Skip to content
appsgit

10 top picks · 2 audience rankings

Best open source API management tools

The best open source API management tool is Hoppscotch Community Edition, with 80,572 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Bruno and PostgREST are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Hoppscotch Community Edition leads for startups, enterprise and solo developers. The overall ranking weighs GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 17 apps in the API management category of the appsgit catalog.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Hoppscotch Community Edition

    hoppscotch/hoppscotch

    Fast and beautiful API request builder.

    API ManagementTypeScriptDocker

    Hoppscotch Community Edition has 80,572 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 295 commits in the last year; it replaces Postman.

  2. Rank 2:

    Bruno

    usebruno/bruno

    Fast, git-friendly open-source API client, an alternative to Postman.

    API ManagementJavaScript

    Bruno has 47,361 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 1,680 commits in the last year; it replaces Postman.

  3. Rank 3:

    PostgREST

    PostgREST/postgrest

    Serves a fully RESTful API from any existing PostgreSQL database.

    API ManagementHaskellDocker

    PostgREST has 27,693 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 662 commits in the last year.

1 of 3 · 10 picks

Top picks

10 of the 17 apps in the API management category, ranked on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Hoppscotch Community Edition

    Fast and beautiful API request builder.

    Hoppscotch Community Edition has 80,572 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 295 commits in the last year; it replaces Postman.

  2. 2

    Bruno

    Fast, git-friendly open-source API client, an alternative to Postman.

    Bruno has 47,361 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 1,680 commits in the last year; it replaces Postman.

  3. 3

    PostgREST

    Serves a fully RESTful API from any existing PostgreSQL database.

    PostgREST has 27,693 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 662 commits in the last year.

  4. 4

    Opik

    Evaluate, test, and ship LLM applications with a suite of observability tools to calibrate language model outputs across your dev and production lifecycle.

    AI-nativeOpik has 22,399 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,961 commits in the last year.

  5. 5

    Hasura

    Fast, instant realtime GraphQL APIs on Postgres with fine grained access control, also trigger webhooks on database events.

    Hasura has 32,131 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 272 commits in the last year; it replaces Firebase and Supabase.

  6. 6

    Composio

    Integration platform for AI agents & LLMs with support for 250+ apps and custom tools.

    AI-nativeComposio has 30,445 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 4,415 commits in the last year.

  7. 7

    Apache APISIX

    Dynamic, high-performance cloud-native API gateway.

    Apache APISIX has 17,197 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 611 commits in the last year.

  8. 8

    Kong

    Microservice API Gateway and Platform.

    Kong has 44,242 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 27 commits in the last year; it replaces Postman.

  9. 9

    Tyk

    Fast and scalable open source API Gateway. Out of the box, Tyk offers an API Management Platform with an API Gateway, API Analytics, Developer Portal and API Management Dashboard.

    Tyk has 10,850 GitHub stars, uses the MPL-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 332 commits in the last year.

  10. 10

    Svix

    Webhooks as a service that makes it super easy for API providers to send webhooks.

    Svix has 3,434 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 680 commits in the last year.

2 of 3 · 5 picks

Best for startups and solo developers

Ranked for startups and solo developers (the same order for each) on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Hoppscotch Community Edition

    Fast and beautiful API request builder.

    Hoppscotch Community Edition has 80,572 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 295 commits in the last year; it replaces Postman. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, a permissive license (MIT), a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    PostgREST

    Serves a fully RESTful API from any existing PostgreSQL database.

    PostgREST has 27,693 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 662 commits in the last year. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, a permissive license (MIT), a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    Opik

    Evaluate, test, and ship LLM applications with a suite of observability tools to calibrate language model outputs across your dev and production lifecycle.

    AI-nativeOpik has 22,399 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 3,961 commits in the last year. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, a permissive license (Apache-2.0), a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    Hasura

    Fast, instant realtime GraphQL APIs on Postgres with fine grained access control, also trigger webhooks on database events.

    Hasura has 32,131 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 272 commits in the last year; it replaces Firebase and Supabase. For startups it also scores on a Docker image, a permissive license (Apache-2.0), a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    Bruno

    Fast, git-friendly open-source API client, an alternative to Postman.

    Bruno has 47,361 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 1,680 commits in the last year; it replaces Postman. For startups it also scores on a permissive license (MIT), a project website and a commit in the last 90 days.

3 of 3 · 5 picks

Best for enterprise

Ranked for enterprise on GitHub stars, commits in the last year, open-source licenses and recent commits.

  1. 1

    Hoppscotch Community Edition

    Fast and beautiful API request builder.

    Hoppscotch Community Edition has 80,572 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 295 commits in the last year; it replaces Postman. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  2. 2

    Bruno

    Fast, git-friendly open-source API client, an alternative to Postman.

    Bruno has 47,361 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 1,680 commits in the last year; it replaces Postman. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  3. 3

    Composio

    Integration platform for AI agents & LLMs with support for 250+ apps and custom tools.

    AI-nativeComposio has 30,445 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license and had 4,415 commits in the last year. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  4. 4

    PostgREST

    Serves a fully RESTful API from any existing PostgreSQL database.

    PostgREST has 27,693 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 662 commits in the last year. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

  5. 5

    Hasura

    Fast, instant realtime GraphQL APIs on Postgres with fine grained access control, also trigger webhooks on database events.

    Hasura has 32,131 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 272 commits in the last year; it replaces Firebase and Supabase. For enterprise it also scores on an open-source license and a commit in the last 90 days.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What is the best open source API management tool?

The best open source API management tool is Hoppscotch Community Edition, with 80,572 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Bruno and PostgREST are strong alternatives. This page also breaks the picks down by team size and use: Hoppscotch Community Edition leads for startups, enterprise and solo developers. The overall ranking weighs GitHub stars, commits in the last year, Docker images, open-source licenses and recent commits across the 17 apps in the API management category of the appsgit catalog.

Is Hoppscotch Community Edition free?

Yes. Hoppscotch Community Edition is open-source software released under the MIT license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.

Which open source API management tool is best for a startup?

Hoppscotch Community Edition ranks first for startups, with 80,572 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; PostgREST and Opik follow. The startups ranking adds points for Docker images, permissive licenses, project websites and recent commits on top of stars and activity.

Which open source API management tool is best for an enterprise team?

Hoppscotch Community Edition ranks first for enterprise, with 80,572 GitHub stars, the MIT license and a Docker image; Bruno and Composio follow. The enterprise ranking adds points for open-source licenses and recent commits on top of stars and activity.

Can I self-host these API management tools with Docker?

Yes, 8 of the 10 picks. Hoppscotch Community Edition, PostgREST and Opik publish Docker images, so you can run them on a VPS or home server with Docker Compose. The others install from their own packages or source; follow each project's install guide.

Are all of these API management tools open source?

All 10 apps on this list are open source. You can self-host and modify each one under its license.

The weekly digest

New self-hosted apps, every week

Fresh releases, rising projects and one deploy guide a week. Join home labbers and engineers who self-host.

One email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.