for individuals. Team is $19 per user per month, which is the cheapest path for two or more people sharing workspaces. Enterprise sits at $49 per user per month and adds the API Catalog, audit logs, RBAC, and SSO. After the change, many small teams moved to Bruno, Hoppscotch, Insomnia, or Apidog, all of which are cheaper for groups.
- Build and save REST, GraphQL, SOAP, gRPC, and WebSocket requests
- Pre-request and test scripts in a JavaScript sandbox
- Collections, folders, and environments shared across a team
- Mock servers fake endpoints before the backend is built
- Scheduled monitors ping live APIs at intervals and alert when something fails
- Auto-published API docs at a public URL
- Newman CLI runs collections in CI/CD
- Postbot AI for generating test cases and docs
The collection runner and test scripting are excellent. Free tier covers most individual developer needs.
It does the job but recent versions feel heavy. The forced account requirement for basic features is frustrating.