Postman uses 200-500MB of RAM. If you're a developer in Kerala with a budget laptop, that's not a minor annoyance. It's a wall.
Liyas Thomas hit that wall in 2019 during his first week at a startup in Kochi. His task was API integration. His machine couldn't handle Postman. So he opened a browser tab and started building an alternative. That side project now has 79,000 GitHub stars, half a million developers, $3M in seed funding from OSS Capital and Automattic, and a desktop app that uses 30MB of RAM.
Founded by Liyas Thomas (Founder & CEO) and Andrew Bastin (Co-founder & CTO, departed June 2025).
This Week's Breakdown: Hoppscotch
What they do: Open-source API development platform. Hoppscotch lets developers build, test, and share API requests across REST, GraphQL, WebSocket, MQTT, SSE, and Socket.IO. It runs in the browser as a Progressive Web App, as a native desktop app (built with Tauri, not Electron), or through a CLI. Cloud sync, real-time collaboration, shared workspaces, and team management are built in. Self-hosting is available for companies that need to keep API data on their own servers.
The numbers: ~79,000 GitHub stars. 5,800+ forks. 310+ contributors. 6,000+ commits. 500,000+ developers. Used at Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and IBM. $3M seed round (December 2021) from OSS Capital and Automattic. ~$3M in revenue. 11-50 employees. Enterprise self-hosted edition launched for regulated industries.
How They Built It
| Layer | Choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend | Vue.js (SPA) + TailwindCSS | Lightweight, reactive UI for a tool that needs to feel instant |
| Backend | NestJS (TypeScript) | Modular architecture with clean service boundaries for auth, teams, collections |
| Desktop App | Tauri (Rust) | Native performance at 30MB RAM. No Electron bloat. The philosophy is the product |
| Database | PostgreSQL via Prisma ORM | Type-safe queries, automated migrations, standard for collaborative SaaS |
| Auth | OAuth (Google, GitHub, Microsoft) + SAML SSO (Enterprise) | Social login for individuals, enterprise SSO for regulated orgs |
| Payments | Stripe (inferred) | Subscription billing for cloud org and enterprise tiers |
| Hosting/Infra | Docker-based self-hosting, cloud hosted at hoppscotch.io | Four Docker containers: backend, frontend, admin dashboard, PostgreSQL |
| CLI | Node.js (requires v22+) | CI/CD integration for automated API testing in pipelines |
| Agent/Interceptor | Tauri-based agent | Bridges browser requests to APIs that block CORS or require local network access |
Stack confirmed from the open-source GitHub monorepo (TypeScript 66.6%, Vue 24%, Rust 4.1%), Prisma schema, Docker Compose configs, and documentation.
The Real Story
Liyas Thomas graduated from Nehru College of Engineering in Kerala in 2019. His first job was a full-stack developer role at Zartek, a startup in Kochi. The assignment on day one: integrate an API. The standard tool: Postman. The problem: his laptop couldn't run it without grinding to a halt.
Postman is built on Electron, which bundles an entire Chromium browser inside the app. For developers with powerful machines, this is fine. For Thomas, it meant choosing between running Postman and running his actual development environment. He chose a third option: build something that runs in the tab you already have open.
He built the first version of "Postwoman" (a name that was exactly as cheeky as it sounds) with Vue.js, HTML, and CSS. He shared it on dev.to in August 2019. Then he posted it on Product Hunt, where it hit #2 Product of the Day. Developers who were annoyed by Postman's resource usage showed up in droves.
The name changed in August 2020. Ben Halpern, co-founder of DEV.to, suggested "Hoppscotch." Thomas liked it. The rebrand coincided with a shift in ambition: this wasn't just a Postman alternative anymore. It was an API development ecosystem with collections, environments, team workspaces, and real-time collaboration.
Andrew Bastin joined as co-founder and CTO while still a computer science student at Lakehead University in Canada. He became the second-most prolific contributor on the codebase and spent nearly six years building the architecture before departing in June 2025 to join Vibrant Labs.
In December 2021, OSS Capital led a $3M seed round, with Automattic (the company behind WordPress) participating. Joseph Jacks at OSS Capital saw what the GitHub stars were signaling: developers wanted open-source tooling that didn't lock them in.
Today the project ships across three surfaces (web, desktop, CLI) with a codebase that's 66% TypeScript, 24% Vue, and 4% Rust. The Tauri-based desktop app is the technical statement that ties the whole story together. Thomas built Hoppscotch because Electron was too heavy. When it came time to build a desktop app, choosing Electron would have contradicted everything. Tauri, built on Rust, gave them native performance at a fraction of the memory cost.
