What is HTTPie Desktop used for?

HTTPie Desktop is a cross-platform API testing client for REST, GraphQL and other HTTP APIs, distributed as a free desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux. It is a good fit for manually testing REST and GraphQL endpoints, and exploring and debugging HTTP APIs.

Is HTTPie Desktop open source?

Yes. HTTPie Desktop is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at httpie/desktop.

Is HTTPie Desktop free?

Yes. HTTPie Desktop is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence. A managed cloud version is also available.

What is HTTPie Desktop an alternative to?

HTTPie Desktop is an open-source alternative to Postman, Apidog, Apifox and Thunder Client. Other open-source alternatives to Postman include Hoppscotch, Insomnia and Bruno.

Is HTTPie Desktop actively maintained?

The most recent commit to HTTPie Desktop was on 19 March 2025, and the latest release is v2025.2.0, published on 14 March 2025. The project has 4k stars on GitHub.

HTTPie Desktop: open-source alternative to Postman, Apidog

About HTTPie Desktop

HTTPie Desktop is a desktop application for testing REST, GraphQL and general HTTP APIs, built by the team behind the HTTPie command-line tool. It is aimed at developers who want a graphical client for exploring and testing APIs rather than working purely from the terminal or a web-only tool.

The repository publishes prebuilt releases of the app for macOS, Windows and Linux, and the installed application auto-updates after the initial install. On Linux it is distributed as an AppImage, which the project recommends running through AppImageLauncher rather than executing directly. A web app version is also available at httpie.io/app or through the req.new shortcut.

The repository metadata lists the project's license as Other, so check the license terms before relying on it for commercial use. It is a packaged, closed-source-adjacent distribution of releases rather than a buildable open-source codebase in this particular repo, and users looking for ongoing feature changes should follow the release notes linked from the project.

Key features

GUI client for REST and GraphQL APIs
Cross-platform desktop app (Mac, Windows, Linux)
Auto-updating installation
Companion web app version
AppImage packaging for Linux

Good fit for

→Manually testing REST and GraphQL endpoints
→Exploring and debugging HTTP APIs

Tags: api-testing; api-client; rest; graphql; desktop-app; developer-tools; httpie

HTTPie Desktop: questions and answers

What is HTTPie Desktop used for?: HTTPie Desktop is a cross-platform API testing client for REST, GraphQL and other HTTP APIs, distributed as a free desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux. It is a good fit for manually testing REST and GraphQL endpoints, and exploring and debugging HTTP APIs.
Is HTTPie Desktop open source?: Yes. HTTPie Desktop is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at httpie/desktop.
Is HTTPie Desktop free?: Yes. HTTPie Desktop is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence. A managed cloud version is also available.
What is HTTPie Desktop an alternative to?: HTTPie Desktop is an open-source alternative to Postman, Apidog, Apifox and Thunder Client. Other open-source alternatives to Postman include Hoppscotch, Insomnia and Bruno.
Is HTTPie Desktop actively maintained?: The most recent commit to HTTPie Desktop was on 19 March 2025, and the latest release is v2025.2.0, published on 14 March 2025. The project has 4k stars on GitHub.