Staxly

CircleCI vs Insomnia

Fast, configurable CI/CD with Docker, ARM, GPU runners and orbs
vs. Open-source API client + design platform — the developer-first Postman alternative

CircleCI websiteInsomnia website

Pricing tiers

CircleCI

Free
$0. 6,000 build minutes/mo (Linux medium). 30 users. Unlimited projects.
Free
Performance
$15/mo (3 users). Credit-based: 80K-240K credits/mo bundles. More concurrency.
$15/mo
Scale
$2,000/mo+ (custom). High concurrency, self-hosted runner support, SSO.
$2000/mo
CircleCI Server
Custom. On-prem deployment of CircleCI. Enterprise only.
Custom
CircleCI website

Insomnia

Free
$0. Unlimited local. Cloud sync with E2EE. 1 project. Local + Git storage. Up to 3 members.
Free
Pro
$5/user/mo annual. Unlimited projects, cloud sync + Git sync + Insomnia AI.
$5/mo
Enterprise
$25/user/mo. SSO, SAML, RBAC, audit log, dedicated SLA, VPC.
$25/mo
Insomnia website

Free-tier quotas head-to-head

Comparing free on CircleCI vs free on Insomnia.

MetricCircleCIInsomnia
No overlapping quota metrics for these tiers.

Features

CircleCI · 17 features

  • ARM + GPU RunnersARM64 + T4 GPU resource classes.
  • .circleci/config.ymlSingle source of truth (YAML 2.1).
  • ContextsOrg-scoped shared env vars.
  • Deploy MarkersTrack deployments + rollback.
  • Docker Layer CachingReuse Docker layers.
  • Dynamic ConfigGenerate config based on changed paths.
  • Manual ApprovalGate workflows with manual step.
  • Matrix JobsParameterized parallel jobs.
  • OrbsPackaged reusable jobs + commands.
  • ParallelismSplit a job across N parallel containers.
  • Rerun with SSHSSH into failed job.
  • Restricted ContextsRBAC for secrets.
  • Scheduled PipelinesCron-triggered runs.
  • Self-Hosted RunnersOn your infra.
  • Test InsightsFlaky test detection + trends.
  • Test SplittingBy timings, filenames, classnames.
  • Workflows (DAG)Fan out, fan in, conditional.

Insomnia · 19 features

  • API Design (OpenAPI)Spec editor + preview.
  • Auth HelpersOAuth, AWS, Hawk, Bearer, etc.
  • Cloud Sync (E2EE)Opt-in encrypted sync.
  • EnvironmentsVariables per env.
  • Git SyncVersion with your repo.
  • GraphQLQuery + schema explorer.
  • gRPCgRPC client.
  • HTTP ClientREST request builder.
  • inso CLIRun API tests + lint specs in CI.
  • Insomnia AIAI-assisted request building.
  • Local-First StorageNo account required.
  • Mock ServerBuild mocks from OpenAPI (Pro).
  • PluginsExtend via Node.js.
  • Request CollectionsGrouped requests.
  • Scratch PadLocal-only mode (re-added after backlash).
  • SOAPWSDL + SOAP.
  • TeamsShared workspaces.
  • Templating EngineNunjucks + JS snippets.
  • WebSocketsWS connection + messages.

Developer interfaces

KindCircleCIInsomnia
CLIcircleci CLIinso CLI
SDKPlugin API
RESTCircleCI REST API v2Insomnia Cloud API
OTHER.circleci/config.yml, CircleCI Orbs Registry, CircleCI Webhooks, CircleCI Web UI, Self-Hosted RunnerGit Sync (built-in), Insomnia Desktop
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Some links to CircleCI and Insomnia may be affiliate links — Staxly may earn a commission if you sign up through them, at no extra cost to you. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.

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