The Marketing Playbook: Postman Does the Marketing for Them
Most open-source projects struggle with distribution. Hoppscotch has a structural advantage: Postman keeps pushing developers toward alternatives.
In March 2026, Postman restricted its free plan to a single user. Before that, pricing jumps ($14-49/user/month) had already frustrated small teams. Every pricing change sends a wave of developers searching for "Postman alternative." The top results: Hoppscotch, Bruno, Insomnia.
The product itself is the marketing. Hoppscotch runs in the browser with no installation. A developer can go from "I'm curious" to testing APIs in under 10 seconds. No download, no account required for the basic experience. That zero-friction entry point converts searchers into users.
GitHub stars do the rest. At 79,000 stars, Hoppscotch appears in every "awesome open-source" list, every developer tools roundup, and every Postman comparison article. Stars compound: more stars mean more visibility, which means more stars. Thomas earned early momentum through Product Hunt, Hacker News, and dev.to. Community contributions (310+ contributors) keep the project active and visible.
The enterprise play is newer. Self-hosted Hoppscotch with SAML SSO, audit logs, and access controls targets companies in healthcare, finance, and government that can't send API requests through a third-party cloud. At $19/user/month, this is where the real revenue growth likely is.
How Hoppscotch Makes Money
| Plan | Price | Target | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free (Cloud) | $0 | Individual developers | Unlimited requests, collections, workspaces, runners |
| Organization (Cloud) | $6/user/month | Small teams | Admin dashboard, dedicated support, custom payments |
| Community Edition (Self-Hosted) | $0 | Privacy-conscious orgs | MIT license, basic OAuth, community support |
| Enterprise (Self-Hosted) | $19/user/month | Regulated industries | SAML SSO, OIDC, audit logs, domain whitelisting, priority support |
The free tier is genuinely unlimited for individuals. No request caps, no collection limits. This is unusual in a market where Postman charges $14/user/month for professional features and recently capped free plans at one user.
The Global Market: API Development Tools
The API development tools market was valued at ~$7-8 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $8.8 billion by 2026, growing at 10-12% CAGR. The broader API management market is expanding faster at 17.4% CAGR. Every team building software needs to test APIs. The market floor is enormous.
The Big Players (Enterprise Scale)
| Company | Where | Funding / Scale | Revenue | What Makes Them Different |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postman | US (India-founded) | $433M raised, $5.6B peak valuation | $313M (2024, 82% YoY growth) | 33M developers, 500K orgs, 98% Fortune 500. Market leader. Restricted free tier to 1 user in March 2026 |
| Kong (Insomnia) | US | Kong valued at $2B+ | Undisclosed (400B+ API requests/mo) | Acquired Insomnia in 2019. 1M+ Insomnia users. Part of broader API gateway platform |
| RapidAPI | US | $270M+ raised | Undisclosed | API marketplace + Paw (Mac-native client). Enterprise focus |
Postman's revenue tripled from $102M in 2022 to $313M in 2024. It now positions itself as enterprise AI infrastructure, expanding its addressable market from $15B (dev tools) to $150B+ (enterprise AI). The gap between Postman and everyone else is measured in orders of magnitude.
The Mid Players (Funded or Growing Fast)
| Company | Where | Funding | Revenue / Scale | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruno | India (Bangalore) | $0 (bootstrapped) | 600K+ MAU, 40K GitHub stars, 23 employees | Git-native, plain-text files. $6/user/mo. Fastest-growing API client in 2025 |
| Apidog | China | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | All-in-one API platform. $9/user/mo |
| HTTPie | Europe | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | CLI-first, human-readable syntax. $10/mo Pro |
Bruno is the competitor to watch. Also open-source, also Indian-founded, also bootstrapped. Bruno's monthly active users grew from 250K to 600K+ during 2025. Its team grew from 6 to 23 people. Bruno stores API collections as plain-text files on the filesystem (Git-native by default), while Hoppscotch uses a centralized database with cloud sync. Different philosophies, same customers.
The Small Players (Lightweight / Niche)
| Company | Where | Funding | Revenue / Scale | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hoppscotch | India (Kerala) | $3M seed | ~$3M revenue, ~79K GitHub stars, 500K+ developers | Browser-first, lightweight, open-source. $6/user/mo org |
| Thunder Client | US | $0 | Undisclosed | VS Code extension only. $3-4/user/mo. Minimal overhead |
The Pattern: Postman's Moat Is Eroding
Postman still dominates with 33 million developers. But three forces are working against it:
- Pricing pressure. $14-49/user/month feels steep when open-source alternatives are free or $6/user/month.
