Insomnia vs Pusher
Open-source API client + design platform — the developer-first Postman alternative
vs. Realtime pub/sub WebSocket Channels + programmatic push (Beams)
Pricing tiers
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
Pusher
Beams: Sandbox
Free. 1K subscribers.
$0 base (usage-based)
Channels: Sandbox
Free. 100 concurrent conns, 200K msg/day.
$0 base (usage-based)
Beams: Startup
$29/mo. 10K subscribers.
$29/mo
Channels: Startup
$49/mo. 500 concurrent conns, 1M msg/day.
$49/mo
Channels: Pro
$99/mo. 2K concurrent conns, 4M msg/day.
$99/mo
Beams: Pro
$99/mo. 50K subscribers.
$99/mo
Beams: Business
$199/mo. 115K subscribers.
$199/mo
Channels: Business
$299/mo. 5K concurrent, 10M msg/day.
$299/mo
Beams: Premium
$399/mo. 250K subscribers.
$399/mo
Channels: Premium
$499/mo. 10K concurrent, 20M msg/day.
$499/mo
Channels: Growth
$699/mo. 15K concurrent, 40M msg/day.
$699/mo
Channels: Plus
$899/mo. 20K concurrent, 60M msg/day.
$899/mo
Channels: Growth Plus
$1,199/mo. 30K concurrent, 90M msg/day.
$1199/mo
Channels: Enterprise
Custom. 10M+ concurrent, 100B+ msg/day. SLA, dedicated support.
Custom
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing free on Insomnia vs be-sandbox on Pusher.
| Metric | Insomnia | Pusher |
|---|---|---|
| subscribers | — | 1000 subscribers |
Features
Insomnia · 19 features
- API Design (OpenAPI) — Spec editor + preview.
- Auth Helpers — OAuth, AWS, Hawk, Bearer, etc.
- Cloud Sync (E2EE) — Opt-in encrypted sync.
- Environments — Variables per env.
- Git Sync — Version with your repo.
- GraphQL — Query + schema explorer.
- gRPC — gRPC client.
- HTTP Client — REST request builder.
- inso CLI — Run API tests + lint specs in CI.
- Insomnia AI — AI-assisted request building.
- Local-First Storage — No account required.
- Mock Server — Build mocks from OpenAPI (Pro).
- Plugins — Extend via Node.js.
- Request Collections — Grouped requests.
- Scratch Pad — Local-only mode (re-added after backlash).
- SOAP — WSDL + SOAP.
- Teams — Shared workspaces.
- Templating Engine — Nunjucks + JS snippets.
- WebSockets — WS connection + messages.
Pusher · 11 features
- Beams — Push notifications for iOS/Android/Web with device interest groups.
- Beams Authenticated Users — Target users by auth user ID across devices.
- Channels — WebSocket pub/sub — realtime events, live updates, notifications.
- Channels Webhooks — Receive server-side notifications of channel activity.
- Client Events — Publish events from clients directly (triggered from browser).
- Debug Console — Live channel debugging dashboard.
- Encrypted Channels — End-to-end encrypted messages.
- Global Clusters — US, EU, AP-Southeast, etc. Pick nearest region.
- Presence Channels — Track who is online in a channel.
- Private Channels — Auth-required channels with server-signed tokens.
- Stats — Connection / message dashboards.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Insomnia | Pusher |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | inso CLI | — |
| SDK | Plugin API | Pusher Beams Android, Pusher Beams iOS, Pusher Beams Web SDK, pusher-http-go, pusher-http-java, pusher-http-php, pusher-js (client), pusher (Node), pusher (Python), pusher (Ruby), PusherSwift, pusher-websocket-java (Android) |
| REST | Insomnia Cloud API | Beams Publish API, Pusher HTTP API |
| OTHER | Git Sync (built-in), Insomnia Desktop | Channels Webhooks, Pusher WebSocket |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Some links to Insomnia and Pusher 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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