2026 update: Postman free plan limits and alternatives?

[john26]

Hey,

I’ve been rethinking my API tooling lately and realized I’ve mostly stayed with Postman out of habit.

One thing that stood out again is the free plan limitations. They’re not new, but they make collaboration a bit annoying for small teams unless you upgrade.

For basic API testing it still works fine, but in more data/engineering-heavy workflows (multiple services, pipelines, model endpoints, etc.), it starts feeling a bit restrictive.

So I’ve been looking around at alternatives:

• OpenAPI + Git-based workflows
• lighter tools like Bruno or Insomnia
• CLI-based setups (curl, HTTPie, scripts in pipelines)
• or more integrated platforms for design + testing

I also tried a couple of newer tools like Apidog feels more “all-in-one” (design, testing, docs, collaboration), but still evaluating how it fits in more complex setups.

Curious what others here are using in 2026.

Still on Postman, or have you moved to something else for API workflows?

[szymon_dybczak]

Hi @john26 ,

I use Bruno quite often these days and it become the go-to Postman replacement for engineering-heavy workflows specifically because collections live as plain files in your repo. For someone working across Databricks, ADF, and Azure services with Azure DevOps pipelines already in place, this maps naturally - your API collections version alongside your code, PRs review API changes.

Insomnia is decent but has had some turbulence (Kong acquisition, then the open-source pivot back to community edition) so I'd be cautious about long-term stability there.

For pipeline/automation-heavy work, CLI-first makes more sense than any GUI tool

If you're already scripting in Azure DevOps YAML, httpx (Python) or curl + jq in pipeline steps often beats any dedicated tool for hitting model endpoints or internal service APIs. You get full control, no licensing concerns, and it's testable in the same way your other code is.