- Bloat. Postman's Electron app consumes 200-500MB of RAM. Hoppscotch uses 30-50MB. Bruno runs natively.
- Free tier restrictions. The March 2026 change to one free user accelerated migration. Developers don't leave tools voluntarily. They leave when the tool forces them to.
How We Got Here: API Development Tools Timeline
| Year | What Happened | Key Event |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Postman launches as a Chrome extension | Abhinav Asthana builds it in Bangalore as a side project |
| 2016 | Insomnia launches | Open-source REST client with clean design |
| 2019 | Postman hits unicorn status ($2B) | Series C, 8M developers |
| Aug 2019 | Liyas Thomas creates "Postwoman" | Built in Kerala because Postman was too heavy for his laptop. #2 Product Hunt |
| 2019 | Kong acquires Insomnia | Insomnia becomes part of Kong's API gateway platform |
| Aug 2020 | Postwoman renames to Hoppscotch | Ben Halpern (DEV.to co-founder) suggests the name |
| Dec 2021 | Hoppscotch raises $3M seed | OSS Capital leads, Automattic participates |
| 2022 | Postman peaks at $5.6B valuation | Series D, 20M developers |
| 2023 | Bruno launches (India) | Git-native approach gains traction fast |
| 2024 | Hoppscotch Enterprise Edition launches | Self-hosted with SAML SSO, audit logs for regulated industries |
| 2025 | Bruno hits 600K MAU, 40K stars | Open-source API tools become a two-horse race |
| Mar 2026 | Postman restricts free tier to 1 user | Migration wave benefits Hoppscotch, Bruno, Thunder Client |
$7-8B market in 2024, projected $8.8B by 2026. Every developer who builds software touches an API tool. The question is no longer whether open-source alternatives can compete with Postman on features. They can. The question is whether they can capture the teams leaving Postman faster than Postman can lock in enterprise contracts.
The Pattern You Can Steal
1. Build for the constraint, not the feature set. Thomas didn't set out to build a better Postman. He built an API tool that could run on a cheap laptop. That constraint produced a browser-first architecture that turned out to be the product's biggest advantage: zero installation, instant access, minimal resources. When you build for a limitation instead of a wishlist, you often end up with something that works better for everyone, not just the constrained user.
2. Let the incumbent's mistakes be your marketing budget. Hoppscotch doesn't run paid ads. It doesn't need to. Every time Postman raises prices, restricts the free tier, or adds weight, a wave of developers goes looking for alternatives. Positioning yourself as the lightweight open-source option means the incumbent's missteps are your distribution events. You can't plan for them, but you can be ready.
3. Tauri over Electron is a statement, not just a technical choice. If your whole story is "we're the lightweight alternative," you can't build your desktop app on the same bloated framework you're replacing. Hoppscotch chose Tauri (Rust-based, 30MB) over Electron (Chromium-based, 200MB+). The choice reinforces the brand. Technical decisions are branding decisions when your audience is developers.
Quick Hits
Bruno grew from 250K to 600K monthly active users in 2025 and expanded the team from 6 to 23 people. The Git-native approach (API collections stored as plain-text files in your repo) is winning fans among developers who want their API specs version-controlled alongside their code. Read more →
Postman hit $313M revenue in 2024 (82% YoY growth) and launched an AI-native platform rebuild in March 2026, repositioning from developer tool to enterprise AI infrastructure. The free tier restriction to 1 user is the most significant policy change in the API tooling market this year. Read more →
Thunder Client quietly became the API tool for developers who never leave VS Code. At $3-4/user/month with near-zero overhead, it competes on simplicity rather than features. Read more →
What We're Watching
The co-founder departure is a real question. Andrew Bastin was CTO for nearly six years and the second-largest contributor to the codebase. He left in June 2025. Whether the engineering leadership transition affects velocity and architecture decisions is something to track over the next 12 months.
Bruno vs. Hoppscotch is the race that matters. Both are open-source, both are Indian-founded, both target developers leaving Postman. Bruno is growing faster in MAU (600K vs 500K). Hoppscotch has more GitHub stars (79K vs 40K) and an enterprise self-hosted product. The winner may be decided by which one captures more of the post-Postman migration in 2026.
Postman's free tier restriction is a one-time event with a long tail. The March 2026 change to one free user creates an immediate migration wave. But the real impact plays out over months as teams hit the limit, evaluate alternatives, and switch. Open-source API tools have never had this big of an acquisition tailwind.
Ship it.
— The FounderSpec Team